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CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 


BOUGHT  WITH  THE  INCOME 
OF  THE  SAGE  ENDOWMENT 
FUND     GIVEN     IN     1891     BY 

HENRY  WILLIAMS  SAGE 


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iMiiiiP' 

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olin 


Cornell  University 
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the  United  States  on  the  use  of  the  text. 


http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028848541 


HISTORY 


OF 


HENRYan^FULTON  COUNTIES 


OHIO 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES 
OF  SOME  OF  ITS  PROMINENT  MEN  AND  PIONEERS 


EDITED   BY 

LEWIS    CASS    ALDRICH 


SYRACUSE,    N.  Y. 

D.  MASON  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 

1888 


^ 


PRESS    OF    D.    MASON    &    CO., 

63    WEST    WATER    ST., 

SYRACUSE,    N.    Y. 


(K 


INTRODUCTION. 


HISTORY  is  a  statement  of  fact,  clearly  and  concisely  written,  without  in- 
ferences or  personal  opinions.  One  of  the  most  satisfactory  features  of 
such  a  work,  both  to  the  writer  and  to  the  reader,  is  accuracy  of  statements 
and  dates  of  occurring  events.  In  this  the  historian  always  largely  depends 
and  relies  upon  the  official  records  of  the  county — a  part  of  the  subject 
treated ;  and  the  absence  of  such  records  places  him  in  the  somewhat  em- 
barrassing position  of  being  compelled  to  omit  certain  important  facts,  or  else 
to  say  that  they  occurred  at  "  about "  such  a  time. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  volume,  and  in  the  department  relating  to  each 
of  the  counties,  the  writer  was  at  once  confronted  with  the  fact  that  he  must 
proceed  without  early  official  records.  Twice  in  the  history  of  Henry  county 
has  its  court-house  been  destroyed  by  fire,  and,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  first 
of  these  events  its  records,  almost  entire,  were  consumed.  Likewise  the  court- 
house at  Ottokee,  the  seat  of  justice  of  Fulton  county  for  some  years,  was 
burned,  and  with  it  were  destroyed  all  records.  But,  notwithstanding  these 
unfortunate  conditions,  the  compiler  has  been  able  to  furnish  a  reasonably  ac- 
curate statement  of  history  by  virtue  of  the  kind  and  ever- ready  assistance  of 
men  whose  word  and  memory  are  almost  equal  to  any  record.  It  is,  therefore, 
the  province  and  purpose  of  these  introductory  pages  to  acknowledge  and 
make  manifest  the  obligations  of  the  editor  and  the  publishers  of  this  volume 
to  those  who  have  so  generously  contributed  in  every  way  to  make  the  work 
not  only  a  success,  but  possible  of  accomplishment. 

Among  the  early  chapters,  those  relating  to  the  Indian  occupation  of  this 
region,  will  be  found  the  contribution  of  Colonel  Howard,  a  resident  of  Wina- 
meg,  but  who  also  maintains  a  domicile  at  Wauseon.  Then,  in  the  same  de- 
partment— the  general  history,  will  be  found  chapters  from  the  pen  of  Judge 
Haag,  who  is  acknowledged  to  be  by  far  the  most  versatile  writer  of  Henry 


Introduction. 


county.  To  his  willing  labor,  also,  are  we  indebted  for  the  Bench  and  Bar,  the 
Press,  and  several  township  chapters.  To  the  judge's  son,  Jackson  D.  Haag, 
are  due  the  thanks  of  the  editor  for  the  history  of  the  several  townships,  Ridge- 
ville,  Freedom  and  Washington,  of  Henry  county.  The  name  of  James  E. 
Scofield  heads  two  chapters  relating,  respectively,  to  the  townships  Flat  Rock 
and  Pleasant.  In  the  military  history  of  this  county  we  here  acknowledge  the 
services  of  Captain  C.  E.  Reynolds,  he  having  contributed  important  material 
for  the  same  relating  to  the  Sixty-eighth  Regiment;  and,  in  the  same  chapter, 
the  muster  roll  of  that  regiment  is  furnished  through  the  courtesy  of  Elmer  A. 
Palmer,  esq.,  now  of  the  adjutant-general's  office  at  Columbus.  The  geolog- 
ical chapter,  and  that  of  Napoleon  township  as  well,  are  written  by  Dr.  Hunter. 

For  the  chapters  which  comprise  the  history  of  Fulton  county  acknowl- 
edgments are  made  to  the  following  persons:  To  Hon.  Oliver  B.  Verity,  for 
the  chapters  on  Land  Titles,  Amboy,  Chesterfield,  Clinton,  Dover,  Franklin, 
Fulton,  German,  Gorham,  Pike,  Royalton  and  York  townships;  to  L.  M. 
Murphy,  esq.,  for  the  chapters  on  the  Bench  and  Bar,  the  village  of  Wauseon 
and  Swan  Creek  township ;  to  Hon.  Moses  R.  Brailey  (since  deceased),  for  the 
military  history ;  to  Josiah  H.  Bennett,  M.  D.,  for  the  medical  sketches;  to 
Thomas  Mikesell,  for  a  valuable  meteorological  record  ;  to  Hon.  John  C. 
Rorick,  for  the  recollections  of  pioneer  life. 

And  finally,  to  the  people  at  large  of  both  counties,  who,  by  their  generous 
support,  have  enabled  the  publishers  to  produce  this  Memorial  History;  to 
each  and  every  one  who  has  by  word  or  act  contributed  to  the  work  of  the 
historian,  and  lightened  the  burden  of  his  duty,  are  due  sincere  thanks  from 
him  and  from  the  publishers. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

A   BRIEF    CHAPTER    EXPLANATORY    OF    THIS    VOLUME    AND   ITS    SUB- 
DIVISIONS      17 


CHAPTER  n. 

Commencement  of  the  Indian  Occupation  of  the  Country  East  of  the  Mississippi  —  Orig- 
inal Occupants  —  The  Lenui  Lenapes  —  The  Mengwe  —The  AUegwi  —  Ancient  Tradi- 
tion —  The  Conflict  —  The  Lenapes  and  Mengwe  Victorious  —  Their  Occupation  of  the 
"Whole  Eastern  Country 18 


CHAPTER  HI. 

From  the  Close  of  the  Revolution  Down  to  the  Time  of  the  Removal  of  the  Last  of  the 
Indian  Tribes  from  the  Valley  —  Names  and  Characteristics  of  the  Tribes  of  the 
Valley  —  The  Part  Taken  by  Them  in  the  Wars  —  Their  Final  Removal  —  Incidents . .     22 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  SOIL  AND  JURISDICTION. 

Province  of  Louisiana  — -  French  Claim  —  British  Claim  —  Cession  of  France  to  England 

—  Cession  by  England  to  the  Colonies  —  Cesssion  by  the  States  to  the  United  States 

—  Extinguishment  of  Indian  Titles  —  Organization  as  to  Territory —  Admission  as  a 
State  —  Organization  of  Counties  —  Township  Organization 32 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  ADVENTURES,  INVASION,  IMMIGRATION  AND  SETTLE- 
MENT BY  THE  WHITES 37 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Early  Settlers  of  the  Maumee  Valley  Recalled —  The  Names  of  Many  of  Them,  and  Some 

Incidents  Concerning  Them 43 


CHAPTER  VH. 

Erection  of  Henry  County  —  The  Act  Creating  It — Other  Counties  Erected  at  the  Same 
Time  —  Original  Boundaries  —  Subsequent  Reductions  to  Form  Other  Counties  — 
Geographical  Location  and  Present  Boundaries — Events  Incident  to  Its  Complete 
Organization  —  Locating  the  County^  Seat  ^— Napoleon  Designated  —  First  County 
Officers  —  First  Court  —  The  Old  Log  Court-House  —  The  First  Frame  Court-House 
—  Its  Burning  —  The  Records  Destroyed — The  First  Brick  Court-House  —  Its 
Destruction  —  The  Present  Court-House  and  Jail  —  County  Civil  List 47 


CHAPTER  Vni.    • 

Historical  Incidents  and  Localities  Connected  with  Henry  County  —  Simon  Girty  —  A 
Tale  of  the  Early  War  —  Logan's  Fidelity  Proved  —  The  Black  Swamp  —  Killing  of 
Four  Indians 55 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A    GENERAL   TOPOGRAPHICAL    AND    GEOGRAPHICAL    VIEW    OF    HENRY 

COUNTY ;    ITS  CIVIL  DIVISIONS 62 


CHAPTER  X. 

GEOLOGY  OF   HENRY  COUNTY 65 


Contents.  g 


CHAPTER  XL 

The  Titles  to  Lands  of  Ohio  —  Original  Claimants  —  Extinguishment  of  Indian,  Titles  — 

Surveys  in  this  Region 70 


CHAPTER  Xn. 
HENRY  COTJNTT  IN  THE  WAR  OF  1861-65 76 

CHAPTER  XHI. 
THE  BENCH  AND  BAR 140 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  HENRY  COUNTY  PRESS 156 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION    162 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

i  HISTORY  OF  THE  INCORPORATED  VILLAGE  OF  NAPOLEON  — THE  SEAT 

OF  JUSTICE  OF  HENRY  COUNTY 166 

CHAPTER    XVII. 
5  HISTORY  OF  BARTLOW  TOWNSHIP 199 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

HISTORY  OF  DAMASCUS  TOWNSHIP 203 

s 

2 


lo  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
HISTORY  OF  FLAT  ROCK  TOWNSHIP 208 

CHAPTER  XX. 

HISTORY  OF  FREEDOM  TOWNSHIP 227 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

HISTORY  OF  HARRISON  TOWNSHIP 230 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
HISTORY  OF  LIBERTY  TOWNSHIP 235 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
HISTORY  OF  MARION  TOWNSHIP 239 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
HISTORY  OF  MONROE  TOWNSHIP 243 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
HISTORY  OF  NAPOLEON  TOWNSHIP 248 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

HISTORY  OF  PLEASANT  TOWNSHIP 264 


Contents.  i  r 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
HISTORY  OP  KICHFIELD  TOWNSHIP 270 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

HISTORY  OP  RIDGEVILLE  TOWNSHIP 273 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
HISTORY  OP  WASHINGTON  TOWNSHIP 277 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OP  PULTON  COUNTY. 

Erection  of  Pulton  County  —  Act  Creating  It  —  Pixing  the  Seat  of  Justice  —  Naming  It 

—  The  Pirst  Oourt-House  —  Pirst  Term  of  Court  Held  in  Pike  Township  —  The  Pirst 
Jail — Propositions  to  Change  the  County  Seat  —  Burning  of  the  Court-House  at 
Ottokee  —  New  Court-House  Erected —  Removal  of  County  Seat  to  Wauseon  —  The 
New  Court-House  —  The  Jail  —  The  Infirmary  —  List  of  County  OfBcials 285 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Geographical  Location  of  Fulton  County —  Boundaries  —  Position  of  Townships  —  Streams 

—  Topography  —  Ditching  and  Draining 293 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
GEOLOGY  OP  PULTON  COUNTY 296 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Showing  Titles,  Grants  and  Surveys,  Native  and  Poreign,  to  the  Soil  of  Pulton  County. . .   302 


12  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
METEOROLOGY  OP  FULTON  COUNTY 316 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Early  Settlement  North  of  the  Fulton  Line  —  RecoUeotions  of  Pioneer  Life 327 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
SOCIETIES  OF  THE  COUNTY 331 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Military  History  of  Fulton  County  —  Early  Militia  Organizations 334 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
THE  BENCH  AND  BAR, OF  FULTON  COUNTY 387 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION 403 

CHAPTER   XL. 
THE  PRESS  OF  FULTON  COUNTY 411 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  INCORPORATED  VILLAGE  OF  WAUSEON,  THE  SEAT  OF 

JUSTICE  OF  FULTON  COUNTY : i20 


Contents.  13 


CHAPTER  XLII. 
HISTORY  OP  AMBOY  TOWNSHIP 434 

CHAPTER  XLHI. 
HISTORY  OF  CHESTERFIELD  TOWNSHIP 444 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 
HISTORY  OF   CLINTON  TOWNSHIP 455 

CHAPTER  XLV. 
HISTORY  OF  DOVER  TOWNSHIP 465 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 
HISTORY  OF   FRANKLIN  TOWNSHIP 475 

CHAPTER  XLVn. 

HISTORY  OF  FULTON  TOWNSHIP 489 

CHAPTER  XLVni. 

HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  TOWNSHIP 506 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 
HISTORY  OF  GORHAM  TOWNSHIP 516 


14  Contents. 


CHAPTER  L. 

HISTORY  OP  PIKE  TOWiN'SHIP 3^8 

CHAPTER  LI. 
HISTORT  OP  ROY  ALTON  TOWNSHIP o4i> 

CHAPTER  LII. 
HISTORY  OF  SWAN  CREEK  TOWNSHIP 551 

CHAPTER  LHI. 
HISTORY  OP  YORK   TOWNSHIP 562 

CHAPTER  LIV. 
BIOGRAPHICAL 57a 


BRIEF  PERSONALS 64a 


Contents. 


IS 


BIOGRAPHICAL, 


Allen,  Hon.  Charles  L 573 

Ayers,  David 599 

Barber,  Col.  E.  L 575 

Bassett,  Dr.  L;  A 624 

Briggs,  Frank — 576 

Brown,  Hon.  Levi  W 610 

Canfield,  Heman  A... 612 

Deyo,  Hon.  Albert 613 

Ely,  Lafayette  G - 616 

Finney,  Dr.  S.  B. 618 

Groschner,  Hon.  H.  C 625 

Haag,  Hon.  John  M.. 578 

Haag,  Samuel  C.  .-. 586 

Hagar,  William  D - - .  601 

Hamler,  John 590 

Handy,  William  H --  587 

Hollister,  D.  W.,  M.  D 589 

Hornung,  Charles 627 


Howard,  Hon.  D.  W.  H 581 

Jordan,  Amos  H 619 

Kilpatrick,  Mrs.  Mary  I 628 

Kelley,  William  C -  592 

Miller,  Joseph  H -  621 

Murbach,  Andrew  J.,  M.  D - . .  623 

Rorick,  Hon.  John  C 603 

Rorick,  Hon.  E.  H 629 

Robinson,  Anthony  B 594 

Scott,  Hon.  Robert  K. 606 

Scofield,  James  E - 632 

Scofield,  John  N - - .  -   596 

Scribner,  A.  B 633 

Thompson,  Abraham  B 597 

Trowbridge,  Lyman 635 

Tyler,  Hon.  John  H -..  636 

Vaughan,  James  C - 639 

Verity,  Hon.  O.  B 640 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Allen,  Hon.  Charles  L facing  524 

Ayers,  David. .  - -  -  -  -  -facing  470 

Barber,  Col.  E.  L facing  338 

Bassett,  Dr.  L.  A facing  492 

Briggs,  Frank facing  568 


Brown,  Hon.  Levi  W facing  610 

Canfield,  Heman  A facing  520 

Deyo,  Hon.  Albert. facing  452 

Ely,  Lafayette  -G - facing  484 

Finney,  Dr.  S.  B facing  618 


i6 


Contents. 


Haag,  Hon.  John  M. .. ..facing  152 

Haag,  Samuel  C facing  586 

Hagar,  William  D facing  600 

Hamler,  John facing  240 

Handy,  William  H facing  396 

Hollister,  D.  W.,  M.  D facing  404 

Hornung,  Charles facing  266 

Jordan,  Amos  H facing  448 

Kilpatrick,  Mrs.  Mary  I facing  628 

Kelley,  William  C facing  398 

Miller,  Joseph  H facing  502 


Murbach,  Andrew  J.,  M.  D facing  514 

Rorick,  Hon.  John  C facing  424 

Rorick,  Hon.  E.  H facing  526 

Robinson,  Anthony  B facing  594 

Scott,  Hon.  Robert  R. facing    96 

Scofield,  James  E facing  208 

Scofield,  John  N facing  274 

Scribner,  A.  B. facing  180 

Thompson,  Abraham  B. facing  564 

Trowbridge,  Lyman facing  172 

Tyler,  Hon.  John  H. facing  262 


HISTORY 


OF 


HENRY  AND  FULTON  COUNTIES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  BRIEF  CHAPTER  EXPLANATORY  OF  THIS  VOLUME  AND  ITS  SUBDIVISIONS. 

FOR  an  intelligent  and  proper  narration  of  the  events  which  it  is  the  pur- 
pose and  province  of  this  work  to  record,  it  has  been  found  necessary  that 
the  work  should  be  arranged  in  three  general  divisions,  or  departments,  and 
each  department  again  divided  into  chapters. 

The  first  department  contains  all  that  pertains  to  the  two  counties,  Henry 
and  Fulton,  that  may  be  said  to  be  common  to  both  of  them,  and  will  be  found 
recorded  in  the  earher  chapters,  numbers  two,  three,  four,  five  and  six,  bring- 
ing the  subject  down  to  the  time  of  the  erection  or  formation  of  Henry  county, 
in  the  year  1820.  These  chapters  relate  in  the  main  to  the  Indian  occupation 
and  history,  with  the  fifth,  the  early  settlers  of  the  Maumee  Valley  prior  to 
and  about  the  time  the  county  was  brought  into  existence.  Following  these 
chapters  will  be  found  the  history  of  Henry,  the  senior  of  the  two  counties. 
Henry  county  was  formed  in  the  year  1820,  while  its  fellow  in  this  volume, 
Fulton,  was  not  given  an  existence  until  some  thirty  years  later. 

Again,  the  departments  relating  especially  to  the  counties  will  be  found 
subdivided  and  arranged  in  two  departments  each;  the  first  treating  of  sub- 
jects having  a  general  extent  over  the  county,  and  not  of  such  character  as  to 
identify  them  with  any  particular  township  or  locaUty,  and  of  themselves  form 
the  general  history  of  each  county. 


1 8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

By  comparing  the  chapters  in  the  general  history  of  the  counties  there  will 
be  found  similar  subjects  treated  in  each,  but  these  have  been  carefully  pre- 
pared by  different  writers,  and  while  the  subject  matter  in  the  general  remarks 
will  be  found  the  same,  and  the  same  conclusion  arrived  at,  the  variable  style 
of  presenting  them  will  be  found  interesting  and  instructive  to  the  reader. 

It  will  be  discovered,  too,  that  each  township  in  each  county  is  written  sep- 
arately, some  longer  and  some  shorter,  according  to  the  importance  of  each,  or 
the  volume  of  history  that  each  is  found  to  possess. 

Generally  any  county  cannot  be  said  to  possess  any  history  prior  to  its 
formation,  and  a  narrative  of  its  events  would  naturally  commence  with  that 
formation ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  the  territory  now  embraced  within  the 
boundaries  of  Henry  and  Fulton  counties  had  a  history  long  before  such  form- 
ation was  made,  or  even  contemplated,  and  that  history  embraced  the  whole 
Maumee  Valley,  of  which  valley  the  county  of  Henry  forms  an  integral  part, 
although  but  few,  if  any,  of  the  stirring  events  of  the  valley  can  be  said  to 
have  been  enacted  within  the  borders  of  what  now  constitutes  that  county ; 
therefore,  it  may  truthfully  be  said  that  the  history  of  Henry  and  Fulton  coun- 
ties is  auxiliary  to  that  of  the  whole  Maumee  Valley,  auxiliary  to  but  not  co- 
extensive with  it.  Nevertheless,  in  an  intelligent  narrative  of  the  events  of 
this  locality  the  history  of  the  whole  valley  must  be  included. 


CHAPTER  n. 

Commencement  of  the  Indian  Occupation  of  the  Country  East  of  the  Mississippi— Original 
Occupants— The  Lenni  Lenapes— The  Mengwi  —The  AUegwi— Ancient  Tradition— The  Con- 
flict—The Lenapes  and  Mengwe  Victorious— Their  Occupation  of  the  whole  Eastern  Country. 

WHEN  the  first  European  adventurers  visited  this  country  they  found  the 
whole  land  occupied  by  a  tribe,  or  rather  a  nation,  of  Indians,  calling 
themselves  Lenni  Lenapes,  meaning  original  people.  Their  possessions  reached 
from  the  Hudson  River  on  the  east,  throughout  the  whole  country  west  from 
that,  including  the  larger  rivers  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Delaware,  Susquehanna, 
Allegheny,  Ohio,  Juniata,  Schuylkill,  and  the  streams  of  Ohio  as  well,  even  as 
far  south  as  the  Carolinas.  Their  seat  of  government  was  on  the  Delaware 
River,  and  from  this  fact  they  were  known  to  the  whites  as  the  Delawares. 
Their  sub  tribes,  that  scattered  over  this  vast  domain,  were  subjects  of  and 
paid  allegiance  to  the  sachems  and  chiefs  at  the  seat  of  government,  although 
each  tribe  was  known  by  a  different  name  suited  to  the  locality  in  which  they 
respectively  lived. 


General  History.  19 


Among  them,  and  with  their  old  antagonists,  the  Iroquois,  for  hundreds  of 
years  there  lived  a  tradition,  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  ;  but 
it  is  well  enough  to  remark  that  the  story  has  not  in  any  regard  been  enlarged 
upon  by  younger  generations  ;  it  has  remained  the  same,  told  in  the  same 
simple  manner,  although  without  fixed  date,  and  no  names  except  those  of  the 
tribes  or  nations  engaged.  The  story,  or  tradition,  is  so  pure  and  natural  that 
it  seems  like  a  reality,  and  to  call  it  a  tradition  seems  an  unworthy  charge  and 
a  gross  perversion  of  Indian  character  and  Indian  nature. 

Sometime  during  the  fourteenth  century,  as  the  story  goes,  there  came  to 
the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi  River,  each  journeying  eastward,  two  nations 
of  Indians  called  respectively  the  Lenni  Lenapes  and  the  Mengwe.  Neither 
knew  of  the  journey  of  the  other,  nor  had  they  any  former  acquaintance.  Their 
first  meeting  was  upon  the  river.  They  found  the  country  bordering  on  the 
river  to  be  in  possession  of  a  numerous  fierce  and  warlike  nation  of  Indians 
calling  themselves  the  Allegwi,  who  claimed  all  the  territory  for  hundreds  of 
miles  around  and  apparently  were  possessed  of  sufficient  force  to  maintain  that 
claim.  The  emigrants  sent  messengers  with  presents  to  the  chiefs  and  sachems 
of  the  Allegwi,  and  asked  of  them  permission  to  cross  the  river  and  settle  in 
their  country.  After  a  council  of  those  in  authority  the  request  was  refused, 
but  permission  was  given  that  the  Lenapes  and  Mengwe  might  cross  the  river 
and  journey  to  the  country  far  east  and  beyond  the  lands  claimed  by  the  Al- 
legwi. The  embarkation  was  at  once  commenced  and  thousands  crossed  the 
river,  when,  either  deceived  as  to  the  number  of  the  emigrants  and  fearing  them, 
or  with  malice  in  their  hearts,  the  Allegwi  fell  upon  them  with  great  force  and 
slaughtered  many,  driving  them  into  the  forests  and  scattering  them  far  and 
wide.  After  a  time  each  of  the  journeying  nations  was  gathered  and  all  united 
as  a  common  people,  and  returning,  attacked  the  Allegwi,  beat  them  in  a  long 
and  terrific  battle  and  drove  them  from  the  country  to  the  far  south. 

The  victorious  forces  now  resumed  their  journey  eastward,  but  with  little 
feelings  of  friendship,  for  the  Lenapes  declared  that  the  brunt  of  the  battle  fell 
upon  them,  and  that  the  Mengwe  hung  in  the  rear  and  fought  but  little.  After 
their  journey  had  ended,  these  nations  never  had  friendly  relations,  but  lived 
aloof  from  each  other,  and  finally  became  engaged  in  war,  which  ended  in  the 
entire  subjugation  of  Lenni  Lenape,  or  Delaware  country,  by  the  powerful  Five 
Nations,  who  were,  or  claimed  to  be,  descended  from  the  Mengwe. 

The  Lenni  Lenapes,  as  has  been  stated,  settled  in  the  country  of  the  rivers 
and  running  streams,  while  the  Mengwe  took  the  country  bordering  on  the 
lakes,  in  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York.  The  former  were  far  more 
numerous,  but  were  peaceful  and  content  to  hve  at  peace  ;  while  the  latter, 
although  less  in  number,  were  quarrelsome  and  inclined  to  warfare.  They 
were  wary  and  crafty,  not  satisfied  with  beating  an  enemy,  but  sought  to  anni- 
hilate all  against  whom  they  waged  war.     This  people,  from  about  the  middle 


20  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

of  the  seventeenth  century  down  to  the  time  of  the  last  treaty  between  the 
whites  and  the  Indians,  were  the  acknowledged  rulers  of  our  whole  country ; 
and  although  they  were  variously  known  as  the  Iroquois  Confederacy,  the  Five, 
and  subsequently,  the  Six  Nations,  and  by  other  names  as  well,  they  were, 
nevertheless,  the  same  people,  and  inasmuch  as  they  were  the  conquerors  and 
rulers  of  the  country  in  this  region,  and  carried  on  their  depredations  in  this 
locality,  an  extended  account  of  their  origin  and  existence,  as  well  as  their 
system  of  government  (for  it  was  a  perfect  one),  will  be  appropriate  in  this 
place.  And  although  there  are  no  well  authenticated  accounts  of  Indian  his- 
tory single  to  the  counties  of  Fulton  and  Henry,  until  many  years  later,  the 
history  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy,  or  Five  Nations,  will  serve  to  prepare  the 
mind  of  the  reader  for  such  events  as  are  to  follow  in  succeeding  chapters, 
bringing  the  subject  down  to  a  time  within  the  memory  of  man. 

The  Iroquois  Confederacy. 

It  should  be  stated  at  the  outset  that  the  name  Iroquois  was  never  applied 
by  the  confederates  to  themselves.  It  was  first  used  by  the  French,  and  its 
meaning  is  veiled  in  obscurity.  The  men  of  the  Five  Nations  (afterwards  the 
Six  Nations)  called  themselves  "  Hedonosaunee,"  which  means,  literally,  "They 
form  a  cabin,"  describing  in  this  expressive  manner  the  close  union  that 
existed  among  them.  The  Indian  name  just  quoted  is  more  liberally  an4 
commonly  rendered  "The"  people  of  the  long  house,"  which  is  more  fully  de- 
scriptive of  the  confederacy,  though  not  quite  so  accurate  a  translation. 

The  central  and  unique  characteristic  of  the  Iroquois  league  was  not  the 
bare  fact  of  five  separate  tribes  being  confederated  together,  for  such  unions 
have  been  frequent  among  civilized  and  half- civilized  peoples,  though  little 
known  among  the  savages  of  America.  The  feature  that  distinguished  the 
people  of  the  Long  House  from  all  other  confederacies,  and  which,  at  the  same 
time  bound  together  all  these  ferocious  warriors  as  with  a  living  chain,  was  the 
system  of  clans  extending  throughout  all  the  different  tribes. 

Although  this  clan  system  has  been  treated  of  in  many  works,  there  are 
doubtless  thousands  of  readers  who  have  often  heard  of  the  warlike  success  and 
outward  greatness  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy,  but  are  not  acquainted  with 
the  inner  league  which  was  its  distinguishing  characteristic,  and  without  which 
it  would  in  all  probability  have  met,  at  an  early  day,  the  fate  of  other  similar 
alliances. 

The  word  clan  has  been  adopted  as  the  most  convenient  one  to  designate 
the  peculiar  artificial  families  about  to  be  described  ;  but  the  Iroquois  clan  was 
widely  different  from  the  Scottish  one,  all  the  members  of  which  owed  undi- 
vided allegiance  to  a  single  chief,  for  whom  they  were  ready  to  fight  against 
all  the  world ;  yet  "clan  "  is  a  much  better  word  than  "  tribe,"  which  is  some- 
times used,  since  that  is  the  designation  usually  applied  to  a  single  Indian 
nation. 


General  History.  21 


The  people  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  were  divided  into  eight  clans,  the 
names  of  which  were  as  follows  :  Wolf,  Bear,  Beaver,  Turtle,  Deer,  Snipe,. 
Heron,  and  Hawk.  Accounts  differ,  some  declaring  that  every  clan  extended 
through  all  the  tribes,  and  others  that  only  the  Wolf,  Bear,  and  Turtle  clans 
did  so,  the  rest  being  restricted  to  a  lesser  number  of  tribes.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  each  tribe — Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas  or  Sen- 
ecas  —  contained  parts  of  the  three  clans  named,  and  of  several  of  the  others. 

Each  clan  formed  a  large  artificial  family,  modeled  on  the  natural  family. 
All  the  members,  no  matter  how  widely  separated  among  the  tribes,  were  con- 
sidered as  brothers  and  sisters  to  each  other,  and  were  forbidden  to  intermarry. 
This  prohibition  was  strictly  enforced  by  public  opinion. 

The  nations  of  Indians  that  formed  this  confederacy  were  the  Onondagas, 
Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas.  All  the  clans  being  taught  from 
earliest  infancy  that  they  belonged  to  the  same  family,  a  bond  of  the  strongest 
kind  was  created  throughout  the  confederacy.  The  Oneida,  of  the  Wolf  clan, 
had  no  sooner  appeared  among  the  Cayugas  than  they  claimed  him  as  their 
special  guest,  and  admitted  him  to  their  most  confidential  intimacy.  The  Sen- 
ecas, of  the  Turtle  clan,  might  wander  to  the  country  of  the  Mohawks,  at  the 
farthest  extremity  of  the  Long  House,  and  he  had  a  claim  upon  his  brother 
Turtle,  which  they  would  not  dream  of  repudiating.  If,  at  any  time,  there 
appeared  a  tendency  toward  conflict  between  the  different  tribes,  it  was  in- 
stantly checked  by  the  thought  that,  if  persisted  ih,  the  hand  of  the  Heron 
must  be  lifted  against  his  brother  Heron,  the  hatchet  of  the  Bear  might  be 
buried  in  the  brain  of  his  kinsman  Bear,  and  so  potent  was  the  feeling,  that  for 
at  least  two  hundred  years,  and  until  the  power  of  the  league  was  broken  by 
overwhelming  outside  force,  there  was  no  serious  dissension  between  the  tribes 
of  the  Iroquois. 

Such  then  was  the  bond  that  bound  together  this  nation  in  common  broth- 
erhood, and  made  them  a  most  powerful  league,  sufficiently  strong  to  prevail 
against  every  enemy,  nor  were  they  slow  in  availing  themselves  of  their 
might.  Additions  to  their  strength  were  made  from  various  sources,  notice- 
ably in  the  accession  of  the  Tuscaroras,  by  which  the  Five  Nations  became  the 
Six  Nations  ;  but  this  last  acquisition  was  made  after  the  grand  conquest  of  the 
Iroquois  over  the  whole  country. 

First,  they  overthrew  the  Kahquahs  and  the  Fries,  and  then  went  forth 
"conquering  and  to  conquer."  This  was  probably  the  day  of  their  greatest 
glory.  Having  supplied  themselves  with  the  arms  of  the  white  man  they 
smote  with  direst  vengeance  whomsoever  of  their  own  race  as  were  so  unfor- 
tunate as  to  provoke  their  wrath. 

On  the  Susquehannas,  the  Delaware,  the  Ohio,  the  Allegheny,  even  to  the 
Mississippi  in  the  west  and  the  Potomac  and  Savannah  in  the  south,  the  Iro- 
quois bore  their  conquering  arms,  filling  alike  with  terror  the  dwellers  on  the 


22  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

plains  of  Illinois,  and  in  the  glades  of  the  Carolinas.  They  strode  over  the 
bones  of  the  slaughtered  Kahquahs  to  new  conquests  on  the  great  lakes  beyond, 
even  to  the  foaming  cascades  of  Michillimacinac,  and  to  the  shores  of  the 
mighty  Superior.  They  inflicted  such  terrible  defeat  upon  the  Hurons,  despite 
the  alliance  of  the  latter  with  the  French,  that  many  of  the  conquered  nation 
sought  safety  on  the  frozen  borders  of  Hudson's  Bay.  The  peaceful,  though 
numerous  Lenni  Lenapes,  fell  an  easy  prey  to  their  united  attack,  and  the  land 
of  the  Delawares  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  confederates.  In  short  they 
triumphed  everywhere  and  stayed  only  before  the  steady  approach  of  the 
sturdy  white-faced  pioneer,  and  even  he  was,  for  a  time,  held  at  bay  by  these 
fierce  confederates. 

These,  then,  were  they,  who,  by  force  of  arms,  conquered,  subjugated  and 
ruled  the  whole  Indian  country.  In  this  region  their  depredations  were  less 
prominent,  nevertheless,  they  were  its  rulers  and  owners  from  an  Indian  point 
of  view.  The  tribes,  who,  at  a  later  day  occupied  this  country,  are  understood 
to  have  been  descendants  of  the  earlier  owners,  yet  no  authentic  record  of 
their  relationship  can  be  traced.  In  the  more  stirring  times  of  war  and  civili- 
zation, and  the  advance  of  settlement,  something  greater  seems  to  have 
absorbed  the  mind  of  the  Indian  and  the  settler,  and  the  connecting  links  of 
tribal  relationship  and  descent  for  a  time  has  been  found  broken.  Yet,  the 
Indians  were  here  in  force  and  made  an  Indian  history  for  this  region,  as  will 
fully  appear  in  the  succeeding  chapters. 


CHAPTER  III.i 

From  the  Close  of  the  Revolution  Down  to  the  Time  of  the  Removal  of  the  Last  of  the  In- 
dian Tribes  from  the  Valley  —  Names  and  Characteristics  of  the  Tribes  of  the  Valley  —  The 
Part  Taken  by  Them  in  the  Wars  —  Their  Final  Removal  —  Incidents. 

AT  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  of  the  American  colonies  with  Great 
Britain,  in  1784,  and  for  centuries  before  that  time,  so  tradition  has  it,  the 
Indian  tribes  inhabited  the  valley  of  the  Maumee  (Me-aw-mee)  and  its  tribu- 
taries, the  St.  Mary's  on  the  south,  the  St.  Joseph  on  the  north,  the  Au  Glaize 
on  the  south,  the  Tiffin  River,  or  "  Bean  Creek,"  on  the  north,  and  the  Turkey 
Foot  (bothinorth  and  south),  and  the  smaller  streams,  such  as  Beaver  Creek, 
joining  the  Maumee  near  Grand  Rapids  ;  the  Tone-tog-a-nee,  near  the  old  In- 
dian mission,  and  the  Portage  near  its  mouth. 

At  the  time  of  the  first  American  settlement  in  1796,  and  until  the  last 


1  By  Hon.  D.  W.   H.  Howard. 


General  History.  23 


remnant  was  removed  in  1838,  there  were  a  few  scattering  families  gathered 
up  and  removed  in  1842  or  '43.  The  Indian  occupants  were  the  Ot-ta-was,  of 
the  valley  proper,  and  the  hunting  grounds  on  the  Au  Glaize ;  the  Pot-ta-waw- 
to-mies  of  the  St.  Joseph  and  the  upper  portions  of  the  Tiffin  River,  and  the 
hunting  grounds  on  the  Raisin,  River  Ruch,  and  along  the  eastern  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan  (now  in  the  State  of  Michigan).  These  latter  people  were, 
however,  more  or  less  intermarried  with  their  neighbors,  the  Ot-ta-was  on  the 
south,  and  the  0-gib-e-was  on  the  north,  whose  lands  and  hunting  grounds 
they  adjoined.  The  Mi-am-ies  on  the  upper  Wabash  and  the  Eel  Rivers,  with 
the  smaller  "  bands"  of  We-aws  and  Pi-an-ki-shaws,  and  the  lower  St.  Mary's 
River  ;  the  Wy-an-dotts  on  the  Sanduskies,  the  Tousaint  and  their  branches  ; 
the  Shaw-won-no  (or  Shawnees)  on  the  Hog  Creek  and  upper  "  Blanchard's 
Fork  "  of  the  Au  Glaize. 

These  various  tribes,  then  quite  numerous  and  powerful,  were  united  into 
the  confederation  of  the  Five  Nations,  or  tribes  (each  speaking  a  different  dia- 
lect, but  must  not  be  understood  as  being  in  any  manner  connected  with  the 
original  Five  Nations,  or  Iroquois,  mentioned  in  Chapter  I),  for  the  purpose  of 
mutual  protection  and  defense  against  the  advance  of  the  American  settlements 
north  of  the  Ohio  River ;  they  having  never  signed  the  treaty  or  given  their 
consent  to  the  treaty  made  between  the*  British  and  the  American  govern- 
ments after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  but  considering  themselves  the 
sole  owners  of  this  vast  extent  of  terrritory,  and  beautiful  and  profitable  hunt- 
ing country,  were  determined  to  defend  it  until  the  last,  and  they  were  en- 
couraged in  this  by  the  emissaries  of  the  defeated  British,  who  furnished  them 
with  arms,  ammunition  and  clothing,  and  gave  them  sustenance  and  support  in 
every  way  possible.  The  Indians  availed  themselves  of  the  military  experience 
and  teaching  of  the  British  officers,  and  mainly  through  this  were  they  enabled 
to  defeat  General  Harmer  with  a  large  force  near  Fort  Wayne  on  the  St.  Mary's 
in  1791,  and  subsequently  General  St.  Clair  with  1,600  men,  near  Greenville, 
in  the  summer  of  1792.  Added  to  the  native  strategy  of  the  Indians,  the  ex- 
perience and  military  education  of  the  British  officers  who  were  their  daily 
associates,  and  constantly  hovering  on  the  frontier,  and  renewing  from  time  to 
time  their  pledges  to  sustain  them  in  any  event,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  poor 
deluded  savages  closed  their  ears  to  the  overtures  made  by  Washington  and  the 
American  government,  and  gave  a  willing  assent  to  the  British  propositions. 
This  was  their  home ;  their  fathers  slept  in  graves  upon  the  banks  of  these 
beautiful  streams  ;  their  council  fires  had  burned  for  many  years  upon  the 
banks  of  her  rivers  and  had  never  gone  out ;  the  deer  and  elk  had  been 
chased  through  every  tangled  break,  and  open  forest  and  prairie  ;  the  great 
black  bear  (so  numerous  then)  had  been  tracked  to  his  winter  den,  in  the  hol- 
low of  the  giant  oak,  sycamore  or  poplar ;  the  cunning  beaver  and  the  rich  fur- 
covered  otter  and  martin  had  been  out-witted  by  the  wily  hunter  and  trapped 


24  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

in'  the  fastness  of  his  secluded  home ;  the  red  fox  and  the  beautiful  silver-gray 
fox  had  furnished  the  Indian  maiden  with  the  rich  ornaments  she  so  highly 
prized,  and  the  valuable  wampum  to  the  Indian  hunter  in  barter  and  exchange 
with  the  French  and  British  fur  traders.  Food  was  abundant  in  these  beautiful 
forests ;  the  wild  turkey  hid  its  nest  from  the  bear  and  wolf  and  the  wily  fox 
(their  natural  enemy),  and  came  forth  with  her  brood  to  fill  the  woods  with  her 
twitter  and  call,  and  flocks  of  hundreds  could  be  seen  any  day  in  a  half  hour's 
walk.  The  Indian  women  manufactured  an  abundance  of  the  delicious  maple 
■sugar  from  the  hard  maple  with  which  the  country  abounded.  Fish  in  endless 
numbers  and  variety  abounded  in  all  the  streams,  and  could  be  taken  with  net 
■or  spear  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  nets  were  made  from  the  bark  of  the 
nettle,  the  linn,  or  the  leatherwood,  and  the  spear  from  the  wood  of  the  supple 
hickory  or  white  ash,  hardened  by  heating  the  spear  points  in  the  fire.  The 
rich  "bottom  lands"  along  the  streams  furnished  a  soil  unequaled  in  fertility 
and  productiveness  upon  which  were  grown  thousands  of  bushels  annually  of 
that  most  valuable  product,  the  Indian  corn,  maize,  beans,  squashes,  and  pump- 
kins were  also  grown  extensively,  and  dried  in  the  sun  or  over  a  slow  fire,  and 
preserved  for  future  winter  use.  Much  of  the  corn  was  also  preserved  in  its 
natural  green  state  in  this  way. 

When  the  impartial  historian  reviews  the  beauties  and  attractions  of  this 
■country,  the  ease  with  which  the  Indian  could  subsist,  the  sport  of  hunting  and 
fishing,  of  paddling  his  frail  bark  canoe  across  lakes  and  on  the  streams,  run- 
ning the  rapids  of  the  swift  rivers  upon  whose  banks  their  villages  were  usu- 
ally situated,  where  their  children,  in  the  limpid  waters,  sported  like  dolphins 
in  the  long  summer  days,  and  the  hunter  slaked  his  thirst  at  the  bubbling  spring 
of  purCj  cold  water  that  could  be  found  bursting  from  the  banks,  and  the  thou- 
sand attractions  natural  to  the  civilized  or  savage  man,  who  would  not  con- 
tend for  such  a  country  ?  Would  not  civilized  and  cultured  man  ?  Surely 
the  North  American  Indian  might  be  pardoned,  if  not  exonorated  for  fight- 
ing for  his  home,  his  council  fires  and  the  graves  of  his  fathers,  that  had  not 
been  already  desecrated  by  the  foot  of  the  stranger. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  the  country  and  this  the  rich  inheritance  of  these 
ravage  tribes,  when  the  American  government  determined  to  make  one  more 
grand  effort  to  subdue  the  Indians  and  compel  the  English  government  to 
fulfill  its  treaty  obligations  and  evacuate  the  country,  which  it  still  held  by  gar- 
rison at  the  outposts  of  Mackinac,  Detroit,  St.  Joseph  and  Fort  Miami,  with 
•other  points  of  less  importance,  as  protection  for  its  trading  posts  throughout 
the  entire  frontier.  In  1792,  after  the  terrible  slaughter  and  defeat  of  General 
St.  Clair's  army,  Washington  prevailed  upon  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne,  who  had 
retired  upon  his  farm  in  Pennsylvania  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war, 
to  once  more  take  the  field  and  strike  a  blow  that  would  at  once  subdue  the 
hostile  savages  and  teach  the  emissaries  of  Great  Britain  that  they  too  must  re- 


General  History. 


25 


spect  the  American  arms.  Wayne,  after  spending  nearly  two  years  mustering 
an  army,  making  such  preparations  as  to  secure  him  against  a  possible  defeat, 
took  the  field  (or  forest  rather),  and  leaving  the  post  at  Greenville  (now  in 
Darke  county,  O.),  in  July,  and  although  harassed  somewhat  on  the  march 
by  the  Indians,  struck  the  Maumee  River  at  the  mouth  of  the  Au  Glaize, 
August  8,  1794,  where  he  hastily  constructed  Ft.  Defiance,  and  leaving  the 
fort  with  a  small  garrison  on  the  i6th  of  August,  he  proceeded  down  the  left 
bank  of  the  Maumee,  pursuing  the  fleeing  savages  who  had  made,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  the  British  general,  great  preparation  at  Presque  Isle,  or  Fallen  Tim- 
ber, to  resist  Wayne's  further  advance.  Wayne,  previous  to  leaving  Ft  Defi- 
ance in  pursuit  of  the  Indians,  had  sent  a  flag  of  truce  requesting  an  interview 
(agreeably  to  Washington's  desire),  offering  peace  propositions  of  great  advan- 
tage to  the  Indians;  but  they  were  disregarded  and  the  bearer  of  the  flag  taken 
prisoner.  There  was,  however,  a  division  of  opinion  among  the  leading  chiefs 
and  warriors  as  to  the  proposition  of  Wayne  for  a  council  of  peace.  Many  of 
the  more  sagacious  chiefs  saw  that  their  defeat  was  only  a  question  of  time,  as 
they  could  not  always  successfully  contend  against  so  powerful  a  government 
as  that  of  the  United  States,  and  strongly  urged  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the 
long  struggle  at  a  council  held  by  the  confederated  chiefs,  under  the  "Council 
Elm"  at  the  Grand  Rapids  of  the  Maumee,  only  two  nights  previous  to  the 
great  battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers.  The  principal  advocates  of  peace  in  this 
council  were  the  great  chief.  Little  Turtle  (Mis-she-kence)  of  the  Miamis,  and 
Kine-jo-i-no,  a  young  chief  of  the  Ottawas,  but  the  eloquence  of  the  wily  Pot- 
tawatamie  chief,  Turkey  Foot  (Mis-sis-sa-in-zit),  and  the  clamor  of  the 
braves  for  war  prevailed,  and  the  council  closed  its  deliberations  at  the  dawn 
of  day  and  declared  for  war.  On  the  20th  of  August,  1794,  was  fought  the 
great  battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers,  which  proved  so  disastrous  to  the  con- 
federated savages  and  gave  a  prophetic  warning  to  the  English  emissaries  of 
their  future,  if  they  persisted  longer  in  holding  their  posts  within  American 
territory.  The  rout  of  the  Indians  at  this  battle  was  complete  and  the 
slaughter  great,  which  taught  them  that  Washington  had  at  last  found  a  gen- 
eral (Che- no- tin,  meaning  hurricane)  that  could  cope  with  their  most  artful 
and  sagacious  warriors.  This  also  broke  the  Indian  superstition  that  the  Mani- 
too  (Great  Spirit)  would  assure  their  success  in  any  event  and  the  councils  of 
the  more  sensible  and  far-seeing  chiefs  were  thereafter  to  prevail ;  consequently, 
a  treaty  of  peace  was  held  by  W^ayne  at  Greenville  with  these  savages,  in 
1795,  where  the  greater  portion  of  the  northwest  was  ceded  to  the  United 
States,  thus  ending  a  long  and  bloody  conflict. 

The  various  tribes  were  ruled  over  and  governed  by  a  chief  and   "  head 
men,"  who  inherited  (not  invariably  however)  their  high  positions  from  gene- 
ration to  generation,  and  were,  many  of  them,  possessed  of  much  native  talent 
and  statesmanship.     They  were  far-seeing,  and  well  aware  of  the  power  and 
i 


26  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

numerical  strength  of  the  white  man  ;  and  while  welcoming  him  as  a  stranger, 
and  a  "trader,"  they  nevertheless  feared  him  as  a  neighbor  and  intruder,  and 
knew  full  well  that  at  no  distant  day,  they  would  be  compelled  to  contend,  by 
the  force  of  arms,  for  their  hereditary  birthright,  their  native  home,  and  all  that 
was  held  dear  to  the  savage  breast ;  the  beautiful  lakes,  rivers  and  forests,  sup- 
plied with  an  abundance  of  food,  furnished  by  the  kindness  and  generosity  of 
the  Great  Man-i-too  (the  great  spirit)  as  a  home  for  his  red  children  forever. 

At  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  white  settlements  proper  in  the 
Maumee  Valley,  in  1808  or  18 10,  the  principal  Indian  villages  were  located  as 
follows,  and  were  presided  over  by  the  following  named  chiefs :  Near  the 
mouth  of  the  Maumee  was  located  the  Ottawa  village  of  Mis-sis-sa-nog  (Tur- 
key Town),  whose  principal  chief  was  Scho-no.  It  had  a  population,  in  1810, 
of  about  six  hundred  inhabitants.  Their  people  had  fine  cornfields  and  gar- 
dens and  fine  grazing  country  on  the  margin  of  the  bay ;  and  also  beautiful 
forests  of  timber  surrounding  them  on  all  sides,  which  was  bountifully  supplied 
with  wild  game  in  great  variety.  They  still  held  a  large  tract  of  land  in  their 
own  right.  The  next  village  of  importance  was  twenty  miles  up  the  river, 
called  Me-nish-sha-nong  (or  Island  Town),  located  mainly  on  a  large  island, 
^called  Indian  Island)  upon  which  a  French  trader  had  many  years  previously 
planted  an  orchard  that  furnished  a  never-failing  crop  of  apples.  It  had  also 
large  quantities  of  corn  and  beans,  and  also  squashes  and  pumpkin  were  annu- 
ally produced.  They  also  owned  a  large  tract  of  rich  land  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  river,  extending  some  twelve  miles  above ;  quite  a  village  was  also  located 
on  the  main  land  and  the  population  (of  both  villages)  at  this  time  was  not  far 
from  one  thousand  souls.  This  village  was  governed  by  two  chiefs,  0-to-saw 
and  Na-wash,  and  in  later  years,  previous  to  their  removal  west,  by  Ot-to-kee 
and  Wau-se-on. 

A  Presbyterian  mission  was  established  in  1820  or  182 1,  by  Rev.  Isaac 
Von  Tassel,  and  conducted  as  a  school  for  the  young  Indians,  until  their  final 
removal  to  their  new  homes,  west  of  the  Missouri  River,  in  1838.  A  portion 
of  the  old  Mission  House  (a  frame  building)  is  still  standing,  but  in  a  some- 
what dilapidated  condition,  a  landmark  of  a  former  age,  and  upon  whose  tab- 
lets is  written  the  melancholy  history  of  the  vain  efforts  made  by  good  and 
ibenevolent  people,  in  behalf  of  the  poor  and  benighted  savage.  Surrounded, 
;as  he  was  at  this  time,  from  1820  to  1838,  and  associated  more  or  less  with 
unprincipled  and  whisky-selling  white  men,  the  education  and  Christian  teach- 
ings received  at  the  mission  had  a  tendency  (if  anything)  to  demoralize,  rather 
than  to  elevate  him ;  and  coming  in  contact  with  this  worthless  appendage  of 
civilization,  who  delighted  in  demoralizing,  and  then  robbing  the  unsuspecting 
Indian,  he  soon  became  a  drunken  vagabond. 

The  more  important,  however,  of  the  villages  of  the  valley  proper,  was  the 
Ottawa  village  of  Ap-a-to-wau-jo-win,  or  Half-way,  which  was  located  at  the 


General  History.  27 


head  of  the  "Grand  Rapids,"  and  near  the  noted  Council  Elm.  Here,  too, 
was  located  the  band  of  Tien-jo- i-no,  the  noted  peace-chief,  and  colleague  of 
Little  Turtle  in  the  great  council  held  previous  to  the  battle  of  Fallen  Timbers. 
It  had  a  population  of  from  600  to  800  in  1820,  but  had  diminished  by  dis- 
ease and  debauchery,  incident  to  intoxication,  to  about  half  that  number  in 
1838,  the  time  of  their  final  removal  west. 

They  had  fine  corn-fields  and  gardens,  as  had  all  the  other  villages  on  the 
rich  river  flats. 

The  villages  of  Shaw-wun  no  and  Nac-i-che-wa,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Au 
Glaize,  where  now  stands  the  flourishing  village  of  Defiance,  and  where  Wayne 
constructed  Fort  Defiance  in  1794,  named  from  its  strong  position,  at  the 
junction  of  the  Au  Glaize  with  the  Maumee,  was  the  most  wealthy  of  any  of 
the  Indian  settlements.  The  people  owned  large  farms  and  droves  of  many 
horses. 

At  the  time  of  General  Wayne's  march  down  the  river,  in  their  hasty  flight 
before  his  victorious  army,  the  Indians  abandoned  nearly  everything  but  their 
ponies,  which  aided  them  materially  in  their  retreat.  Wayne  destroyed  all  the 
corn  and  gardens,  and  burned  their  villages,  situate  on  both  sides  of  the  river- 

On  the  Blanchard's  Fork  of  the  Au  Glaize,  where  the  village  of  Ottawa  is 
now  located,  was  the  Indian  settlement  of  Oc-que-nox-ie,  a  blood-thirsty  and 
savage  warrior,  who  was  never  (after  the  treaties  of  peace)  the  friend  of  the 
white  man,  and  who  would,  on  most  all  occasions,  repeat  the  bloody  tales  of 
the  warpath.  He  was  always  feared  and  hated  by  all  whites  and  peaceably 
inclined  Indians. 

Shar-low's  Town,  on  the  Au  Glaize,  some  distance  above  its  mouth,  was 
of  less  importance  than  many  others,  although  governed  by  a  very  wise  chief, 
and  a  great  friend  of  the  white  settlers. 

The  principal  villages  of  the  numerous  and  powerful  tribes  of  the  Miamis 
were  at  the  head  of  the  Maumee,  where  is  now  the  city  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  on 
the  banks  of  the  beautiful  Wabash,  at  Peru,  Logansport  (mouth  of  the  Eel 
River),  and  at  Wabash  Town,  in  the  State  of  Indiana.  The  principal  chiefs 
were  Richardville  (Rusheville)  and  La  Fontaine,  with  a  number  of  chiefs  of 
much  less  influence  with  their  people. 

The  beautiful  bottom-lands  of  the  Wabash  furnished  a  fertile  soil  for  their 
entire  cornfields,  and  the  sloping  and  rolling  highlands,  covered  with  hard 
maple,  gave  abundant  sugar  orchards  for  the  supply  of  the  delicious  maple 
sugar. 

The  Wyandott  settlements  were  on  the  Sandusky  River  and  the  Ti-moch- 
tee  Creek,  under  the  control  of  the  chiefs  of  the  "Wauker  family."  The 
Shawnees,  or  Shaw-wun-no,  emigrants  from  the  powerful  nations  of  the 
Carolinas,  owned  a  small  reservation  on  the  upper  branches  of  the  Au  Glaize, 
and  the  principal  villages  were  on  and  near  the  site  of  the  present  little  city  of 


History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


Wa-pa-kon-net-ta,  in  Allen  county,  O.     The  educated  brothers,  William  and 
Joseph  Parks,  were  the  controlling  spirits  of  this  tribe  of  the  Shawnees. 

The  principal  Indian  village  within  the  present  limits  of  Fulton  county,  was 
that  of  the  Pottawatomie  chief,  Winameg,  located  on  the  banks  of  Keeg  (now 
Bad)  Creek,  and  the  high  ridge  crossing  the  creek  near  the  post-office  of  Win- 
ameg (in  Pike  township),  named  for  the  old  chief  by  his  early  and  lifelong 
friend,  D.  W.  H.  Howard,  whose  residence  is  immediately  upon  the  site  of  the 
old  village  and  near  where  his  father,  Edward  Howard,  built  in  the  early  years 
of  the  thirties  a  trading  house,  in  which  was  opened  a  lucrative  trade  with  the 
remnant  of  this  (then)  scattered  and  wandering  people,  the  remnant  of  a  once 
powerful  nation,  now  principally  inhabiting  a  small  reservation  west  of  the 
Missouri.  Smaller  settlements  were  located  on  Bean  Creek  and  the  upper 
branches  of  the  St.  Joseph,  but  were  of  a  more  temporary  character.  At  the 
time  of  the  writer's  first  visit  to  the  village  of  Winameg,  in  the  spring  of  1827 
or  1828,  the  aged  chief,  Winameg,  whose  head  was  whitened  by  the  snows  of 
a  hundred  winters,  yet  who  was  still  active  in  mind  and  body,  ruled  the  tribe  and 
directed  its  affairs,  aided  by  his  son  (Wi-na-meg)  and  other  chiefs  of  less  influ- 
ence. Much  of  the  earlier  history  and  tradition  of  these  people  was  learned 
by  the  writer  some  years  later  from  the  great  Pottawatomie  chief,  "  Billy 
Colwell,"  an  Englishman  by  birth  and  without  a  drop  of  Indian  blood  in  his 
veins,  who  was  taken  prisoner  when  a  child  in  one  of  the  expeditions  from 
the  Mohawk  by  the  Iroquois,  from  Canada,  and  who  was  afterwards  sold  to 
the  Pottawatomies  of  the  peninsula  of  Michigan  and  adopted  by  them  and 
eventually  made  their  Great  Chief  By  his  superior  intelligence  and  tact  he 
became  the  "  Head  Chief"  of  all  the  Pottawatomies  and  Ogibewas.  Within 
the  boundaries  of  the  village  of  Winameg,  or  more  properly  Neshe  naw-ba, 
or  Due- naw-ba  (the  Twin-Boys),  and  at  a  still  earlier  day,  named  De-mutre, 
"  the  Beaver,"  for  the  many  ponds  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  were  numer- 
ously inhabited  by  this  sagacious  little  animal,  was  located  the  "  Mounds," 
which  are  still  plainly  seen,  although  the  plow  has  done  much  to  reduce 
their  height  in  the  yielding,  sandy  soil ;  tradition  has  it,  as  related  to  the 
writer  by  "  Billy  Colwell,"  many  years  previous  to  their  removal  west,  that 
a  great  battle  was  fought  between  the  Pottawatomies  (the  pioneers  of 
the  land)  and  a  powerful  tribe  of  invaders  from  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
Great  slaughter  was  the  result  of  the  battle,  and  the  slain  of  both  armies  were 
interred  in  these  mounds  by  the  Pottawatomies,  who  defeated  the  invaders  and 
still  held  the  place.  Billy  Colwell  di^ed  in  1841,  and  lies  buried  on  a  high  bluff 
overlooking  the  muddy  waters  of  the  Missouri,  near  the  city  of  Council  Bluffs, 
Iowa.  Chief  Colwell  led  the  Pottawatomie  warriors  against  General  Harrison, 
at  the  battles  of  Tippecanoe  and  the  Thames,  and  was  also  at  the  siege  of  Ft. 
Meigs  in  July,  18 13. 

There  were  also  several  small  settlements  of  the  Ottawas  on  the  high  pop- 


General  History.  29 


lar  sugar  ridges  along  the  banks  of  the  Maumee  within  the  limits  of  Henry 
county.  A  noted  and  favorite  camping  place,  once  of  much  historic  interest, 
was  "  Girty's  Point,"  situate  above  Napoleon  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Maumee, 
where  was  held  the  headquarters  of  the  noted  renegade  white  man,  Simon 
-Girty.  This  was  a  beautiful  high  bottom  land,  covered  with  a  forest  of  large 
oaks,  white  and  blue  ash,  sugar  maple,  walnut,  and  several  other  varieties  of 
timber,  and  almost  entirely  unencumbered  with  small  timber  or  underbrush. 
The  surroundings  were  open  and  clear  as  a  park  that  had  been  through  the  hands 
of  a  skilled  landscape  architect.  These  trees  formed  a  dense  shade,  and  made 
a  place  of  frequent  resort  for  the  Indians  during  the  heated  summer  months. 
Deer  and  other  wild  game  abounded  and  subsistence  was  easily  obtained.  The 
grass  along  the  margin  of  the  stream  and  on  the  low  banks  furnished  an  abund- 
ance of  sweet  food  for  the  herds  of  ponies  that  the  Indians  possessed  at  this 
time.  The  history  of  the  blood-thirsty  Simon  Girty,  this  renegade  white  man, 
who  deserted  his  own  people  and  joined  the  savages,  and  who  urged  them  to 
acts  of  inhuman  barbarity  to  avenge  an  imaginary  wrong,  will  be  found  written 
elsewhere  in  this  work.  It  is,  moreover,  written  in  the  blood  of  innocent 
women  and  children.  In  his  cruel  treatment  of  Colonel  Crawford  while  burn- 
ing at  the  stake,  and  other  acts  of  like  character  of  less  note,  need  not  be 
repeated  in  these  pages;  but  for  preserving  historic  truths,  they  should  never 
have  been  put  upon  the  historic  page. 

The  small  reservations  retained  by  these  tribes,  at  the  treaty  of  Greenville, 
as  their  home,  were  finally  ceded  to  the  United  States,  and  a  portion  of  the 
Indians  removed  to  their  homes  and  hunting  grounds  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
during  the  summer  of  1832.  The  remainder,  with  a  few  small  bands  and  fam- 
ilies (Chief  Winameg  and  a  few  others  excepted),  were  taken  to  their  lands 
west  in  1838,  the  writer  aiding  the  government  and  accompanying  them  on  the 
journey.  B.  F.  Hollister,  of  Ft.  Meigs,  was  the  agent  and  conductor  for  the 
removal  of  those  in  1832,  both  from  the  immediate  valley  of  the  river  and,  also, 
for  the  Shaw- wan-noes  (or  Shawnees),  of  Wa-pa-kon-ne-to.  They  were  moved 
overland  in  wagons  and  on  horseback,  using  their  own  ponies  on  the  trip. 
Those  removed  in  1838  were  by  the  Hon.  Robt.  A.  Forsyth,  of  Maumee  City, 
by  contract  with  the  government.  The  greater  number,  with  their  goods,  were 
taken  to  Cleveland  by  the  lake  steamer,  "  Comodore  O.  H.  Perry,"  commanded 
•by  the  veteran  Captain  David  Wilkinson,  and  from  Cleveland  by  the  Ohio 
Canal  to  Portsmouth  ;  thence  down  the  Ohio  and  up  the  river  Mississippi  and 
Missouri  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kansas  River,  where  now  stands  the  prosperous 
and  thriving  Kansas  City ;  thence  to  the  Indian  Territory.  Many  of  the  young 
men  rode  their  ponies  across  the  country,  crossing  the  Mississippi  at  Burlington. 
Thus  the  original  possessors  of  this  beautiful  and  fertile  country  passed  on  their 
long  journey  "  toward  the  setting  sun,"  and  now  where  the  dark  and  shaded 
.forests,  the  tangled  thicket  and  inirey  swamp,  silently  proclaimed  a  wilderness ; 


30  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


where,  either  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  or  in  the  broad  Hght  of  the  sun,  could 
be  heard  the  dismal  howl  of  the  wolf  or  the  Indian's  savage  yell,  now  waves 
the  golden  harvest  of  the  husbandman  and  the  sharp  whistle  of  the  locomotive 
speeding  along  the  lightning  train  over  the  iron  track.  The  cry  of  the  wolf 
and  the  "  whoop  "  of  the  Indian  is  heard  no  more  in  the  land,  and  the  plow- 
boy  whistles  gaily,  undisturbed  as  he  wends  his  quiet  way  to  the  fields  to  turn 
the  fertile  soil. 

Many  of  the  chiefs  hereinbefore  mentioned,  of  these  tribes,  were  men  pos- 
sessed of  native  intelligence,,  not  generally  known  or  understood  by  the  histo- 
rian or  the  general  reader ;  they  were  men  of  noble  presence  and  dignified 
bearing  ;  wise  and  eloquent  in  counsel,  and  saga-cious  and  strategetic  managers 
on  the  battle-field.  Few  men  equaled  the  Miami  chiefs.'Richardville  and  Wa- 
se-on,  in  the  persuasive  and  eloquent  language  which  dropped  from  their  lips 
in  debate.  The  writer  well  remembers,  when  but  a  boy,  of  being  present  at 
the  treaty,  held  opposite  Fort  Meigs,  in  1831,  with  the  Ottowas,  by  the  United 
States  commissioner.  Governor  Porter,  of  Pennsylvania.  The  governor,  in  his 
address  to  the  Indian  council,  portrayed  in  glowing  and  eloquent  language, 
the  beauties  of  the  country  beyond  the  Mississippi,  which  was  to  be  their  new 
home;  the  beautiful  groves  of  timber,  the  rolling  and  undulating  prairie  land, 
covered  with  waving  grass,  and  spangled  over  with  flowers  of  the  many-colored 
hues  of  the  rainbow ;  herds  of  buffalo,  elk  and  deer,  were  quietly  resting  in 
the  cool  shades  of  the  leafy  forest;  wild  turkeys  and  water- fowls  by  the  million, . 
fed  upon  the  luxuriant  vegetation.  This  picture  was  drawn  by  a  master  mind, 
and  presented  to  the  untutored  savage,  in  the  most  seductive  language  of 
which  the  eminent  statesman  and  diplomat  was  possessed.  After  closing  his 
eloquent  address,  and  taking  his  seat,  amid  a  profound  silence  throughout  the 
council,  all  eyes  were  turned  upon  the  stoical  and  dignified  countenance  of 
Otto-wau  kee  (Che-ot-tire-wan-kee),  the  great  O-taw  waw  chief,  who  sat  with 
his  gaze  riveted  upon  the  earth,  seeming  unconscious  of  the  wild  throbbing  of 
the  thousand  anxious  hearts  of  the  assembled  council.  Many  minutes  passed 
in  silent  suspense,  when  he  rose  to  his  feet,  and  with  that  majestic  dignity  born 
to  the  North  American  savage,  scarcely  equaled  by  the  cultured  prince  or- 
statesman,  folded  his  arms  across  his  breast,  his  eyes  now  riveted  upon  the  face 
of  the  commissioner,  and  flashing  with  the  inward  emotion  of  his  bosom,  he 
spoke  as  follows :  "  The  ears  of  my  young  men  are  open  :  they  have  heard 
what  the  pale- face  chief  has  said :  his  voice  is  like  the  bird,  and  the  land  is  as 
beautiful  as  the  flowers,  among  which  it  builds  its  nest  and  feeds  its  young ; 
my  young  men  compare  it  to  the  beautiful  land  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead  ;  the 
land  of  the  great^Man-i-too,  beyond  the  setting  sun.  Their  heads  are  young, 
and  they  are  not  wise  ;  they  may  go,  but  the  old  and  the  wise,  will  stay  where 
the  graves  of  their  fathers  are  ;  where  the  council  fires  of  their  people  have 
never  gone  out ;  the  land  and  the  water  given  to  them  by  the  Great  Spirit,  so- 


General  History.  31 


"long  ago  that  no  one  lives  who  remembers  the  time — the  land  of  the  beautiful 
Me-au-me,  and  when  the  Great  Man-i-too  calls,  we  will  answer — 'here  !'  My 
pale-face  brother  is  wise;  his  beautiful  daughters  from  the  sun- rise  love  the 
shade  and  the  flowers,  and  the  beautiful  land  toward  the  sun-down,  that  he 
sings  in  the  ears  of  the  red  children ;  will  he  not  go  there  with  his  pale-face 
children  ?  There  is  no  enemy  of  my  brother  on  the  long  trail,  and  no  one  to 
molest  him  ;  he  need  not  be  afraid  ;  the  Great  Spirit  of  his  fathers,  will  protect 
him.  Go  to  the  wigwam  of  the  great  father  (the  President  of  the  United 
States),  and  tell  him  that  his  red  children  will  give  the  'beautiful  land'  to  their 
pale-face  brothers,  and  they  will  sleep  where  their  father's  sleep,  and  their  last 
council  fire  shall,  go  out  on  the  banks  of  their  beautiful  Me-aw-mee.  Go,  tell 
this  to  the  great  father.' 

The  wily  and  adroit  commissioner  could  not  answer  the  native  eloquence 
and  statesmanlike  speech  of  the  great  chief,  and  the  council  closed. 

Among  many  like  incidents  (and  several  occurred  at  which  the  writer  was 
present),  there  was  one  other  worthy  of  record  in  these  pages,  as  showing  the 
native  character  of  these  untutored  savages.  This  incident  was  related  several 
times  at  the  cabin  of  the  writer's  father,  by  one  of  the  principal  actors  at  the 
scene,  Governor  Lewis  Cass,  territorial  governor  of  Michigan.  Governor 
Cass  was  sent  by  the  government,  in  1824  or  1830,  as  commissioner  to  treat 
with  the  Win-ne-ba-goes,  Sacs  and  Foxes,  0-gib-e-was  and  Kick-a-poos,  to 
be  assembled  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  at  the  old  French  trading- post, 
Prairie  du  Chien.  It  took  many  weeks  to  assemble  them  from  their  distant 
-hunting-grounds,  and  the  governor  was  obliged  to  be  patient,  and  wait  the 
slow  movements  of  the  Indians,  who  were  loth  to  come  into  the  council.  He 
put  in  the  time  as  best  he  could  by  talking  to  the  leading  chiefs  already  assem- 
'bled,  and  urging  his  purpose  in  many  long  private  conferences.  One  morning, 
as  the  governor  was  seated  upon  a  log  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  the  great 
head  chief  of  the  Win-ne-ba-goes,  Waw-be-see  (White  Crane),  seated  himself 
by  the  side  of  the  governor,  and  became  an  attentive  listener  to  all  the  com- 
missioner had  to  say  ;  soon,  however,  other  chiefs  and  braves  came  and  be- 
gan to  take  seats  on  the  log  (always  on  the  left  side  of  the  great  chief),  and 
soon  filled  that  end  of  the  log,  so  that  the  chief  requested  Cass  to  move  along, 
as  more  of  his  braves  wished  to  sit  down.  After  several  moves,  the  general 
reached  the  end,  and  could  move  no  farther  without  falling  off,  and  after  noti- 
fying White  Crane  of  the  fact,  the  Indian  rose,  and  taking  a  position,  but  a  few 
feet  in  front  of  the  general,  said  : 

"My  brother  is  a  great  chief;  he  speaks  the  truth  and  my  young  men  have 

heard  it  and  they  will  not  forget  it.  "     Then  raising  his  right  hand  and  pointing 

"towards  the  rising  sun  said:   "My  brother,  so  many  snows  have  fallen,  and  it  is 

so  long  ago  that  none  can  remember  it,  that  my  people  looked  over  the  great 

■salt  lake  toward  the  sunrise  and  saw  a  great  canoe  with  white  wings  coming  to 


32  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  land.  My  people  welcomed  the  strangers,  for  they  were  the  people  of  the 
sun,  with  pale  faces ;  we  gave  them  food  and  shelter  and  gave  them  land  ;  we 
looked  again  and  more  canoes  with  white  wings  were  coming ;  we  gave  their 
people  food  and  we  gave  them  land  to  plant  their  corn  and  we  moved  away 
to  give  them  room.  Many  more  came,  more  than  we  could  count,  and  we 
moved  away  many  times,  so  far  that  we  could  not  see  the  salt  lake,  to  where 
all  the  water  was  without  salt ;  the  children  of  the  sun  were  so  many  that  we 
gave  them  all  the  land  around  the  shores  and  beyond  the  great  lakes  that  have 
no  salt,  and  we  moved  to  the  banks  of  the  'great  river,'  the  'father  of  waters,' 
and  now  you  ask  us  again  to  move  further;  we  are  at  the  end  of  the  log,  and 
if  we  move  again  we  shall  fall  off,  fall  into  the  great  river,  for  our  canoes  will 
not  cross  the  muddy  water.  Go,  and  tell  the  'Great  Father'  what  we  say.  I 
have  done." 

Thus  closed  the  conference,  and  the  commissioner,  knowing  that  it  was  use- 
less to  prolong  his  stay,  soon  left  the  treaty  ground. 

These  incidents  are  related  that  the  reader  may  be  able  to  judge  more  cor- 
rectly the  Indian  character  and  his  ability  to  cope  with  the  wisest  of  our  states- 
men. As  a  rule,  when  treaties  were  successfully  made,  there  was  more  or  less 
deception  practiced  to  accomplish  the  objects  in  view,  and  it  is  no  credit  to  so 
noble  and  generous  a  government  as  that  of  the  United  States  to  have,  unfor- 
tunately perhaps,  appointed  among  its  agents  selected  to  transact  the  business, 
of  the  government,  with  these  untutored  and  confiding  savages,  men  who 
were,  to  say  the  least,  not  just. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  SOIL  AND  JURISDICTION. 

Province  of  Louisiana  —  French  Claim  —  British  Claim  —  Cession  of  France  to  England 
—  Cession  by  England  to  the  Colonies  —  Cesssion  by  the  States  to  the  United  States  —  Extin- 
guishment of  Indian  Titles  —  Organization  as  to  Territory —  Admission  as  a  State  —  Organiza- 
tion of  Counties  —  Township  Organization. 

HENRY  county  was  originally  embraced  in  that  vast  region  of  territory 
claimed,  by  virtue  of  discovery  and  conquest,  by  France,  lying  between 
the  Allegheny  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  known  by  the  general  name  of  Loui- 
siana. While  the  king  of  France  had  dominion  in  North  America,  the  whole 
of  the  United  States  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River  was  included  in  this  province, 
the  north  boundary  of  which,  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  concluded  between 
England  and  France  in  1713,  was  fixed  at  the  49th  parallel  of  latitude  north: 
of  the  equator. 


General  History.  33 


After  the  conquest  of  the  French  possessions  of  North  America  by  Great 
Britain  this  territory  was  ceded  by  the  former  country  to  the  latter,  by  the 
treaty  of  Paris,  in  1763,  and  the  dispute  of  dominion  ceased. 

Dominion  beyond  the  AUeghenies  had  always  been  claimed  by  England. 
The  principal  ground  for  the  claim  was,  that  the  Six  Nations  owned  the  Ohio 
Valley  and  had  placed  it,  with  their  other  lands,  under  the  protection  of  Eng- 
land. Some  of  the  western  lands  were  also  claimed  by  the  British  as  having 
been  actually  purchased  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  in  1744,  at  a  treaty  between  the 
colonists  and  the  Six  Nations. 

The  European  powers  based  their  claim  to  American  territory  upon  the 
discoveries  made  by  their  subjects,  and  thus  the  title  to  "Louisiana"  became 
a  subject  of  contention  between  France  and  England.  In  1609  the  English 
crown  granted  to  the  London  Company  all  the  territory  extending  along  the 
coast  for  two  hundred  miles  north  and  south  from  Point  Comfort  and  "up  into 
the  land,  throughout,  from  sea  to  sea,  west  and  northwest."  Charles  II.,  in 
1662,  granted  to  certain  settlers  upon  the  Connecticut,  all  the  territory  be- 
tween the  parallels  of  latitude  which  include  the  present  State  of  Connecticut, 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  During  the  Revolution  Massachusetts 
claimed  an  interest  in  these  western  lands,  founded  upon  a  similar  charter 
granted  thirty  years  afterwards. 

In  1774  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain  passed  an  act  by  which  the  whole 
of  the  northwestern  territory  was  annexed  to  and  made  part  of  the  Province  of 
Quebec,  as  created  and  established  by  the  royal  proclamation  of  October  7, 

1763- 

The  colonies,  having,  in  1776,  renounced  allegiance  to  the  British  throne, 
assumed  rank  as  free,  independent,  and  sovereign  States,  and  each  State  claimed 
the  right  of  soil  and  jurisdiction  over  the  district  of  country  embraced  within  its 
charter. 

The  claim  of  England  to  this  northwestern  territory  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States  by  the  treaty  of  peace  signed  at  Paris,  September  3,  1783.  The 
provisional  articles  which  formed  the  basis  of  that  treaty,  more  especially  as 
related  to  the  boundary,  were  signed  at  the  same  place  on  the  30th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1782.  Pending  negotiation  relative  to  these  preliminary  articles,  the  Brit- 
ish commissioner,  Mr.  Oswald,  proposed  the  Ohio  River  as  the  western  bound- 
ary of  the  United  States,  and  but  for  the  indomitable  perseverance  of  John 
Adams,  one  of  the  American  commissioners,  who  insisted  upon  the  Mississippi 
as  the  boundary,  the  probability  is  that  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Oswald  would 
have  been  acceded  to  by  the  United  States  commissioners. 

The  charters  of  several  of  the  States  embraced  large  portions  of  unappro- 
priated western  lands.  Those  States  which  had  no  such  charters  insisted  that 
these  lands  ought  to  be  appropriated  for  the  common  benefit  of  all  the  States. 
Congress  repeatedly  urged  upon  the  charter  States  to  make  liberal  cessions  of 
those  lands  for  the  common  benefit  of  all.  ^ 


34  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Answering  these  appeals,  the  State  of  Virginia,  in  March,  1784,  ceded  the 
right  of  soil  and  jurisdiction  to  the  district  of  country  embraced  in  her  charter, 
situated  to  the  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  In  September,  1786,  the  State 
of  Connecticut  also  ceded  her  claim  of  soil  and  jurisdiction  to  the  district  of 
country  within  the  limits  of  her  charter,  "  situated  west  of  a  line  beginning  at 
the  completion  of  the  forty-first  point  degree  of  north  lattitude,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  west  of  the  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  and  from 
thence  by  a  line  drawn  north  parallel  to  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
west  of  said  line  of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  continue  north  until  it  came  to  forty- 
two  degrees  and  two  minutes  north  latitude."  Connecticut,  also,  on  the  30th 
of  May,  I  Box,  ceded  her  jurisdiction  claims  to  all  territory  called  the  "  Western 
Reserve  of  Connecticut."  The  States  of  New  York  and  Massachusetts  also 
ceded  all  their  claims. 

But  these  were  not  the  only  claims  which  required  adjustment  before  the 
commencement  of  settlements  within  the  limits  of  Ohio.  Numerous  tribes  of 
Indians  asserted  their  respective  claims,  and  these  had  to  be  extinguished.  A 
treaty  for  this  purpose  was  made  at  Fort  Stanwix,  October  27,  1784,  with  the 
sachems  and  warriors  of  the  Mohawks,  Onondagas,  Senecas,  Cayugas,  Oneidas, 
and  Tuscaroras,  by  the  third  article  of  which  treaty  the  Six  Nations  ceded  to 
the  United  States  all  claims  to  the  country  west  of  a  certain  line  extending 
along  the  west  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Oyounayea 
to  the  river  Ohio. 

A  treaty  was  also  concluded  at  Fort  Mcintosh,  January  21,  1785,  with  the 
Wyandot,  Delaware,  Chippewa,  and  Ottawa  nations.  By  this  treaty  the  bound- 
ary line  between  the  United  States  and  the  two  former  nations  was  declared 
to  begin  "  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Cayahoga,  and  to  extend  up  said  river  to 
the  Portage  between  that  and  the  Tuscaroras  branch  of  the  Muskingum,  thence 
down  that  branch  to  the  crossing  place  above  Fort  Laurens,  thence  westerly 
to  the  Portage  of  the  Big  Miami,  which  runs  into  the  Ohio,  at  the  mouth 
of  which  branch  the  fort  stood  which  was  taken  by  the  French  in  1752,  thence 
along  said  Portage  to  the  Great  Miami,  or  Omee  River,  and  down  the  south 
side  of  the  same  to  its  mouth,  then  along  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  River,  where  it  began."  The  lands  within  the  de- 
scribed limits  were  allotted  to  the  Wyandots  and  Delawares  "  to  live  and 
hunt  on,  and  to  such  of  the  Ottawa  nation  as  lived  thereon,  saving  and  reserv- 
ing for  the  establishment  of  trading  posts,  six  miles  square  (one  township)  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Miami,  or  Omee,  (Maumee)  river,"  and  the  same  at  the  Por- 
tage, on  "  the  branch  of  the  Big  Miami  which  runs  into  the  Ohio,  and  also  the 
same  on  the  Lake  of  Sandusky,  where  the  fort  formerly  stood,  and  also  two 
miles  square  on  each  side  of  the  Lower  Rapids  of  Sandusky  River." 

In  1789,  January  9,  another  treaty  was  made  at  Fort  Harmer,  between 
Governor  St.  Clair  and  the  sachems  and  warriors  of  the  Wyandot,  Chippewa, 


General  History.  35 


Potawatomie,  and  Sac  nations,  in  which  the  treaty  of  Fort  Mcintosh  was  re- 
newed and  confirmed. 

The  claim  of  soil  and  jurisdiction  by  France,  England,  the  colonies  and  the 
Indians  to  the  territory  within  the  limits  of  Ohio  having  been  extinguished  and 
the  title  vested  in  the  United  States,  legislative  action  by  Congress  became 
necessary  before  actual  settlements  could  be  commenced,  as  in  the  treaties  with 
the  Indians,  and  by  the  acts  of  Congress,  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  were 
prohibited  settling  on  the  lands  of  the  Indians  as  well  as  on  those  of  the  United 
States. 

Ordinances  were  accordingly  adopted  by  Congress  for  the  government  of 
the  northwestern,  territory,  and  for  sale  of  portions  of  the  lands  to  which  the 
Indian  title  had  been  extinguished.  In  May,  1785,  Congress  passed  an  ordi- 
nance for  ascertaining  the  mode  of  disposing  of  these  lands.  Under  that  ordi- 
nance the  first  seven  ranges,  bounded  on  the  east  by  Pennsylvania  and  on  the 
south  by  the  Ohio  River,  were  surveyed.  Sales  of  parts  of  these  were  made 
at  New  York  in  1787,  parts  at  Pittsburgh  and  Philadelphia  in  179$,  and  some 
were  located  under  military  land  warrants.  No  further  sales  were  made  until 
July  I,  1 80 1,  when  a  land  office  was  opened  at  Steubenville. 

In  1788  Congress  appointed  General  St.  Clair  governor ;  Winthrop  Sar- 
geant,  secretary,  and  Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  James  Mitchell  Varnum,  and 
John  Cleves  Symmes,  judges  over  the  territory.  The  county  of  Washington, 
its  limits  extending  westward  to  the  Scioto  and  northward  to  Lake  Erie,  and 
embracing  about  half  the  territory  within  the  present  hmits  of  Ohio,  was  estab- 
lished by  proclamation  of  the  governor.  In  1790,  Hamilton  county  was  erected 
including  the  country  between  the  Miamies,  "  extending  northward  from  the 
Ohio  River  to  a  line  drawn  due  east  from  the  standing  stone  forks  of  the  Great 
Miami. "  Wayne  county  was  established  in  1 796,  including  all  the  northwestern 
part  of  Ohio,  a  large  tract  in  the  northeastern  part  of  Indiana  and  the  whole 
territory  of  Michigan,  so  that  the  territory  of  Henry  county  was  as  a  county 
organization  first  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Wayne  county.  Wooster  is  the  cap- 
ital of  the  county  retaining  the  name  of  Wayne  in  Ohio. 

In  1789  the  first  Congress  under  the  constitution  passed  an  act  recognizing 
-the  binding  force  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  adapting  its  provisions  to  the 
federal  constitution.  The  northwest  territory,  before  the  end  of  the  year 
1798,  contained  a  population  of  five  thousand  free  male  inhabitants,  of  full  age, 
and  had  eight  organized  counties,  entitling  the  citizens  under  the  ordinance  of 
1787,  to  a  change  in  their  form  of  government,  and  a  territorial  government, 
the  first  legislature  of  which  met  on  the  24th  of  September,  1799.  On  the 
30th  of  April,  1802,  Congress  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  call  of  a  conven- 
tion to  form  a  constitution.  The  constitution  of  that  year  was  adopted  at 
Chillicothe  on  the  29th  of  November  of  that  year.  It  became  the  fundamental 
law  by  the  act  of  the  convention  alone  and  Ohio  became  one  of  the  United, 


36 


History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


States,  and  county  organization,  soil  and  jurisdiction  were  subsequently  con- 
trolled by  our  own  legislature  and  State  officials. 

On  the  7th  of  May,  1800,  the  northwest  territory  was  divided  into  two 
governments,  that  part  lying  west  of  a  line  beginning  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Kentucky  River,  in  Kentucky,  and  running  north  to  the  Canada  line,  was 
called  Indiana,  and  formed,  and  still  is,  the  western  line  of  Ohio. 

After  the  admission  of  Ohio  into  the  Union,  the  remainder  of  the  territory, 
was,  by  act  of  Congress,  January  11,  1805,  formed  into  the  county  of  Michi- 
gan, and  is  now  the  State  of  Michigan,  being  admitted  January  22,  1837,  and 
forms  the  northern  boundary  of  northwestern  Ohio. 

After  Ohio  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  a  State,  county  organizations  be- 
came rapid,  and  boundaries  were  clearly  defined.  By  act  of  the  Legislature, 
passed  February  12,  1820,  "all  that  part  of  the  lands  lately  ceded  by  the  In- 
dians to  the  United  States,  which  lies  within  this  State" — being  northwestern 
Ohio — was  erected  into  fourteen  counties,  Henry  being  of  the  number.  By 
this  act  the  boundaries  of  the  county  were  defined  "to  include  all  of  ranges 
five,  six,  seven  and  eight,  north  of  the  second  township  north,  in  said  ranges," 
[the  north  line  of  Putnam  county,  (which  was  formed  at  the  same  time)  and  the 
south  line  of  Henry],  and  to  run  north  with  the  same  to  the  State  [Michigan] 
line. 

By  the  erection  of  Defiance  county,  March  4,  1845,  townships  three,  four 
and  five  of  the  fifth  range,  being  Adams,  Richland  and  Powell's  Creek — now 
Highland — were  taken  from  Henry,  and  made  a  part  of  Defiance,  which  with 
Williams  county,  forms  the  western  boundary  of  Henry.  June  30,  1835,  Lu- 
cas county  was  formed,  to  which  most  of  the  territory  now  composing  P'ulton 
county,  and  at  that  time  belonging  to  Henry,  was  allotted,  but  by  the  erec- 
tion of  Fulton,  February  28,  1850,  this  territory  was  given  to  that  county,  and 
the  line  between  the  two  counties,  Henry  and  Fulton,  established  on  the  south 
line  of  section  twelve,  in  township  six,  north  of  range  eight  east,  and  which  is 
now  the  northern  boundary  of  Henry  county.  The  eastern  boundary  has 
never  been  disturbed. 

The  county  is  now  divided  into  thirteen  townships  as  follows : 

Ridgeville Township    Xo.  6,   X Range  No.   5,   E. 


Freedom 

Napoleon. .. 

Flatrock 

Pleasant 

Liberty 

Harrison 

Monroe 

Marion 

Washington  . 
Damascus-  .. 

Riclifield 

Bartlow 


6, 
5. 
4> 
3. 
6, 
5. 
4- 
3. 
6, 
5. 
4, 
3. 


Napoleon,  in  Napoleon  township,  is  the  county  seat. 


General  History.  37 


CHAPTER  V. 

HISTORY    OF   THE   ADVENTURES,  INVASION,  lilMIGRATION   AND 
SETTLEMENT   BY   THE  WHITES. 

THE  first  footprints  of  white  men  in  the  sands  of  the  Maumee  were  unques- 
tionably made  by  the  French  Jesuits  in  the  seventeenth  century.  These 
Jealous  arid  devoted  people  came  to  the  red  man,  unlike  the  Spaniard  with 
sword  and  brand  to  civilize  by  death,  torture  and  depopulation,  but  with  the 
Word  of  God  in  their  hands,  preaching  peace  and  good  will  to  all  men,  and 
endeavoring  to  civilize  and  Christianize  by  education,  kindness,  mercy  and  the 
teachings  and  virtues  of  the  highest  Christian  civilization. 

Whatever  the  motive  of  the  European  in  his  visit  to  the  American  Indian, 
whether  trade,  agriculture,  or  missionary  labor,  prudence,  even  of  those  who 
sought  only  temporary  residence,  suggested  the  necessity  of  adopting  some 
means  of  safety,  of  retreat  and  protection,  and  to  guard  against  surprise,, 
treachery  and  attack.  As  early  as  1679  the  Count  de  Frontenac,  then  gover- 
nor of  Canada,  urged  upon  the  French  monarch  the  importance  of  erecting 
forts  and  trading  posts  in  the  western  country  along  the  chain  of  the  great 
lakes.  Frontenac,  a  man  of  great  energy  and  spirit,  though  unaided  by  the 
profligate  Louis,  sent  out  a  number  of  trading  parties,  authorizing  them  to 
erect  stores  and  posts  and  to  take  possession  of  all  territory  visited,  in  the  name 
of  the  government  of  France. 

The  first  effort  to  form  a  settlement  in  the  territory  now  constituting  the 
jurisdiction  of  Ohio,  was  undertaken  by  the  French  in  the  Maumee  Valley,  in 
the  year  1680.  On  the  authority  of  the  late  A.  T.  Goodman,  secretary  of  the 
Western  Reserve  and  Northern  Ohio  Historical  Society,  and  founded  on  data 
obtained  from  French  records  at  Montreal  and  Quebec,  and  papers  at  Albany 
and  Harrisburg,  "One  of  these  parties  found  their  way  to  the  Miami  or  Mau- 
mee River,  and,  in  1680,  built  a  small  stockade  just  below  the  site  of  Maumee 
City.  This  was  an  important  trading  point  for  several  years,  and  in  1694  was 
under  the  command  of  Sieur  Courthemanche,  but  was  finally  abandoned  for  a 
more  eligible  location  at  the  head  of  the  Maumee  River,  near  where  the  city  of 
Fort  Wayne  now  stands.  On  the  very  spot  where  the  fort  of  Maumee  stood, 
the  British,  in  1794,  erected  Fort  Miami."  This  shows  the  occupation  of  the 
Maumee  to  antedate  that  sought  to  be  established  at  Detroit,  the  first  effort  at 
settlement  being  made  by  the  French  at  the  latter  place  in  1683. 

In  1695  Captain  Nicholas  Perrot  built  a  trading  station  "at  the  west  end  of 
Lake  Erie,"  the  exact  location  of  which  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  After 
remaining  there  for  two  years  the  Miamis  plundered  the  place,  made  prisoner 
of  Perrot  and  were  about  "roasting  him  alive"  when  he  was  rescued  by  the 
Outagamis. 


38  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties.  , 

In  1690  war  was  declared  between  England  and  France,  and  for  a  century- 
after  a  bitter  and  malignant  feeling  existed  between  the  subjects  of  these  nations, 
and  especially  so  among  those  residing  and  claiming  possessions  in  America, 
and  competing  for  the  lucrative  trade  with  the  Indians,  In  that  year  we  find 
the  governor  of  Canada  in  a  letter  to  his  king  expressing  "  great  desire  for  the 
maintenance  of  French  posts  in  the  west."  A  bloody  war  occurred  in  1695 
between  the  Iroquois  and  the  Mianiis,  in  which  the  latter  suffered  severely  as 
did  also  the  French  traders  in  the  Ohio  and  Illinois  country,  and  the  governor 
•of  Canada  complained  that  the  Iroquois  "roasted  all  the  French  prisoners" 
who  fell  into  their  hands. 

It  is  probable  that  English  traders  began  establishing  themselves  perma- 
nently in  the  west  in  1698-99,  as  early  in  the  year  1700  M.  de  Longueil,  at  a 
council  held  with  various  Indian  tribes  at  Detroit,  urged  them  to  make  war  on 
the  English,  saying  :  "  It  is  to  the  White  River  and  the  Beautiful  (Ohio)  River 
that  I  expect  you  will  immediately  march  in  quest  of  him,  and  when  you  de- 
stroy him  you  will  seize  and  divide  all  his  goods  among  you 

If  the  English  escape  you  on  the  Beautiful  River  you  will  find  them  a  little 
further  off  with  his  brother,  the  Flat  Head."  During  this  same  year  the  Iro- 
quois made  a  treaty  with  the  French,  by  which  their  missionaries  and  traders 
were  allowed  in  all  parts  of  the  west,  and  about  the  same  time  a  party  of  fac- 
tors from  Detroit  built  a  small  post  on  the  Maumee,  where  Toledo  now  stands. 

The  English,  in  1703,  invited  the  Hurons  and  Miamis  to  locate  near  the 
Senecas,  on  Lake  Erie,  but  the  proposition  was  rejected.  During  the  year 
1705  Sieur  de  Joncaire  visited  the  Seneca  Indians,  and  Sieur  de  Vincennes  the 
Miamis,  on  business  of  the  governor  of  Canada,  and  found  English  traders 
among  them.  The  mission  of  these  Frenchmen  seems  to  have  failed,  for  in 
1707  M.  de  Cadillac,  commandant  at  Detroit,  marched  with  a  small  force 
against  the  Miamis,  and  soon  forced  them  to  terms.  In  17 14  Captain  de  La 
Forest  pointed  out  to  the  French  government  the  importance  of  maintaining 
Detroit  and  keeping  possession  of  Lake  Erie  and  its  environs.  The  French 
had  more  foresight  than  the  English,  and  spent  large  sums  of  money  in  ex- 
tending their  possessions,  and  having  obtained  control  of  the  Indians,  the  En- 
glish, in  1 7 16,  sent  agents  among  them  with  speeches  and  presents,  but  were 
unsuccessful  in  forming  an  alliance.  Gain  seems  to  have  been  the  great  ob- 
ject of  these  traders,  and  in  a  letter  addressed  about  this  time  to  the  governor 
of  Canada  by  M.  de  Ramezay  and  M.  Begon,  they  urge  the  French  govern- 
ment to  build  a  post  at  Niagara,  on  the  ground  that  it  "  would  deter  the  Mis- 
sisague  and  Amicone  Indians  from  going  to  the  Iroquois  to  trade  when  passing 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Erie." 

In  1736  the  French  claimed  to  have  16,403  warriors,  and  82,000  souls 
under  their  control  in  the  west,  and  in  1739  the  commandant  at 'Detroit 
crossed  the  Ohio  country,  and  discovered  Bigbone  Lick,  in  Kentucky.     He 


General  History.  39 


constructed  a  road  from  Detroit  to  the  Ohio  River,  which  crossed  the  Miami 
at  the  foot  of  the  rapids,  and  was  thereafter  used  by  the  Canadians. 

By  the  treaty  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  in  1744,  the  Six  Nations  "recognized  the 
king's  right  to  all  lands  beyond  the  mountains,"  and  the  English,  encouraged 
by  this,  formed  several  settlements  and  magazines  along  the  Ohio,  but  were 
driven  off  by  Detroit  Indians. 

[It  is  not  the  province  of  this  work,  and  it  would  much  exceed  our  space 
to  give  an  account  of  all  the  French,  English  and  Indian  troubles,  outrages 
and  murders  which  occurred  in  the  western  territory  during  the  first  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  we  refer  the  reader  who  may  be  interested  in  it  to 
Knapp's  History  of  the  Maumee  Valley,  while  we  hasten  to  history  more  im- 
mediately connected  with  the  territory  of  which  we  write.] 

In  1 748  the  "  Ohio  Company  "  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
Indian  trade,  and  it  appears  that  in  1749  the  English  built  a  trading  house  on 
the  Great  Miami,  at  a  spot  called  "  Loramie's  Store."  In  1751  Christopher 
Gist,  as  agent  of  the  "  Ohio  Company,"  was  appointed  to  examine  the  western 
lands,  and  made  a  visit  to  the  Twigtwees,  who  then  lived  upon  the  Miami 
River,  about  one  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth.  In  1752  the  French,  having 
heard  of  this  trading  house,  sent  a  party  of  troops  to  this  Indian  tribe  and  de- 
manded the  surrender  of  these  traders  as  intruders  on  French  soil,  which 
demand  was  refused.  The  French,  assisted  by  the  Ottawa  and  Chippewa 
Indians,  attacked  the  block  trading  house,  and  after  a  battle,  in  which  fourteen 
of  the  natives  were  killed  and  others  wounded,  took  and  destroyed  the  build- 
ings, capturing  the  traders  and  carrying  them  to  Canada.  The  name  of  this 
fort,  or  trading  house,  was  Pickawillany,  and  was  the  first  British  settlement  of 
which  a  record  can  be  obtained. 

In  order  to  repel  the  Indians,  who,  after  Braddock's  defeat  in  1755,  pushed 
their  excursions  as  far  as  the  Blue  Ridge,  Major  Lewis,  in  January,  1756,  was 
sent  with  a  party  of  troops  on  an  expedition  against  them.  The  attempt,  on 
account  of  the  swollen  condition  of  the  streams  and  the  treachery  of  guides, 
proved  a  failure;  but  in  1764,  the  year  after  the  French  had  relinquished  their 
claim  to  this  territory,  General  Bradst^eet  dispersed  the  Indian  forces  besieging 
Detroit,  and  passed  into  the  Wyandot  country,  by  way  of  Sandusky  Bay.  He 
ascended  the  bay  and  river  as  far  as  navigable  for  boats,  made  a  camp,  and  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  by  the  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  Indian  nations, 
except  the  Delawares,  of  the  Muskingum,  who  still  remained  hostile.  Colonel 
Boquet,  with  a  body  of  troops,  the  same  year  marched  from  Fort  Pitt  into  the 
heart  of  the  Ohio  country,  on  the  Muskingum  River,  and  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
effected  with  the  Indians,  who  returned  the  prisoners  they  had  captured  from 
the  white  settlements. 

During   the  Revolutionary  War  most  of  the   western  Indians  were  more 
or  less  hostile  to   the  Americans,  and   numerous  expeditions  were  projected 


40  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

against  them,  but  we  must  confine  ourselves  to  the  territory  which  forms  our 
subject,  and  this  will  confine  us  to  the  period  after  the  Revolution,  and  after 
the  time  that  England  had  relinquished  all  claim  to  the  western  lands. 

In  the  same  year,  after  the  treaty  at  Fort  Harmer  (1789),  referred  to  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  the  Indians  assumed  a  hostile  appearance,  and  were  seen 
hovering  around  the  infant  settlements  near  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  and 
between  the  Miamis,  and  a  number  of  persons  were  killed.  The  settlers  be- 
came alarmed,  erected  block-houses,  and  in  June,  1789,  Major  Doughty,  with 
one  hundred  and  forty  men  from  Fort  Harmer,  commenced  building  Fort 
Washington.  A  few  months  afterward  General  Harmer,  with  three  hundred 
men,  arrived,  took  command,  and,  negotiations  proving  unavailing,  was  di- 
rected to  attack  the  Indian  towns.  In  pursuance  of  orders,  he  marched,  in 
September,  1790,  with  one  thousand  three  hundred  men,  from  Cincinnati  west- 
ward towards  what  is  now  Fort  Wayne  to  the  Indian  villages  on  the  Miami  of 
the  Lake  (Maumee)  near  the  latter  place.  Harmer,  after  several  reverses  and 
severe  loss,  succeeded  in  burning  the  towns  and  destroying  the  corn  crop  of 
the  Indians,  and  commenced  his  homeward  march  ;  but  the  savages  rallied, 
engaged  in  battle  with  a  detachment  of  Harmer's  army  under  command  o 
Colonel  Hardin,  which  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the  latter;  and  the  general, 
dispirited,  returned  to  Cincinnati,  his  expeditions  in  intimidating  the  Indians 
having  been  entirely  unsuccessful. 

The  Indians  continued  hostile.  A  new  army,  superior  to  the  former,  was 
mobilized  at  Cincinnati,  under  the  command  of  Governor  St.  Clair,  a  Revolu- 
tionary officer.  The  regular  force  numbered  two  thousand  three  hundred  men, 
and  the  militia  about  six  hundred.  Commencing  his  march  toward  the  Indian 
towns  on  the  Maumee,  he  established  a  fort  at  Hamilton  and  one  at  Jefferson. 
Misfortune  attended  the  expedition  from  its  commencement,  desertions  and  the 
detachments  of  soldiers  to  pursue  and  capture  them,  and  to  protect  the  con- 
voys of  provisions  which  it  was  apprehended  they  (the  deserters)  designed  to 
capture,  materially  weakened  the  army,  and  on  the  3d  of  November,  1791, 
when,  at  what  is  now  the  line  of  Darke  and  Mercer  counties,  St.  Clair  halted, 
intending  to  throw  up  slight  fortifications  and  await  the  return  of  the  troops 
sent  in  pursuit  of  the  deserters.  On  the  following  morning,  however,  before 
sunrise,  he  was  attacked  with  great  fury  by  the  whole  disposable  force  of  the 
northwest  tribes.  The  Americans  were  totally  defeated.  General  Butler  and 
upwards  of  six  hundred  men  were  killed.  Indian  outrages  multiplied  and  im- 
migration was  entirely  suspended. 

The  president,  Washington,  now  urged  the  most  vigorous  prosecution  of 
the  war  and  the  complete  protection  of  the  Northwest  Territory  ;  but  the  en- 
listment and  organization  of  a  new  army  was  retarded  by  many  obstacles,  and 
it  was  not  until  the  spring  of  1794  that  an  army  was  gathered  at  Greenville, 
in  Darke  county,  and  placed  under  the  command  of  General  Anthony  Wayne, 


General  History.  41 


the  bold,  energetic  and  experienced  "  Mad  Anthony  "  of  the  Revolution.      His 
force  consisted  of  2,000  regulars  and  1,500  mounted  volunteers  from  Kentucky. 
The  whole  force  of  Indians,  amounting  to  about  2,000  men,  had  collected  near 
the  British  fort  erected  after  and  in  violation  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Rapids  of  Maumee.      [From  this  point  on  the  13th  of  August,  1793,  the 
Indians,  inspired   by  Elliott,  McGee,   Butler,  and  other   English  traders   and 
emissaries,  with  hope  of  British   aid,  a  defiant  rejection   of  all   overtures  of 
peace  made  by  the  United  States,  was  sent.     It  was  signed  by  fifteen  nations 
in  addition  to  the  Seven  Nations  of  Canada,  and  closed  all  attempts  at  peace.] 
On  the  28th  of  July,  1794,  Wayne  moved  to  Greenville  and  on  the  8th  of  August 
was  near  the  junction  of  the  Au  Glaize  and    Maumee,  at  Grand  Glaize,  now 
Defiance.     This  had  been  the  Indian  headquarters,  and  Wayne  was  anxious 
to  reach  it  undiscovered.     In  order  to  do  this  he  had   caused  two  roads  to  be 
cut,  one  towards  the  foot  of  the  Rapids  (Roche  de  Bout),  the  other  to  the  junc- 
tion of  the  St.  Mary  and  St.  Joseph,  while  he  pressed  forward  between  the  two ; 
but  the  Indians  hearing  of  the  approach  of  the  army  from  a  runaway  member 
of  the  quartermaster's  corps,  hastily  abandoned  their  town.     Being  unable   to 
make  peace  with  the  Indians,  who  still  relied  on  British  aid  and  support  from 
Detroit,  Wayne  determined  to  march  forward  and  settle  matters  at  once,  and 
on  the  1 8th  of  August  he   had   advanced   forty-one   miles,  and   being  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  foe,  threw  up  some  light  works  which  was  named  Fort  Deposit, 
in  which  to  place  the  heavy  baggage  during   the   expected   battles.      On   the 
morning  of  the  20th,  the  baggage  having  been   left  behind,  the  whites   moved 
down  the  north  bank  of  the  Maumee  and  encountered   the   Indians  with  their 
English-  alHes  about  two  miles   east  of  where  the    village   of  Waterville   now 
stands,  and  there  was  fought  the  celebrated  battle   of  Fallen  Timbers.     The 
Indians  were  completely  routed  and  fled  and  were  pursued  under  the  guns  of 
the  British  fort,  Miami.     Wayne  returned  with  his  army  to   Fort  Defiance  on 
the  27th  of  the  same  month,  laying  waste  the  Indian  villages  for  a  distance  of 
fifty  miles  on  each  side  of  the  Maumee.     The  army  remained  at  Fort  Defiance 
until  September   14,  of  the  same  year,  and  then  marched  for  the  Miami  villages 
at   the  junction  of  the   St.  Joseph  and  St.  Mary  Rivers,  and  there  built  Fort 
Wayne,  where  the  city  of  that  name  now  stands.     During  this  time  the  troops 
suffered  much  from  sickness,  but  more   for  want   of  flour  and  salt,  the  latter 
article,  on  the  24th  of  September,  selling  for  six  dollars  per  pint. 

This  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  by  Wayne,  and  the  failure  of  the 
British  to  furnish  their  promised  aid  and  supplies,  induced  the  various  tribes 
to  ask  for  peace,  and  finally,  on  the  30th  of  July,  179S,  a  treaty  by  which  the 
hatchet  was  to  be  buried  forever  was  agreed  to  at  Greenville. 

In  a  letter,  dated  August  14,  1794,  written  from  Grand  Glaize  (Defiance) 
Wayne  says :  "  The  margin  of  these  beautiful  streams,  the  Miamis  of  the  lake 
(Maumee)  and  Au  Glaize  (Auglaize)  appear  like  one  beautiful  village  for  a  num-^ 


42  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ber  of  miles  both  above  and  below  this  place  ;  nor  have  I  ever  beheld  such  im- 
mense fields   of  corn  in  any  part  of  America  from  Canada  to  Florida." 

The  permanent  settlement  of  Ohio  followed  closely  the  treaty  of  Wayne, 
but  was  confined  mostly  to  the  southern  and  eastern  parts  of  the  territory — 
Marietta,  Dayton,  Chillicothe,  Cleveland,  and  Cincinnati ;  but  speculators  and 
settlers  began  to  appear  in  pretty  large  numbers  in  western  Ohio,  settlements 
being  established  in  the  Miami  of  the  lakes  (Maumee). 

After  the  death  of  Wayne,  1796,  General  Wilkinson  was  appointed  to  the 
western  command,  and  but  little  of  interest  occurred  on  the  Maumee  until  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  of  18 12.  A  few  white  settlements  had  grown  up  along 
the  river,  and  more  or  less  Indian  outrages  occurred  and  pioneer  adventures 
were  had,  but  few  can  be  located  with  any  certainty  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
which  we  write.  In  181 2  three  points  in  the  west.  Fort  Wayne,  the  Wabash 
and  the  Maumee,  needed  defense.  The  troops  for  the  first  point  were  placed 
under  the  command  of  General  Winchester,  a  Revolutionary  officer  then  resi- 
dent in  Tennessee,  and  but  little  known  to  the  frontier  men;  the  Wabash  un- 
der Harrison,  who  had  acquired.fame  at  Tippecanoe;  while  Governor  Edwards, 
of  the  Illinois  territory,  was  to  command  the  expedition  on  the  river  of  the 
same  name.  Such  were  the  intentions  of  the  government,  but  the  wishes  of 
the  people  finally  led  to  the  appointment,  Sept.  17,  18 12,  of  General  Harrison 
to  the  post  of  commander-in-chief  of  the  west  and  northwest.  In  the  mean 
time  Fort  Wayne  had  been  relieved  and  the  line  of  the  Maumee  secured,  so 
that  when  Harrison  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  western  military  affairs,  his 
main  objects  were:  (i)  to  drive  the  Indians  from  the  western  side  of  the  De- 
troit River;  (2)  to  take  Maiden  and  (3)  to  recapture  the  Michigan  Territory, 
surrendered  by  Hull.  To  do  all  this  before  winter  and  be  prepared  to  conquer 
Upper  Canada,  Harrison  proposed  to  take  possession  of  the  Rapids  of  the 
Maumee  and  to  concentrate  his  forces  and  stores  at  that  point.  He  divided 
his  troops  into  three  columns — the  right  to  move  from  Wooster  through  Up- 
per Sandusky,  the  center  from  Urbana  by  Fort  McArthur  on  the  heads  of  the 
Sciota,  and  the  left  from  St.  Mary's  by  the  Au  Glaize  and  Maumee,  all  meeting 
at  the  Rapids.  The  troops  of  the  left,  under  Winchester,  worn  out  and  starved, 
were  on  the  point  of  desertion;  the  center,  mounted  men,  under  General  Tup- 
per,  were  unable  to  do  anything,  mainly  by  reason  of  the  incapacity  of  their 
-commander,  which,  together  with  sickness  and  the  difficulties  of  transportation 
■caused  by  the  autumn  rains,  obliged  a  change  in  this  plan  and  caused  a  post- 
ponement until  winter  would  bridge  the  streams;  and  even  when  that  had 
taken  place,  Harrison  was  doubtful  as  to  the  wisdom  of  an  attempt  to  conquer 
Canada  without  vessels  on  Lake  Erie.  And  the  year  of  1 8 1 2  closed  with  nothing 
effectual  having  been  done  towards  the  re-conquest  of  Michigan.  Winchester, 
his  men  enfeebled  by  sickness,  in  want  of  clothing  and  of  food,  was  on  his  way 
to  the  Rapids,  the  right  wing  of  the  army  was  approaching  Sandusky  and  the 
.center  rested  at  Fort  McArthur. 


General  History.  43 


On  the  loth  of  January,  181 3,  Winchester  reached  the  Rapids,  having 
passed  down  the  north  bank  of  the  Maumee  from  Defiance.  Of  Winchester's 
misfortunes  at  Frenchtown,  we  have  not  time  to  speak,  nor  does  it  relate  to 
our  subject;  suffice  to  say  that  Harrison,  with  the  remnants  of  his  army,  was 
at  the  Rapids  in  the  spring  of  1813  and  had  erected  Fort  Meigs.  Of  this  fort 
the  EngHsh  with  their  Indian  aUies  commenced  the  investment,  and  by  the 
1st  of  May  had  completed  their  batteries. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  General  Clay,  with  twelve  hundred  additional  troops, 
came  down  the  Maumee  in  flat  boats.  Of  the  events  which  followed — the  de- 
feat of  Colonel  Dudley,  the  massacre  of  his  men,  the  subsequent  victories  of 
Harrison  on  land,  and  Perry  on  the  lakes — general  history  speaks. 

White  settlement  on  the  Maumee  was  very  tardy,  and  in  1800  Colonel 
John  Anderson  was  the  only  white  trader  of  any  notoriety  on  the  river,  having 
in  that  year  settled  at  Fort  Miami.  Peter  Manor,  a  Frenchman,  was  here 
previous  to  that  time,  and  was  adopted  by  the  Indian  chief,  Tontogany.  He 
did  not  however  come  to  reside  until  1808.  During  the  year  18 10  Major 
Amos  Spafford,  Andrew  Race,  Thomas  Leaming,  Harvy  W.  Leaming,  James 
Carlin,  William  Carter,  George  Blalock,  James  Slason,  Samuel  H.  Ewing,  Jesse 
Skinner,  David  Hull,  Thomas  Dick,  William  Peters,  Ambrose  Hickox  and 
Richard  Gififord  came  here,  and  when  the  War  of  181 2  broke  out  there  were 
sixty-seven  families  residing  at  the  foot  of  the  Rapids.  The  war  made  the 
Maumee  an  exceedingly  unhealthy  climate,  and  the  white  settlers  were  com- 
pelled to  flee  for  their  lives.  After  peace  was  declared,  most  of  those  who  had 
resided  here  before  the  war,  returned,  and  the  actual  settlement  of  the  Maumee 
Valley  began,  but  progressed  very  slowly  until  the  location  of  the  Miami  and 
Erie  Canal.  The  last  remnant  of  the  powerful  tribe  of  Ottawa  Indians  was 
not  removed  until  1838,  and  their  burying-grounds  and  village  sites  are  scat- 
tered along  both  banks  of  Maumee  from  its  mouth  to  Defiance. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Early  Settlers  of  the  Maumee  Valley  Recalled— The  Names  of  Many  of  Them,  and  Some 
Incidents  Concerning  Them. 

IN  the  year  1830,  according  to  the  census  of  population  then  made,  the 
county  of  Henry  contained  two  hundred  and  sixty  persons,  young  and  old ; 
in  1840,  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  three;  in  1850,  three  thousand  four 
hundred  and  thirty-four  ;  in  i860,  eight  thousand  nine  hundred  and  one  ;  in 
1870,  fourteen  thousand  and  twenty-eight;  in  1880,  twenty  thousand  five  hun- 


44  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

dred  and  eighty- five.  From  these  facts  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  in  the  year 
1820  there  was  not  to  exceed  a  dozen  families  within  the  borders  of  the  county, 
and  upon  this  basis,  not  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  white  inhabitants.  Although 
Henry  county  was  formed,  and  only  formed,  in  the  year  1820,  there  were  not 
then  living  therein  enough  people  to  organize  a  township,  and  it  was  not  until 
three  years  later,  1823,  that  the  whole  county  was  populous  enough  to  be 
formed  into  one  township,  called  Damascus.  The  county,  it  is  true,  was  given 
an  existence  at  the  time  named,  and  while  conveyances  of  land  may  have  recog- 
nized such  an  existence,  the  residents  knew  no  county  boundaries  beyond  their 
warrant  or  deed  ;  they  were  residents  and  pioneers  of  the  whole  Maumee  Val- 
ley, and  as  such  will  be  mentioned  so  far  as  their  names  can  be  ascertained. 

It  is  possible  that  in  the  following  record  the  names  of  some  may  be  inad- 
vertently omitted,  as  the  names,  as  obtained,  are  somewhat  incomplete,  still  it 
will  serve  to  show  who  were  a  large  majority  of-  the  residents  of  the  valley 
prior  to  the  year  1825,  together  with  some  incidents  concerning  them  and  their 
families. 

The  list  was  prepared  by  a  person  now  past  the  alloted  "  three  score  and 
ten"  years  of  life,  and  will  be  found  substantially  authentic  so  far  as  given.  It 
is  arranged  to  commence  at  Defiance  and  record  the  names  as  the  people  were 
found  on  going  down  the  river,  and  is  as  follows :  Pierce  Evans  and  family, 
Indian  fur  trader;  Dr.  Jonathan  F.  Evans,  physician  and  surgeon;  Colonel 
Evans,  on  the  Au  Glaize  ;    Allen  Browher,   father  and   brother,  farmer  and 

trader; Brubecker,  farmer  ;  James  Laughlin,  Indian  jewelry  manufacturer 

and  river  boatman  ;  the  "  Snook  Boys,"  two  brothers,  farmers  and  pirogue 
men  (river  boatmen). 

Flat  Rock :  (Down  the  river  four  miles),  old  Uncle  Hively,  Pennsylvania 
Dutch  farmer ;  Adam  Kepler,  on  south  side  of  the  river,  also  Pennsylvania 
farmer.  There  were  a  few  other  settlers  near  this  point,  whose  names  cannot 
now  be  recalled. 

The  next  settlement  was  at  or  near  Damascus,  below  the  present  village  of 
Napoleon:  John  Patrick  and  wife,  farmer  and  Indian  trader;  "  Sammy"  and 
David  Bowers,  brothers,  on  south  side,  both  farmers ;  Elisha  Scribner,  father 
and  family,  farmer  ;  Charles  Bucklin  and  father,  "  Squire  "  Bucklin,  farmers  ; 
Samuel  Vance  and  wife,  farmers  and  Indian  fur  traders,  brother  to  ex- Gov- 
ernor Vance,  of  Ohio  ;  Richard  Gunn  and  family,  farmer  ;  Carver  Gunn  and 
family,  farmer  ;  Osman  Gunn  and  family,  farmer  ;  Judge  Cory,  the  largest 
farmer  in  the  valley  ;   David  De  Long  and  sons  "Jeff"  and  "  Nicky." 

Grand  Rapids  :  Uncle  Peter  Manore,  Frenchman,  farmer  ;  he  built  the  first 
saw-mill  on  the  river  ;  his  son,  Frank,  now  or  recently  living  on  the  old  home- 
stead, a  part  of  the  Indian  grant  of  one  and  one-half  sections,  at  the  head  of 
the  Grand  Rapids,  was  born  at  the  foot  of  the  rapids,  where  Maumee  City  now 
is,  in  18 1 2. 


General  History.  45 


On  the  south  side  of  the  river,  at  this  place,  was  settled  Thomas  Howard 
and  his  sons,  Edward,  Robert  A.  and  Richard  M.  W,,  and  their  families,  as 
also  William  Pratt  and  family,  son  of  Captain  Pratt,  of  Fort  Meigs,  all  farmers. 

A  few  miles  below  this,  at  Raccoon  Rapids,  was  John  Morgan,  an  old 
Rocky  Mountain  hunter  and  trapper,  and  his  "man  Friday,"  "Bob"  Ryan,  a 
farmer. 

A  short  distance  further  down,  on  what  afterwards  was  known  as  the 
Hedges  (grandfather  of  Judge  David  Commager)  farm,  was  a  "  squatter,"  by 
the  name  of  Adam  Teel,  farmer,  and  still  further  down  the  river,  near  the 
mouth  of  Tone-tog-o-nee  Creek,  and  opposite  the  "  Indian  Island,"  was  erected 
and  in  full  operation,  the  Presbyterian  Indian  Mission,  under  the  general  man- 
agement of  Rev.  Isaac  Van  Tassell,  assisted  by  Revs.  Coe  and  Sackett,  with 
their  families,  and  the  Misses  Riggs  and  Brewster;  Dayton  Riley  (brother  of 
William  Riley,  of  African  slavery  fame,  who  after  his  release  and  return  to 
America,  built  the  first  mill  to  crack  corn,  on  the  St.  Mary's  River,  near  the 
line  of  the  Toledo,  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis  Railroad,  near  the  present  village 
of  Wilshire,  Van  Wert  county,  Ohio).  This  Dayton  Riley  was  a  very  good 
carpenter,  and  performed  much  work  for  the  Indian  mission  people,  but  loved 
the  woods  so  well  that  most  of  his  time  was  spent  in  hunting  and  trapping  for 
the  fur-bearing  animals,  and  lining  the  little  busy  bees  to  their  homes  in  hol- 
low trees,  for  their  rich  stores  of  wild  honey. 

Still  on  down  the  river  opposite  the  present  village  of  Waterville,  was  the 
commodious  and  hospitable  log  cabin  of  "  Uncle  "  Guy  Nearing,  whose  cabin 
latch-string  always  "  hung  out  "  to  welcome  the  neighboring  settler,  or  the  tired 
and  often  belated  traveler.  Near  him,  in  a  snug  little  cabin,  lived  one  Thomas 
Dix,  usually  called  "  Uncle  Tommy  Dix,"  a  full-blooded  Irishman,  from  Cork, 
and  the  only  pauper  on  the  river.  He  was,  however,  very  industrious,  but  be- 
ing quite  aged,  was  unable  to  entirely  maintain  himself,  and  was  aided  consider- 
ably by  the  town  poor-masters.  He  was  quite  a  hand  at  making  maple  sugar  in 
the  spring.  He  had  seven  large  trees  near  his  cabin  into  which  he  put  numerous 
■spiles,  and,  as  he  counted  it,  made  quite  a  sugar  bush.  A  settler  once  asked 
him. how  many  trees  he  had,  and  he  answered  "  seventy."  The  settler  could 
not  see  so  many  and  so  remarked.  Uncle  Tommy  replied  that  he  had  "  tin 
taps  in  a  tree,  and  sure  that's  sivinty." 

Just  below  this  were  the  families  of  John  Race  and  the  Deckers  and  John 
Charter.  Going  back  to  Roch  te  Bout  (Bushteboo)  was  found  Isaac  Richard- 
son, the  man  who  was  afterwards  murdered  by  Porter,  the  "  Old  Gay  Lark,"  as 
he  was  usually  called,  who  was  the  first  man  ever  hanged  in  the  valley  under 
the  civil  laws  of  the  United  States  ;  and  also  Hughs,  a  millwright,  living  at  Rich- 
ardson's. 

At  Waterville  was  John  Pray  and  family,  Colister,  and  Whitcomb  Haskins 
(a  little  below),  and  the  two  brothers  Farnsworth  and  their  families ;  Deacon 
Cross,    Mr.    Martindale,    Orson    Ballou,   Alex.    Howard  and  family ;   Warren 


46  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Gunn,  and  on  the  high  bank  of  the  river,  a  Httle  below  was  the  white- washed 
log  cabin  of  "  Count"  Pierre  Louie  La  Point,  known  as  "  Uncle"  Peter  La 
Point,  whose  roof  often  sheltered  and  made  glad  many  a  heart  from  the  posts- 
at  Detroit,  and  along  the  river  to  Fort  Wayne,  by  the  hospitality  of  this  genial 
and  kind-hearted  old  Frenchman;  Deacon  Barlow  (on  Presque  Isle),  Judge 
Jonathan  Jerome,  at  Turkeyfoot  Rock,  "  Old"  Haynes,  and  one  or  two  others 
whose  names  cannot  now  be  recalled. 

At  Maumee  City  proper  Tivere  General  John  E.  Hunt,  and  Robert  and 
James  H.,  and  Duncan  Forsyth,  all  merchants  and  Indian  fur  traders ;  Judge 
Wolcott,  also  a  fur  trader  ;  David  and  Isaac  Hull,  fur  traders ;  Dr.  Conant,. 
James  Wilkison,  Hezekiah  Hubel,  hotel  keeper  and  farmer;  "  Old"  Haynes, 
George,  John  and  James  Knaggs,  farmers  and  traders ;   Parley  Carlin  and   his 

brother.  Esquire  Carlin,  Mr.  Gibbs  and  family, Whitney,  Peter  Rebedow, 

a  blacksmith  ;   Mr.  Masher,  the  Rand  family, Trombley,  and   a  number 

of  other  French  families,  including  Peter  Nevar  and  brothers  ;  "  Deacon " 
Keeler,  and  Indian  agent  Major  Stickney  and  family,  Mr.  Whitney  and 
"Uncle  Peter'  Shaw,  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Gilbert  (itee  Miss  Wolcott,  daughter  of 
Judge  Wolcott),  Ralph  Keeler.  There  may  be  yet  a  number  whose  names- 
have  been  forgotten. 

Passing  back  to  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Meigs :  First  was  found  Captain  Pratt 
and  sons,  Jonas,  Hiram,  Amos,  James,  and  Foster,  and  daughters  Sally  and 
Jane.  Also  in  the  family  of  Captain  Pratt  was  his  mother,  known  by  every- 
body as  "  Granny  "  Pratt,  Judge  James  Spafford  and  brother,  and  their  fam- 
ilies. Dr.  Coulton,  John  and  Frank  Hollister,  merchants  and  Indian  fur 
traders,  as  also  a  brother,  Harry;  Thomas  McKnight,  John  Webb,  who  built 
the  first  house  in  Perrysburg  and  who  died  August  28,  1885  ;  Jacob  Wilkin- 
son and  Captain  David  Wilkinson;  the  Jenison  family,  Nathaniel,  Julius,  Leon- 
ard, and  Blinn,  brothers,  and  sister  Mary ;  Philander  B.  Brown  and  father,  a 
blacksmith,  and  sister  Jane;  Elijah  Herrick,  Thomas  McElrath  and  the  Learn- 
ing families.  Carter,  a  tailor,  and  Wm.  Ewing,  then  a  boy,  but  later  known  as 
ex-Judge  Ewing  ;  Judge  Thomas  Powell,  "  Sile"  Morehouse  and  brothers,  and 
Vickers,  a  gunsmith  and  blacksmith,  employed  by  the  United  States  government 
for  the  Indians;  Griffith,  John  Chartier,Wm.  M.  Billings,  Valentine Winslow,  the 
Deckers,  Races,  John  J.  Lovett,  Hawley,  Wilsons,  Baldwin,  Prentice,  Hubbard 
Worden,  Sibley,  Whitmore,  Noyes,  Elijah  Huntington,  Joshua  Chapel,  Charles- 
C.  P.  Hunt,  brother  of  John  E.,  of  Maumee,  Mrs.  Major  Skinner  {nee  Miss 
Mary  Ann,  daughter  of  Maj.  Spafford,  of  Ft.  Meigs),  James  Mackelrath,  Ft. 
Meigs  ;  Louis  Trombla  and  Mr.  Daget,  of  Maumee;  Mr.  Adams,  Waterville; 
Mrs.  Isaac  Hull,  daughter  of  Mr.  Spafford;  Mrs.  Perrin,  now  living,  daughter 
of  Jacob  Wilkison  and  brothers  Merrill  and  Samuel,  Jerry  Crane  and  father, 
Mr.  Crane,  "Old"  Loup,  "Sister"  Knowles,  an  old  bachelor,  who  finally 
married  and  was  supposed  to  have  lost  his  life  from  poison  given  him  by  his 
wife;   Charles  and  Curtis,  "  Curt."  Roby,  and  possibly  others. 


General  History.  47 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

Erection  of  Henry  County  —  The  Act  Creating  It — Other  Counties  Erected  at  the  Same 
Time  —  Original  Boundaries  —  Subsequent  Reductions  to  Form  Other  Counties  —  Geographical 
Location  and  Present  Boundaries — Events  Incident  to  Its  Complete  Organization  —  Locating 
the  County  Seat  —  Napoleon  Designated  —  First  County  Officers  —  First  Court  —  The  Old  Log 
Court-House  —  The  First  Frame  Court-House  —  Its  Burning  —  The  Records  Destroyed  —  The 
First  Brick  Court-House  —  Its  Destruction  —  The  Present  Court-House  and  Jail  —  County 
Civil  List. 

IN  the  early  part  of  the  year  1820,  and  soon  after  the  (then)  last  treaty  with 
the  Indians,  by  which  their  right  of  possession  to  the  soil  in  this  part  of 
Ohio  was  extinguished,  there  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  authorities  a  vast  tract 
of  land  in  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  State  that  was  practically  uninhab- 
ited by  whites  ;  and,  for  the  better  administration  of  the  affairs  of  this  country, 
and  the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  that  the  territory  should  be  occu- 
pied and  improved  by  settlers,  it  was  deemed  prudent  that  the  country  should 
be  erected  into  several  counties.  It  was,  therefore,  by  such  provisional  action 
that  the  county  of  Henry  was  brought  into  existence. 

By  the  act  which  was  passed  on  the  12th  day  of  February,  1820,  it  was 
declared  "  That  all  that  part  of  the  lands  lately  ceded  by  the  Indians  to  the 
United  States,  which  lies  within  this  State,  shall  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby 
erected  into  fourteen  separate  and  distinct  counties,"  to  be  bounded  and  named 
as  in  the  act  provided.  These  counties  so  formed  were:  Allen,  Crawford, 
Hancock,  Hardin,  Henry,  Marion,  Mercer,  Paulding,  Putnam,  Sandusky,  Sen- 
eca, Van  Wert,  Williams,  and  Wood. 

Separating  Henry  county  from  its  fellows  formed  at  the  same  time,  it  is 
found  that  the  same  was  made  to  include  "  all  of  ranges  five,  six,  seven,  and 
eight  north  of  the  second  township  north,  in  said  ranges,  and  to  run  north  with 
the  same  to  the  State  (Michigan)  line  as  aforesaid,  and  to  be  known  by  the 
name  of  Henry."  The  county  was  so  named  in  honor  of  Patrick  Henry, 
that  distinguished  statesman  whose  eloquent  voice  had  been  so  frequently 
heard  in  upholding  the  cause  of  the  struggling  American  colonies  in  the  days 
of  her  infancy. 

At  the  time  of  this  erection  there  undoubtedly  was  not  a  sufficient  number 
of  residents  within  the  broad  limits  of  the  county  to  fill  the  county's  offices,  or 
to  in  any  manner  administer  its  affairs ;  but  the  act  made  further  provision,  by 
the  second  section,  that  the  newly  created  counties  of  Hancock,  Henry,  Put- 
nam, Paulding,  and  Williams  should  be  attached  to  the  county  of  Wood  until 
otherwise  directed  by  law.  The  temporary  seat  of  justice  of  Wood  county  was 
fixed  at  Maumee.  The  first  election  for  county  and  township  officers  for  Wood 
county,  and  the  counties  attached  to  it,  as  well,  was  ordered  and  directed  to  be 
held  on  the  first  Monday  of  April,  1820. 


48  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Under  this  provision  and  by  this  enactment  was  Henry  county  attached  to 
Wood  county,  and  so  continued  for  about  four  years,  when,  by  an  act  passed 
on  the  2d  of  February,  1824,  it  was  provided  that  Williams  county  be  fully 
organized  for  all  purposes,  and  that  the  other  counties  of  Henry,  Putnam,  and 
Paulding  be  attached  thereto  for  judicial  purposes  ;  that  on  the  first  Monday 
of  April,  1824,  the  legal  electors  residing  in  the  counties  of  Williams,  Henry, 
Putnam,  and  Paulding  "shall  assemble  within  their  respective  townships,  at  the 
usual  place  of  holding  elections,  and  shall  proceed  to  elect  their  several  county 
and  township  officers,  who  shall  hold  their  several  offices  until  the  next  annual 
election." 

It  was  further  provided  that  the  courts  for  the  several  named  counties 
should  be  held  at  Defiance,  in  the  county  of  Williams,  until  otherwise  provided 
by  law  ;  further,  "  that  suits  or  actions,  whether  of  a  civil  or  criminal  nature," 
which  should  be  pending  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  act,  should  be  pros- 
ecuted to  final  judgment  and  execution  in  the  county  of  Wood,  in  the  same 
manner  as  they  would  have  been  had  not  Williams  county  been  fully  organ- 
ized. Otherwise  than  as  above  provided,  Williams  county  became  the  seat  of 
justice  for  Henry  county  after  February,  1824. 

By  virtue  of  an  act  passed  June  20,  1835,  entitled  "An  act  to  erect  the 
county  of  Lucas,"  Henry  county  was  called  upon  to  surrender  a  portion  of  her 
territory  to  the  formation  of  the  new,  and  the  portion  so  taken  passed  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  Lucas  county,  except  as  related  to  suits  or  actions  then 
pending  in  Henry  county,  which  grew  out  of  transactions  in  the  land  so  taken. 
It  was  also  provided  by  this  act  that  the  counties  of  Lucas,  Darke,  Shelby, 
Mercer,  Allen,  Van  Wert,  Putnam,  Henry,  Wood,  and  Williams,  should  partic- 
ipate in  common  in  the  election  of  a  representative  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State,  and  with  the  additional  county  of  Miami,  should  elect  one  State 
senator. 

Again,  in  the  year  1845,  by  an  act  passed  March  4,  Henry  county  was 
called  upon  to  surrender  a  part  of  her  territory  to  the  formation  of  Defiance 
county,  thus  taking  from  her  lands  on  the  western  border,  and  her  jurisdiction 
and  authority  over  the  part  so  taken  ceased,  except  as  to  suits  and  actions  then 
pending. 

For  a  third  time  the  county  was  made  to  surrender  her  territory  to  a  new 
formation,  in  the  year  1850,  under  an  act  passed  on  the  28th  day  of  February, 
creating  the  county  of  Fulton.  This  will  be  found  fully  set  forth  elsewhere  in 
this  work,  in  the  department  relating  to  Fulton  county,  so  that  a  detail  of  the 
facts  need  not  be  given  here. 

In  the  year  1834,  Henry  county  became  fully  organized  for  all  purposes; 
authorized  to  elect  its  own  officers,  hold  courts  within  its  boundaries,  and  per- 
form all  of  the  acts  and  duties  incumbent  upon  all  counties.  But,  before  go- 
ing into   the  facts  relative  to  this  organization,  and  the  proceedings  and  events 


Henry  County.  49 


that  occurred  at  that  time,  a  brief  description  of  the  location  and  characteris- 
tics of  the  county  will  at  this  time  be  appropriate. 

Henry  county  occupies  a  central  position  among  the  counties  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  State  of  Ohio,  that  is  usually  termed  the  Northwest.  Its  bounda- 
ries, after  the  formation  of  the  several  counties  in  the  region,  are  as  follows  : 
north  by  Fulton  county,  east  by  Wood  county,  south  by  Putnam  county,  and 
west  by  Defiance  and  a  small  part  of  Williams  counties. 

In  the  formation  of  Defiance  county,  the  lines  were  so  run  as  to  leave  a 
portion,  or  fragment  of  Henry,  projecting  westward  between  Fulton  and  De- 
fiance counties,  and  reaching  out  an  average  township  length  to  Williams 
county.  This  strip,  or  projecting  tract  of  land,  now  comprises  the  township  of 
Ridgeville.  With  the  exception  of  this  deformity,  caused  by  the  erection  of 
Defiance  county,  this  is,  perhaps,  as  regular  in  formation  and  boundary,  as  any 
of  the  counties  of  the  State. 

Under  an  act  of  the  State  Legislature  passed  during  the  session  of  1834, 
the  civil  organization  of  Henry  county  was  completed,  and  it  was  thereafter 
no  longer  annexed  to  Williams  county,  but  authorized  to  elect  its  own  officers, 
administrate  its  own  affairs,  and  govern  itself  The  act  made  provision,  also,  for 
the  appointment  of  three  commissioners,  not  residents  of  the  county,  to  whom 
fell  the  duty  of  locating  the  seat  of  justice  for  the  county.  In  the  performance 
of  the  trust  the  commissioners  visited  the  county,  and  viewed  the  several  locali- 
ties proposed,  heard  the  arguments  of  the  people,  pro  and  con,  and  finally,  and 
with  no  opposition,  or  but  very  little,  fixed  the  seat  of  justice  at  the  town  of 
Napoleon. 

The  first  proceeding  necessary,  after  the  complete  organization  of  the 
county  was  the  selection  of  county  officials.  They  were  as  follows  :  Pierce 
Evans,  Reuben  Waite  and  David  J.  Corry,  judges  ;  Newton  Evans,  clerk  of 
the  courts  :  Xenophen  Mead,  Amos  Cole  and  Allen  Brougher,  county  commis- 
sioners; Hazel  Strong,  auditor;  Israel  Waite,  treasurer;  Elkanch  Husted, 
sheriff;  William  Bowen,  coroner;  Frederick  Lord,  prosecuting  attorney.  They 
were  to  hold  their  respective  offices  until  the  general  election  in  October  fol- 
lowing, and  at  that  time  all  were  re-elected  except  that  Samuel  Bowers  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  sheriff  in  place  of  Elkanch  Husted,  who  had  left  the 
county.     The  whole  number  of  votes  cast  at  this  election  was  ninety-seven. 

A  term  of  court,  the  first  in  the  county,  was  held  at  the  public  house  of 
George  Stout,  a  short  distance  north  of  the  Maumee  River.  Judge  David 
Higgins  presided  upon  this  occasion,  having  reached  the  place  by  coming  up 
the  river  on  horseback.  Unfortunately,  the  journal  of  the  proceedings  of  this 
pioneer  court  was  destroyed  by  fire  upon  the  occasion  of  the  burning  of  the 
frame  court-house,  in  the  year  1847,  and  no  record  of  the  same  is  now  obtain- 
able. 

It  became  necessary  that,  for  the  proper  conduct  of  terms  of  court,  and  the 
7 


so  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  county,  there  should  be  provided  a  court- 
house, and  this  became  one  of  the  first  duties  devolving  upon  the  commission- 
ers. These  officials  made  an  agreement  with  George  Stout  that  he  should 
build  an  addition  to  his  log  tavern  for  the  purpose  indicated.  This  was  done 
within  a  reasonable  time,  and  a  suitable  room  was  thus  provided  in  which  just- 
ice was  "  meted  out  "  until  the  county  was  sufficiently  strong  in  point  of  popu- 
lation and  wealth  to  afford  a  more  pretentious  building.  The  court- room 
proper  was  located  upon  the  second  floor  of  the  log  addition,  while  the  other 
part  was  used  by  "  mine  host  "  Stout,  for  the  purposes  of  trade.  Courts  at  this 
time  were  held  but  twice  each  year,  so  the  worthy  landlord  enjoyed  undis- 
puted possession  most  of  the  time.  It  was  the  custom,  too,  upon  the  adjourn- 
ment, for  all  to  participate  in  a  jolly,  old-fashioned  country  dance,  in  which  the 
officials,  attendants,  litigants,  witnesses  and  general  hangers-on  should  partici- 
pate. 

This  old  log  court-house  answered  the  demands  of  the  county  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  but,  as  the  town  grew  more  populous,  and  the  county  became 
settled,  a  more  adequate  and  attractive  appearing  building  became  necessary. 
In  the  year  1844,  the  first  frame  court-house  building  was  erected.  It  stood 
near  the  corner  of  Perry  and  Washington  streets,  about  on  the  site  of  the  pres- 
ent building.  It  was  a  plain,  two-story  structure,  with  court-rooms  on  the 
upper  floor,  while  the  offices  of  the  county  officials  were  on  the  lower  or 
ground  floor.  It  was  built  by  Michael  Shuman,  and  cost  about  two  thousand 
dollars. 

During  these  years  the  old  jail  continued  in  use  as  a  place  of  confinement 
of  prisoners  and  offenders.  This  log  jail  stood  about  south  from  the  present 
jail,  across  and  on  the  south  side  of  the  canal.  This  was  used  for  all  cases  durr 
ing  the  early  days  of  the  county,  but  as  law-breakers  became  more  frequent 
and  desperate,  the  old  building  proved  no  longer  secure,  and  until  the  first 
brick  court-house  was  built  with  the  jail  in  its  basement,  many  of  the  more 
serious  offenders  were  taken  to  Maumee  City,  and  perhaps  a  few  to  other 
places.  The  most  noted  escapade  from  the  old  log  jail  was  that  of  the  mur- 
derers of  the  three  unoffending  Indians,  an  account  of  which  will  he  found  else- 
where in  this  volume. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1847,  by  an  incendiary  fire,  the  frame  court-house 
was  entirely  destroyed,  with  it  all  records,  books  and  valuable  papers  belong- 
ing to  the  several  departments  of  county  government,  except  a  few  of  the 
tax  duplicates,  which  were  saved  through  the  efforts  of  James  G.  Haly,  then 
auditor  of  the  county.  This  was  a  serious  loss  to  the  new  and  struggling 
county,  and  for  a  time  each  arm  of  the  local  government  seemed  paralyzed.  The 
commissioners  held  a  meeting  to  consider  the  misfortune,  but  with  no  unneces- 
sary delay  determined  upon  the  erection  of  another  and  more  substantial  court- 
house. But  here  another  question  was  presented  that  for  a  time  seriously 
threatened  the  removal  of  the  county  seat  from  Napoleon. 


Henry  County.  51 


About  this  time  there  was  some  effort  making  looking  toward  the  erection 
•of  another  county,  and  for  that  purpose  taking  again  of  the  lands  of  Henry 
county.  But  this  project  seemed  not  to  have  been  popular  and  found  not 
much  determined  support,  but  very  much  determined  opposition.  With  the 
burning  of  the  court-house  an  effort  was  made  to  have  the  county  seat  moved 
to  Florida  by  the  people  on  the  west  of  the  county,  and  to  Damascus  by  those 
residing  on  the  east.  These  movements  were  made  most  apparent  in  the 
nomination  of  candidates  for  the  office  of  pounty  commissioner,  each  locality 
using  the  greatest  endeavor  to  nominate  and  elect  a  commissioner  favorable  to 
the  particular  locality  he  should  represent. 

The  commissioners  then  in  office  were  under  contract  with  the  firm  of 
James  B.  Steedman  &  Co.  for  the  erection  of  a  new  county  jail,  and  in  fact 
the  work  was  already  commenced  when  the  fire  occurred.  For  a  modest  con- 
sideration the  contractors  were  induced  to  stop  work  and  surrender  their  con- 
tract. Following  this,  on  the  7th  of  March,  1848,  the  commissioners  adopted 
a  resolution  as  follows: 

"  Whereas,  the  subject  of  erecting  pubHc  buildings  for  the  county  of  Henry 
is  being  agitated  in  different  parts  of  the  county  at  this  time ;  and  whereas,  a 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  county  are  opposed  to  the  erection  of  such  build- 
ings, or  any  contract  for  the  same,  until  the  subject  of  the  removal  of  the 
county  seat  shall  have  been  fairly  and  fully  canvassed  by  the  people  at  the  next 
annual  election,  and  their  wishes  acted  upon  by  the  Legislature  at  its  next  ses- 
sion ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  that  the  subject  of  erecting,  contracting  for  or  constructing  pub- 
lic buildings  for  Henry  county,  be  postponed  until  after  the  rising  of  the  next 
General  Assembly." 

The  result  of  this  agitation  and  discussion  was  in  the  determination  of  the 
commissioners  to  erect  new  buildings  on  the  site  of  the  old.  Two  town  lots 
were,  in  December,  1849,  donated  by  the  proprietors  of  the  town  for  the  ad- 
ditional grounds  required  for  this  purpose.  It  was  provided  that  the  court- 
house and  jail  should  be  in  one  building,  and  that  the  county  officials'  quarters 
should  be  in  another,  separate  from  the  first.  The  former  to  be  two  stories  in 
height,  and  in  dimensions,  forty  by  sixty  feet.  The  offices  for  county  officials 
were  to  be  in  a  building  (fire-proof),  twenty  by  sixty  feet  in  size,  and  divided 
into  four  equal  apartments.  In  January,  1850,  the  contract  for  these  buildings 
was  awarded  to  James  Durbin,  Achilles  Smith  and  William  Russell,  at  the  price 
of  $7,495.75. 

In  due  course  of  time  these  buildings  were  completed ;  the  combined  court- 
house and  jail,  a  plain  brick  structure,  two  stories  high,  built  with  reference 
to  convenience  and  practical  utility  rather  than  ornamentation.  It  was  never- 
theless a  substantial  and  attractive  appearing  house  of  justice,  and  received  much 
favorable  commendation  from  visiting  magistrates  and  layman  of  the  legal  fra- 


52  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ternity.  The  apartments  for  the  incarceration  of  offenders  occupied  the  lower 
portion,  which  was  protected  on  the  sides  by  heavy  stone-walls,  while  the 
court-room  occupied  the  second  story.  The  rooms  for  the  jury  and  such  of 
the  officers  as  were  required  to  have  offices  in  the  building,  were  situated  in 
convenient  parts  and  well  ordered. 

This  building  answered  well  the  needs  of  the  county  for  many  years,  but, 
like  its  predecessor,  was  doomed  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  ravages  of  the  fiery 
fiend.  On  the  night  of  the  8th  of  November,  1879,  a  fire  broke  out  in  what 
the  residents  were  pleased  to  designate  as  "Dutch  Row,"  which  soon  commu- 
nicated to  the  adjoining  buildings,  and  ended  in  a  sweeping  and  disastrous  con- 
flagration. The  court-house  "  caught  fire  "  from  the  burning  buildings  and 
it  was  soon  a  mass  of  ruin  and  debris.  Henry  county  was  again  without  a 
court-house.  Fortunately,  none  of  the  records  of  the  county  were  destroyed, 
they  being  saved  before  fire  could  reach  their  place  of  keeping. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  1880,  the  commissioners  entered  into  a  contract 
with  Jacob  Karst  and  William  Woodruff  for  the  erection  of  the  new  and  ele- 
gant court-house,  an  ornament  to  the  village  of  Napoleon  and  an  honor  to  the 
county.  The  contract  price  for  its  construction  was  $79,825,  and  added  to 
this  the  cost  of  furnishing,  made  its  aggregate  cost  about  $95,000.  At  the  same 
time  and  in  the  same  contract  these  parties  were  awarded  the  work  of  build- 
ing the  present  jail  and  sheriff's  residence,  at  the  price  of  $20,000.  The  jail 
was  completed  during  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1880,  but  the  court-house 
was  not  finished  until  the  early  months  of  the  year  1882.  During  its  building 
Beckmann  Hall  was  used  for  county  and  court  purposes.  Fulton  county  un- 
doubtedly has  the  finest  court-house  in  northwestern  Ohio.  It  stands  on  an 
elevated  tract  of  land  at  the  corner  of  Perry  and  Washington  streets,  from  each 
of  which  avenues  there  is  an  entrance.  The  buildihg  is  of  brick  with  heavy 
and  finely  cut  Berea  sandstone  trimmings.  Its  height,  including  basement 
and  mansard  roof,  is  four  stories.  In  the  central  part  and  rising  to  a  height  of 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from  the  ground,  is  a  well  built  square  tower, 
surmounted  by  a  figure  of  justice.  Beneath  the  figure  and  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  tower  is  a  four-dial  clock.  The  interior  of  the  building  is  admirably  ar- 
ranged, the  main  floor  containing  the  most  important  of  the  county  officers' 
apartments.  The  prosecuting  attorney,  sheriff  and  clerk  have  offices  on  the  up- 
per floor,  on  which,  also,  is  the  spacious  and  well  arranged  court- room,  while  the 
county  surveyor,  infirmary  directors  and  janitor  have  offices  in  the  basement. 

In  rear  of  the  court-house,  and  fronting  on  Washington  street  is  the  sub- 
stantial and  secure  jail,  connected  with  which  is  a  comfortable  sheriff's  resi- 
dence. 

These  public  buildings  will  stand  a  lasting  monument  to  the  generosity  and 
public- spiritedness  of  the  people  of  Henry  county,  and  in  this  age  of  progress 
and  elaboration  they  can  point  with  pardonable  pride  to  this  magnificent 
structure  that  bears  favorable  comparison  with  any  in  the  State. 


Henry  County.  53 


Having  reviewed  the  leading  events  in  connection  with  the  erection  of  the 
county,  and  have  furnished  a  record  of  its  several  public  buildings,  it  is  fully- 
proper  that  this  chapter  should  close  with  a  roster  of  the  persons  who  have  been- 
in  charge  of  the  several  departments  of  its  civil  government ;  but  owing  to  the 
destruction  of  the  records  at  the  time  of  the  first  fire,  in  1 847,  and  the  loss  of  many 
since,  it  is  impossible  to  furnish  a  complete  and  civil  list  of  the  county  from 
the  date  of  its  complete  erection.  In  fact,  the  list  here  given  from  1852  down 
to  a  very  recent  date,  is  taken  from  the  files  of  the  North-  West,  the  leading 
newspaper  of  the  county.  To  attempt  to  give  a  hst  of  the  officers  prior  to 
1853,  would  involve  the  statistician  in  a  mass  of  inaccuracies,  as  all  information 
would  necessarily  be  based  upon  the  memory  of  "man,  jvhich,  at  best  is  unre- 
liable. The  first  officers  of  the  county  are  mentioned  in  the  early  part  of  this 
chapter.  The  following  record  contains  the  names  of  county  officers  who  were 
elected  at  the  time  indicated  by  the  year  given  in  each  case,  and  will  be  found 
to  be  reliable. 

In  the  year  1852,  those  holding  office  under  the  county  government  were 
as  follows:  Probate  judge,  Harvey  Allen;  clerk  of  the  courts,  A.  H.  Tyler; 
auditor,  William  J.  Jackson  ;  sheriff",  Daniel  Yarnell ;  treasurer,  George  Steb- 
bins ;  prosecuting  attorney,  Edward  Sheffield ;  recorder,  A.  Craig ;  county 
surveyor,  Paul  P.  Doud  ;  county  commissioners,  David  Harley,  D.  F.  Welsted,. 
Charles  Hornung. 

Elected  in  1852,  sheriff,  Henry  N.  Low;  commissioner,  Matthew  Reid;  cor- 
oner, David  Leist. 

1853.  County  auditor,  Edward  Sheffield  ;  treasurer,  Daniel  Yarnell  ;  re- 
corder, Rensselaer  Hudson;  commissioner,  John  Hamler;  prosecuting  attorney^ 
Justin  H.  Tyler ;  coroner,  Abel  Montgomery. 

1854.  Probate  judge,  Harvey  Allen;  clerk,  Asa  H.  Tyler;  sheriff,  Henry 
N.  Low ;  commissioner,  Ward  Woodward ;  surveyor,  W.  H.  Brownell. 

1855.  Auditor,  Edward  Sheffield;  treasurer,  Daniel  Yarnell;  commissioner,. 
Matthew  Reid  ;  prosecuting  attorney,  Justin  H.  Tyler. 

1856.  Sheriff,  C.  R.  McWilliams  ;  recorder,  Rensselaer  Hudson;  commis- 
sioner, John  Hamler. 

1857.  Probate  judge,  T.  S.  C.  Morrison;  clerk,  D.  M.  McCann  ;  auditor, 
J.  E.  Cowdrick;  treasurer,  H.  D.  Taylor  ;  prosecuting  attorney,  W.  A.  Choate; 
commissioner,  George  Crawford ;  surveyor,  Charles  Hornung ;  coroner,  Mi- 
chael Neff. 

1858.  Sheriff,  C.  R.  McWiUiams  ;  coroner,  John  Powell. 

1859.  Auditor,  James  E.  Cowdrick;  treasurer,  H.  D.  Taylor;  recorder,. 
Thomas  Yarnell ;  prosecuting  attorney,  William  A.  Choate  ;  commissioner, 
Levi  Spangler ;  coroner,  Reuben  Reiter. 

i860.  Probate  judge,  T.  S.  C.  Morrison;  clerk,  Thomas  W.  Durbin  ;  sheriff,. 
John  P.  Rowan;  commissioner,  George  Crawford;  surveyor,  Levi  Coffman. 


54  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

1 86 1.  The  records  for  this  year  are  missing,  yet  James  A.  Parker  was  pros- 
ecuting attorney,  and  Augustin  Pilloid  treasurer. 

1862.  Sheriff,  John  P.  Rowan;  recorder,  William  F.  Daggett;  commis- 
sioner, Levi  Spangler  ;   coroner,  Edward  Lingle  ;    surveyor, Strong. 

1863.  Probate  judge,  T.  S.  C.  Morrison;  auditor,  Rensselaer  Hudson;  treas- 
urer, Augustin  Pilloid  ;  clerk,  Charles  Reiter  ;  prosecuting  attorney,  James  A. 
Parker ;   commissioner,  John  C.  McLain  ;  surveyor,  Samuel  L.  Adams. 

1864.  Probate  judge,  John  M.  Haag ;  sheriff,  Oscar  E.  Barnes;  commis- 
sioner, Harrison  Hudson ;  coroner,  Edward  Lingle. 

1865.  Prosecuting  attorney,  James  A.  Parker;  auditor,  B.  F.  Stout;  treas- 
urer, C.  R.  McWilliams ;  recorder,  W.  F.  Daggett;  commissioner,  Henry  Schall. 

1866.  Probate  judge,  John  M.  Haag;  clerk,  Charles  Reiter;  sheriff,  Oscar 

E.  Barnes;    commissioner,  John  C.  McLain;  surveyor,  James  C.  Crawford; 
coroner,  Jacob  Diemer. 

1867.  Auditor,  B.  F.  Stout ;  treasurer,  W.  A.  Tressler;  prosecuting  attor- 
ney, J.  L.  Robertson  ;  commissioner,  H.  Hudson. 

1868.  Sheriff,  John  C.  Jaqua  ;  recorder,  J.  F.  Hoskinson  ;  commissioner, 
Henry  Schall ;  coroner,  Jacob  Diemer. 

1869.  Probate  judge,  James  G.  Haly  ;  clerk,  Oscar  E.  Barnes;  auditor, 
Frederick  Theek ;  prosecuting  attorney,  J.  L.  Robertson  ;  treasurer,  W.  A. 
Tressler ;  commissioner,  Thomas  W.  Durbin  ;  surveyor,  J.  C.  Crawford ;  cor- 
oner, Henry  Seeling. 

1870.  Sheriff,  Charles  Reiter;  commissioner,  R.  B.  Calkins. 

1 87 1.  Prosecuting  attorney,  J.  L.  Robertson;  treasurer,  H.  H.  Van  Fleet; 
recorder,  R.  P.  Osborn;  commissioner,  A.  J.  Saygers;  surveyor,  Henry  Kolbe; 
coroner,  Henry  Seeling. 

1872.  Probate  judge,  James  G.  Haly;   clerk,  Oscar  E.  Barnes;   auditor,  J. 

F.  Theek  ;  sheriff,  George  Daum  ;  commissioner,  Tighlman  Miller. 

1873.  Treasurer,  Henry  H.  Van  Fleet ;  prosecuting  attorney,  John  L.  Rob- 
ertson ;  commissioner,  John  Powell ;  coroner,  Henry  Seeling. 

1874.  Auditor,  W.  F.  Daggett ;  sheriff,  George  Daum;  recorder,  R.  P.  Os- 
burn;  prosecuting  attorney,  David  Meekison  ;  commissioner,  Charles  Hornung; 
surveyor,  Henry  Kolbe. 

1875.  Probate  judge,  James  G.  Haly;  clerk,  Oscar  E.  Barnes;  treasurer, 
John  C.  McLain  ;   commissioner,  Daniel  Yarnell ;  coroner,  Henry  Seeling. 

1876.  Auditor,  B.  F.  Stout;  sheriff,  D.  W.  Spangler;  prosecuting  attor- 
ney, David  Meekison  ;  commissioner,  Reuben  Reiter. 

1877.  Treasurer,  John  C.  McLain;  recorder,  Daniel  Hartnett ;  commis- 
sioner, Charles  Hornung  ;    surveyor,  George  Welsted  ;  coroner,  Michael  Neff. 

1878.  Probate  judge,  James  G.  Haly;  clerk,  Oscar  E.  Barnes ;  auditor,  H. 
L.  Ennes  ;  sheriff,  George  Daum;  prosecuting  attorney,  Martin  Knupp;  com- 
missioner, Daniel  Yarnell. 


Henry  County.  55 


1879.  Treasurer,  Charles  H.  Gidley ;  commissioner,  Reuben  Reiter  ;  cor- 
oner. Dr.  Henry  Woesterfeldt. 

1880.  Sheriff,  George  Daum  ;  prosecuting  attorney,  Martin  Knupp ;  re- 
corder, Daniel  Hartnett ;  commissioner,  W.  H.  Booher  ;  surveyor,  D.  P.  Hud- 
son. 

1 88 1.  Probate  judge,  David  Meekison ;  clerk,  Oscar  E.  Barnes;  auditor, 
Charles  Evers ;  treasurer,  Charles  Gidley ;  commissioner,  Henry  Rohrs ;  cor- 
oner, R.  M.  Cloud. 

1882.  Sheriff,  Frederick  Aller  :  prosecuting  attorney,  R.  W.  Cahill ;  com- 
missioner, James  Connelly. 

1883.  Treasurer,  A.  Pilliod  ;  recorder,  Thomas  W.  Durbin  ;  commissioner, 
W.  H.  Booher ;  surveyor,  D.  P.  Hudson ;  coroner,  R.  M.  Cloud. 

1884.  Probate  judge,  David  Meekison;  clerk,  James  Donovan;  sheriff,  Fred- 
erick Aller  ;  auditor,  Charles  Evers  ;  commissioner,  Henry  Rohrs. 

1885.  Treasurer,  J.  C.  Waltemire;  prosecuting  attorney,  R.  W.  Cahill;  com- 
missioner, George  Daum  ;  coroner,  R.  M.  Cloud. 

1886.  Sheriff,  E.  T.  Barnes;  recorder,  Thomas  W.  Durbin;  commissioner, 
W.  N.  Zierolf ;  surveyor,  Charles  N.  Schwab. 

The  present  officers  of  Henry  county  are  as  follows :  Probate  judge,  David 
Meekison  ;  treasurer,  J.  C.  Waltemire  ;  auditor,  Charles  Evers ;  clerk  of  the 
courts,  James  Donovan  ;  recorder,  Thomas  W.  Durbin ;  sheriff,  Elbert  T. 
Barnes ;  prosecuting  attorney,  R.  W.  Cahill ;  surveyor,  Charles  N.  Schwab  ; 
coroner,  Conrad  Bitzer ;  county  commissioners,  George  Daum,  Henry  Rohrs, 
William  N.  Zierolf;  infirmary  directors,  Henry  Bostleman,  Kimball  Rakestraw 
and  Peter  Schall. 


CHAPTER  VHI. 

Historical  Incidents  and  Localities  Connected  with  Henry  County — Simon  Girty — A  Tale  of 
the  Early  War — Logan's  Fidelity  Proved — The  Black  Swamp — Killing  of  Four  Indians. 

THERE  is,  perhaps,  no  locality  within  the  bounds  of  the  State  of  Ohio  that 
has  been  more  rich  with  historic  events,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  past 
and  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  than  the  valley  of  the  Maumee  River; 
and  while  the  whole  valley  has  been  the  scene  of  many  a  bloody  tragedy, 
many  a  conflict  at  arms  between  contending  hosts,  there  was  enacted  but  com- 
paratively few  scenes  of  strife  and  bloodshed  within  the  borders  of  that  which 
now  constitutes  the  county  of  Henry.  The  early  chapters  of  this  volume  have 
recounted  the  various  events  and  incidents  of  the  valley,  and  it  does  not  be- 
come this  chapter  to  furnish  more  than  to  such  incidents  as  can  be  located  in 
their  occurrence  to  this  county. 


56  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

From  the  village  of  Napoleon  up  the  Maumee,  a  distance  of  about  five 
miles,  is  located  what  have  been  termed  "  Girty's  Point,"  and  "Girty's  Island," 
so  named  and  called  from  the  fact  of  its  having  been  the  residence  and  place 
of  refuge  of  Simon  Girty,  the  renegade  white  savage,  who,  in  his  desire  to  be 
like  the  Indians,  by  whom  he  was  in  boyhood  adopted,  and  to  imitate  them 
in  all  their  barbarous  customs  "out-Indianed"  the  savages  themselves,  and 
perpetrated  acts  of  devilishness  and  inhuman  cruelty  upon  white  captives  that 
would  have  brought  a  blush  of  shame  upon  the  most  depraved  of  the  red  men 
•of  the  forest. 

The  history  of  Simon  Girty  has  been  read  by,  and  is  familiar  to  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  whole  Maumee  Valley,  and  all  historians  generally 
agree  upon  the  facts  of  his  life  and  deeds ;  yet,  of  late  years,  in  which  there 
seems  to  be  a  general  tendency  to  lessen  the  seriousness  of  past  events,  some 
writers  have  inclined  to  deal  more  moderately  with  Girty,  and  some  have  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  intimate  that  he  was  "more  sinned  against  than  sinning,"  thus 
showing  him  and  his  character  in  the  light  of  a  martyr,  rather  than  of  the  in- 
human, rapacious,  merciless,  and  devilish  cut-throat  and  villain  that  he  was. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  strong  vein  of  inhuman  and  unnatural  inclina- 
tion running  throughout  the  whole  Girty  family ;  the  father  was  given  to  the 
excessive  use  of  intoxicants,  to  obtain  which  he  was  restrained  by  no  influence; 
lie  had  no  loftier  ambition  than  to  get  drunk,  and  usually  found  means  to  grat- 
ify it.  He  was  abusive  and  heartless,  possessed  of  no  sense  of  manliness  or 
even  decency.  His  wife,  too,  formed  improper  associates,  but  for  her  there  is 
a  sentiment  of  charity  and  forgiveness.  They  had  four  sons,  Thomas,  Simon 
George  and  James.  All  of  these,  except  Thomas,  were  taken  by  the  Indians 
in  Braddock's  unfortunate  campaign  on  the  Pennsylvania  frontier.  Each  was 
adopted  by  an  Indian  tribe,  Simon,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  by  the  Senecas, 
the  most  fierce  of  the  tribes  forming  the  Iroquois  confederacy. 

One  act  of  honor,  however,  must  be  credited  to  Simon  Girty.  He  and 
Simon  Kenton  were  scouts  together  during  what  was  known  as  Dunmore's 
-war,  serving  faithfully  and  efficiently  under  command  of  Lord  Dunmore.  Some 
years  after  this  war  Kenton  was  captured  by  the  Indians,  subjected  to  the  most 
cruel  torture,  and  finally  condemned  to  death  at  the  stake.  About  this  time 
Girty,  who  was  known  among  the  savages  as  "  Katepacomen,"  appeared,  rec- 
<Dgnized  his  friend  and  at  once  interceded  in  his  behalf,  but  without  avail ;  for 
once  the  mighty  influence  of  Katepacomen  over  his  savage  associates  had  no 
force.  Kenton,  however,  was  not  burned,  but  through  the  power  of  "  Logan," 
he  was  transferred  to  another  quarter,  and  subsequently  managed  to  escape. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  sketch  to  furnish  a  detail  of  the  life  of  Simon 
Girty,  but  only  to  describe  briefly  the  renegade,  who,  without  friends,  having 
antagonized  the  Indians  and  outraged  the  whites  in  every  possible  manner, 
found  a  place  of  refuge  and  concealment  within  the  bounds  of  what  is  now 


Henry  County.  57 


Henry  county.  It  was  not  that  a  price  was  set  upon  the  head  of  the  renegade 
that  he  was  sought,  but  there  were  many  hardy,  determined  men,  sufferers 
through  the  loss  of  friends  and  relations,  at  the  hands  of  Girty,  who  had  deter- 
mined upon  vengeance.  It  was  these  men  who  wanted  Simon  Girty  and 
made  his  later  life  one  of  misery  and  remorse,  hunted  like  a  deer,  yet  he  es- 
caped them. 

Every  part  of  the  Northwest  was  well  known  to  Girty,  and  in  looking  for 
a  refuge  of  safety  none  more  secure  could  be  found  than  the  famed  "  black 
swamp."  It  was  in  this,  and  opposite  an  island  of  some  considerable  extent, 
on  the  bank  of  the  Maumee,  that  the  renegade  fixed  his  temporary  abode. 
His  cabin  stood  upon  the  bank  of  the  river  and  here  he  lived,  but  in  times  of 
pursuit,  for  the  scoundrel  seemed  to  scent  danger  in  the  air,  he  would  retire  to- 
the  densely  wooded  island,  where  any  attempt  to  find  him  was  useless  and 
only  exposed  the  pursuers  to  the  unerring  aim  of  his  deadly  rifle.  How  long 
Girty  remained  in  this  place  is  not  known  accurately.  Authorities  seem  to 
disagree  and  but  few  furnish  information  that  can  be  relied  upon  on  this  point, 
and  on  ^e:  finale  of  Girty's  career  as  well.  Some  affirm  that  he  died  of  the 
infirmities  of  age,  while  others  assert  that  his  end  was  tragic.  It  is  of  no  great 
moment,  however,  as  to  what  his  Hfe's  ending  was,  and  the  event  did  not  occur 
here.  The  place  of  his  habitation  on  the  river  is,  of  course,  entirely  obliterated, 
and  the  island,  too,  is,  in  part,  cleared  and  in  a  state  of  cultivation  ;  a  portion, 
however,  remains  something  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Girty,  densely  wooded 
and  covered  with  a  thick  and  almost  impenetrable  undergrowth.  The  whole 
locality  is  so  changed  now  by  improvement  and  cultivation  that  were  the  ren- 
egade to  return  in  person  he  would  not  recognize  the  place.  A  story  is  cur- 
rent that  the  ghost,  or  spirit,  of  Girty  still  haunts  the  island,  and  can  be  seen 
(but  not  interviewed)  occasionally.  Concerning  this  we  may  hope,  charitably, 
that  his  spirit  may  find  some  respite  from  everlasting  torment,  and  if  it  com- 
mits no  greater  offense  than  to  occasionally  visit  the  uncultivated  part  of  the 
island,  the  quiet  people  of  the  vicinity  will  pardon  such  an  intrusion.  It  is 
not  thought,  however,  that  any  person  will  seriously  maintain  a  belief  that  the 
redoubtable  Simon  still  lingers  about  the  place,  even  in  spirit. 

It  has  been  said  that  none  of  the  tragic  scenes  of  the  war  were  enacted  within 
the  hmits  of  Henry  county,  but  rather  that  this  country  bordering  on  the  river 
was  only  the  thoroughfare  of  travel  between  more  important  points.  The  sev- 
eral Indian  tribes  living  along  the  Maumee  frequently  passed  up  and  down,  as 
occasion  prompted,  either  on  errands  of  peace  or  war ;  and  it  is  true,  too,  that 
the  army  of  General  Wayne,  and  other  forces  of  armed  whites,  passed  through 
this  locality.  Wayne  camped  for  a  short  time  at  the  place  formerly  called 
"  Prairie  du  Masque,"  but  now  known  as  "  Damascus,"  yet  there  was  no  hostile 
meeting  in  these  parts,  unless  verification  be  given  the  story  as  related  and 
written  by  an  old  and  respected  resident  of  the  country,  whose  annals  this  vol- 

8 


58  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ume  contains.  The  story,  or  legend,  or  tradition,  whichever  it  may  be,  was 
written  for  one  of  the  county  papers,  and  from  that  it  is  wholly  taken,  except 
the  name  of  the  writer.  The  scene  of  the  contest  was  on,  or  very  near,  the  site 
of  the  village  of  Napoleon. 

It  seems,  as  the  story  goes,  that  Logan's  fidelity  to  the  cause  of  the  Amer- 
icans was  seriously  doubted  by  many  persons,  and  the  suspicion  coming  to  the 
ears  of  that  famous  warrior,  seriously  mortified  him,  whereupon  he  determined 
to  prove  anew  his  loyalty  and  honor. 

Accordingly,  on  the  22d  of  November,  1812,  accompanied  by  Captains 
John  and  Brighthorn,  he  started  the  second  time  for  the  Rapids,  resolved  to 
bring  in  a  prisoner  or  scalp,  or  lose  his  own.  Having  proceeded  down  the 
north  side  of  the  Maumee  about  ten  miles,  the  present  site  of  Florida,  they  met 
a  British  officer — the  eldest  son  of  Captain  Elliott — accompanied  by  Winne- 
mac,  the  celebrated  Pottawattamie  chief,  and  five  Indians,  four  of  them  being 
on  horseback  and  too  strong  for  Logan's  force,  there  being  seven  of  the  enemy 
to  only  three  of  his  party.  Seeing  no  chance  of  escape,  Logan  at  once  deter- 
mined to  pass  them  under  the  pretense  of  friendship  and  a  desire  to  communi- 
cate to  the  British  certain  information.  With  this  determination  he  and  his 
two  men  advanced  to  the  party,  and  to  the  surprise  of  Logan  he  found  one  of 
them  was  his  old  enemy,  Winnemac,  who  knew  Logan  well,  and  fully  aware 
of  his  friendship  for  and  adherence  to  the  American  cause.  But  nevertheless 
Logan  still  persisted  in  his  first  course,  telling  them  he  was  on  his  way  to  com- 
tnunicate  with  the  British.  After  a  conversation  with  them  for  some  time, 
ihey  moved  towards  the  British  lines,  whereupon  Winnemac  and  his  com- 
panions turned  and  followed  them,  desiring  to  accompany  them  thither.  As 
they  traveled  on  together,  says  McCafifee,  Winnemac  and  his  party  closely 
watched  them,  and  when  they  had  proceeded  seven  or  eight  miles  to  the 
mouth  of  a  creek,  which  would  bring  them  to  a  point  between  Trowbridge's 
rstave  factory  and  the  river,  as  the  old  tra:il  run  at  this  point  between  the  canal 
and  river,  Winnemac  at  this  point  proposed  to  the  British  officer  that  they 
seize  Logan  and  his  party  and  tie  them.  The  officer  replied  that  they  were 
-completely  within  his  power,  and  that  if  they  attempted  to  run  the  horses  could 
■  easily  run  them  down,  or  they  could  be  shot.  This  conversation  was  over- 
heard by  Logan.  He  previously  intended  to  go  on  with  them  peaceably  until 
night  and  then  make  his  escape,  but  he  now  formed  the  bold  design  of  extri- 
.cating  himself  by  a  combat  with  more  than  double  his  number. 

Having  signified  this  determination  to  his  men,  Logan  commenced  the  at- 
tack by  shooting  down  Winnemac  himself  The  action  lasted  until  they  had 
iired  three  rounds  apiece,  during  which  time  Logan  and  his  brave  Companions 
drove  the  enemy  nearly  two  miles,  and  separated  them  from  their  horses.  By 
the  first  fire  both  Winnemac  and  Elliot  fell;  by  the  second  a  young  Ottawa 
(Chief  lost  his  life,  and  another  of  the  enemy  was  mortally  woiitidfed.  ^  About 


Henry  County.  59 


the  conclusion  of  the  combat,  which  must  have  been  on  or  near  the  farm  now- 
owned  by  George  Patrick,  at  which  time  Logan  himself,  while  stooping  down, 
received  a  ball  just  below  the  breast  bone.  It  ranged  downward  and  lodged 
under  the  skin  on  his  back.  In  the  mean  time  Brighthorn  was  also  wounded 
by  a  ball  that  passed  through  his  thigh.  Another  of  the  enemy  also  bit  the 
dust  at  this  time.  As  soon  as  Logan  was  wounded  he  ordered  a  retreat.  Both 
he  and  Brighthorn  jumped  on  horses  of  the  enemy,  and  both  rode  to  Winches- 
ter's camp  at  Defiance,  a  distance  of  about  twenty  miles,  in  five  hours.  Cap- 
tain John,  after  taking  the  scalp  of  the  Ottawa  chief,  also  retreated  in  safety 
and  arrived  in  Defiance  the  next  morning. 

Logan  had  now  vindicated  his  character  as  a  brave  and  faithful  soldier  and 
friend  to  the  American  cause  from  the  obloquy  which  had  been  unjustly 
thrown  upon  him  ;  but  he  preserved  his  honor  at  the  expense  of  the  next  best 
gift  of  heaven  —  his  life.  His  wound  proved  mortal.  He  lived  days  in  agony> 
which  he  bore  with  uncommon  fortitude,  and  died  with  the  utmost  composure 
and  resignation.  More  firmness  and  consummate  bravery  has  seldom  ap- 
peared on  the  military  theatre.  Said  Winchester  in  his  letter  to  the  command- 
ing general :  "  He  was  buried  with  all  the  honor  due  to  his  rank,  and  with 
sorrow  as  sincerely  displayed  as  I  ever  witnessed."  Said  Major  Hardin  in  a 
letter  to  Governor  Shelly :  "  His  physiognomy  was  formed  on  the  best  model, 
and  exhibited  the  strongest  marks  of  courage,  good  humor  and  sincerity."  It 
was  said  by  the  Indians  that  the  British  offered  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
for  his  scalp.  He  had  been  very  serviceable  to  our  cause  by  acting  as  a  guide 
and  spy.  He  had  gone  with  General  Hull  to  Detroit,  and  with  the  first  Ken- 
tucky troops  who  marched  to  the  relief  of  Fort  Wayne. 

The  foregoing  story  will  not,  in  all  respects,  accord  with  the  life  and  death 
of  Logan,  as  it  has  been  written  by  historians  of  recognized  ability  and  re- 
search, nor  will  it  fully  harmonize,  in  some  particulars,  with  statements  made 
in  this  work  relating  to  the  Indian  occupation  and  events  of  the  territory  un- 
der consideration;  yet  on  the  whole,  the  story  is  a  good  one  and  worthy  of  a 
place  in  these  annals,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  portray  the  facts  and  incidents, 
and  all  of  them,  of  the  territory  treated,  impels  its  reproduction  here. 

The  Black  Swamp. — Here  was,  many  years  ago,  an  extensive  tract  of  land, 
lying  in  part  within  the  county  of  Henry.  It  has  its  history,  and  like  all  other 
parts  of  this  comparatively  new  country,  that  history  has  been  made  in  its 
transformation  from  swamp  lands  into  broad  and  well  cultivated  fields,  no  bet- 
ter than  which  lies  within  the  State  of  Ohio. 

In  the  year  1846,  when  this  county  was  in  a  comparatively  unimproved 
condition,  Henry  Howe,  with  assistants,  made  a  tour  of  the  State,  gathering 
data  for  his  "Historical  Collections"  of  Ohio.  In  his  journeyings  Mr.  Howe 
visited  the  famous  "Black  Swamp,"  and  at  a  time  when  the  same  existed  in 
its  "full  force  and  virtue."     In  describing  it  in  his  sketch  of  Henry  county,  he 


6o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

says:  "A  greater  part  of  this  county  is  covered  by  the  famous  'Black  Swamp.' 
This  tract  reaches  over  an  extent  of  country  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
in  length,  with  an  average  breadth  of  forty  miles,  about  equaling,  in  area,  the 
State  of  Connecticut.  It  is,  at  present,  thinly  settled  and  has  a  population  of 
about  fifty  thousand;  but  probably  in  less  than  a  century,  when  it  shall  be 
cleared  and  drained,  it  will  be  the  garden  of  Ohio,  and  support  half  a  million 
of  people.  The  surface  is  generally  high  and  level,  and  sustains  a  dense 
growth  of  forest  trees,  among  which  beech,  ash,  elm  and  oak,  cotton-wood, 
and  poplar  most  abound.  The  branches  and  foliage  of  this  magnificent  forest 
are  almost  impenetrable  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  its  gloomy  silence  remained 
unbroken  until  disturbed  by  the  restless  emigrants  of  the  west.  It  is  an  inter- 
esting country  to  travel  through.  The  perfect  uniformity  of  the  soil,  the  level 
surface  of  the  ground  alike  retaining  and  alike  absorbing  water,  has  given  to  the 
forest  a  homogeneous  character;  the  trees  are  all  generally  of  the  same  height, 
so  that  when  viewed  at  a  distance  through  the  haze,  the  forests  appear  like  an 
immense  blue  wall  stretched  across  the  horizon.  It  is  yet  the  abode  of  wild 
animals:  flocks  of  deer  are  occasionally  seen  bounding  through  its  labyrinths, 
flowers  and  flowering  shrubs  bloom  in  its  midst  and  beautiful  birds  make  it 
vocal  with  melody. 

"Throughout  the  swamp,  a  mile  or  two  apart,  are  slight  ridges  of  limestone, 
from  forty  rods  to  a  mile  wide,  running  usually  in  a  westerly  direction,  and 
covered  with  black  walnut,  butternut,  red  elm  and  maple.  The  top  soil  of  the 
swamp  is  about  a  foot  thick  and  composed  of  black,  decayed,  vegetable  matter, 
extremely  fertile.  Beneath  this  and  extending  several  feet,  is  a  rich,  yellow 
clay  having  large  quantities  of  fertilizing  substances  of  lime  and  silex.  Lower 
still  is  a  stratum  of  black  clay  of  great  depth.  The  water  of  the  swamp  is  un- 
pleasant to  the  taste  from  containing  a  large  quantity  of  sulphur;  it  is,  how- 
ever, healthy  and  peculiarly  beneficial  to  persons  of  a  costive  habit,  or  having 
diseases  of  the  blood.  The  soil  is  excellent  for  grain  and  almost  all  produc- 
tions." 

Such,  then,  was  the  "  Black  Swamp,"  forty  and  more  years  ago.  It  is  true, 
as  the  historian  states,  that  it  covered  a  major  portion  of  Henry  county,  but 
from  its  vast  extent,  this  county  lay  on  the  margin  of  the  swamp,  the  Maumee 
being  practically  its  northern  boundary.  It  is  frequently  understood  that  the 
swamp  occupied  the  territory  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  but  this  theory  seems 
hardly  well  founded.  The  lands  generally  throughout  the  county  were,  be- 
fore being  drained,  swampy  or  marshy,  and  the  soil  in  many  places  partook  of 
the  peculiar  distinguishing  character  of  the  swamp  lands  proper,  but  they 
formed  no  part  of  what  has  properly  been  termed  the  "Black  Swamp."  The 
speculations,  too,  of  the  worthy  historian  have  proved  true,  wherein  he  says: 
"But  probably  in  less  than  a  century,  when  it  shall  be  cleared  and  drained,  it 
will  be  the  garden  of  Ohio."     There  is  to-day   no    more  fertile  land,  or  more 


Henry  County.  6i 


productive  land  within  the  State  than  can  be  found  within  the  old  "Black 
Swamp."  While  its  fertility  was  quite  well  known  during  the  early  days  of 
the  county,  there  were  but  few  of  the  pioneers  that  had  the  hardihood  to  at- 
tempt the  development  of  it;  its  locality  was  exceedingly  unhealthy  and  it 
abounded  in  agues  and  fevers  and  other  kindred  diseases.  For  these  reasons 
the  development  of  this  section  was  delayed  and  the  struggling  pioneer  sought 
other  lands  which  were  less  difficult  of  improvement,  and  wherein  health  and 
life  were  not  endangered. 

It  was  in  the  year  1835,  soon  after  the  civil  organization  of  the  county 
was  completed  and  its  officers  chosen,  that  one  Brown  was  charged  with  hav- 
ing murdered  an  Indian.  The  culprit  was  arraigned  before  "Squire'  Strong, 
but  for  a  lack  of  evidence  sufficient  to  hold  him,  he  was  discharged.  He  im- 
mediately left  the  vicinity,  fearing  that  the  companions  of  the  Indian  would 
enforce  the  law  according  to  their  own  "primitive  custom." 

It  was  but  a  short  time  after  the  event  just  narrated  happened,  that  three 
Wyandot  Indians  were  found  murdered  in  the  south  part  of  the  county,  whither 
they  had  come  to  hunt  and  trap  game.  Two  young  men  named  Lyons  and 
Anderson  were  arrested  and  charged  with  the  crime.  They  stoutly  protested 
innocence,  however,  but  were  confined  in  the  old  log  jail  awaiting  trial.  They 
managed  to  escape  and  made  themselves  scarce  in  these  parts.  One  was  sub- 
sequently re-captured,  tried  and  acquitted.  The  Indians  were  quite  inoffen- 
:sive  creatures,  named  Summadewat,  Canwaan  and  Nancy,  the  wife  of  Canwaan. 
•One  of  them  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel  among  the  Wyandot  Indians. 


62  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  aENERAL  TOPOaRAPHICAL  AND  GEOGRA.PHICAL  VIEW  OF  HENRY 
COUNTY;  ITS  CIVIL  DIVISIONS. 

HENRY  county  occupies  a  position  in  that  portion  of  the  State  of  Ohio, 
that  is  generally  termed  the  Northwest,  and  in  northwestern  Ohio  its. 
position  is  nearly  central ;  it  is  removed  but  the  width  of  a  single  county,  Ful- 
ton, from  the  Michigan  State  line  on  the  north,  and  but  a  single  tier  of  coun- 
ties intervene  between  its  west  boundary  and  the  State  of  Indiana.  It  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Fulton,  east  by  Wood,  south  by  Putnam,  and  west 
by  Defiance  county.  The  county  seat,  Napoleon,  is  of  latitude  north  forty- 
one  degrees  and  twenty-two  minutes,  and  longitude  west  eighty-four  degrees- 
and  seven  minutes. 

The  geographical  location,  in  the  county,  of  the  county-seat  is  in  the 
northwest  part,  perhaps  some  eight  or  ten  miles  from  the  central  part  of  the 
county,  and  was  established  by  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Legislature,, 
at  variance  with  the  usual  custom  of  locating  the  seat  of  justice  as  near  as  pos- 
sible to  the  geographical  center  of  the  county.  But  in  justice  to  the  worthy 
commissioners  who  fixed  the  county  seat,  it  must  be  said  that  their  duties  were 
as  faithfully  and  conscientiously  performed  as  could  be  done.  The  county 
seat  must  be  situate  on  the  beautiful  and  historic  Maumee,  and  no  more  avail- 
able, appropriate,  or  central  location  could  be  designated  than  the  then  little 
settlement  in  Napoleon  township.  The  commissioners  could  not,  of  course, 
foresee  the  reduction  of  the  county's  territory  in  the  erection  of  Defiance  and 
Fulton  counties,  but  by  these  formations,  and  the  surrender  of  Henry  county's- 
territory  for  them,  the  county  seat  was  left  in  a  position  still  further  removed 
from  the  geographical  center  of  the  county,  as  now  constituted. 

As  originally  laid  out  by  the  act  of  the  Legislature  creating  it,  the  county 
was  embraced  in  a  substantially  square,  solid  block  of  land,  containing  near 
five  hundred  and  seventy-five  square  miles  of  territory ;  but  the  erection  of 
Defiance  county  took  three  townships  from  the  west  side,  or  some  one  hundred 
and  eight  square  miles,  leaving  to  the  county  its  extreme  northwest  township, 
Ridgeville,  projecting  westward  from  this,  between  the  counties  of  Defiance 
and  Fulton. 

Again,  in  the  erection  of  Fulton  county,  Henry  was  called  upon  to  yield 
her  lands  therefor,  and,  although  no  whole  townships  were  taken,  the  town- 
ships of  Ridgeville,  Freedom,  Liberty  and  Washington  lost  each  at  least  eight 
square  miles,  or  a  total  of  thirty- two.      It  is  not  deemed  necessary  for  the  pur- 


Henry  County.  63 


poses  of  this  chapter  to  recite  the  erection  of  Lucas  county,    and  a  description 
of  the  lands  of  this  county  that  were  taken  therefor. 

By  far  the  most  important  of  the  natural  characteristics,  or  features  of 
Henry  county,  is  the  presence  and  existence  of  the  Maumee  River.  This 
stream  enters  the  county  from  the  west,  at  a  point  abont  two  miles  south  of 
the  boundary  line,  between  the  townships  of  Flatrock  and  Napoleon,  thence 
it  flows  in  a  course  generally  east  by  north,  until  section  two,  of  Flatrock  town- 
ship is  reached,  at  which  point  the  course  of  the  river  bears  north  with  a  slight 
inclination  west,  and  so  holds  for  a  distance  of  about  three  miles,  when  it  bears 
to  the  northeast,  and  passes  from  Napoleon  township  into  the  northern  part  of 
Harrison,  which  it  crosses  in  a  generally  east  direction,  until  Damascus  town- 
ship is  reached.  Its  course  across  the  latter  is  also  about  due  east,  with  a 
slight  bend  in  the  vicinity  of  Texas ;  and  it  leaves  the  county  at  the  northeast 
part  of  the  last  named  township,  nearly  between  sections  one  and  twelve.  On 
the  north  side  of  the  river  and  bearing  substantially  the  same  course,  is  the 
Miami  and  Erie  Canal;  and,  while  the  latter  is  by  no  means  one  of  the  natural 
characteristics  of  the  county,  it  is,  nevertheless,  an  important  factor  in  connec- 
tion with  the  drainage  system  of  the  county.  This  canal  was  projected  dur- 
ing the  "  thirties ;  "  the  contracts  for  construction,  in  this  neighborhood,  at 
least,  were  let  in  or  about  the  year  1837,  but  the  highway  proper  was  not 
opened  for  traffic  until  the  year  1843.  Old  settlers,  who  have  watched  the 
events  of  the  past,  will  recall  this  memorable  occasion,  upon  which  Lewis  Cass 
made  the  opening  address.  The  event,  however,  did  not  take  place  within  this 
county  or  State,  but  in  the  State  of  Indiana,  on  the  west. 

In  addition  to  the  utility  of  the  canal  as  a  thoroughfare  for  boat  navigation, 
and  as  a  receptacle  for  drainage  water  in  many  parts  of  the  county,  its  waters 
also  are  utilized  as  a  source  of  powers  for  many  mills  and  manufactories  in  the 
county  that  are  situate  between  it  and  the  river.  That,  by  drawing  off  of  this 
water  for  mill  and  factory  purposes,  the  supply  for  regular  navigation  purposes 
may  not  be  exhausted,  the  river  has  been  dammed  at  convenient  points,  and 
its  water  used  to  replenish  and  keep  up  the  canal  supply,  which  process  and 
erection  necessary  for  the  purpose  are  termed  as  "feeders." 

In  the  county,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  the  canal  receives  nearly  all 
of  the  drainage  water,  both  natural  and  artificial,  while  on  the  south  side  the 
river  alone  carries  off  the  surplus.  None,  however,  of  the  streams  of  the 
county,  except  the  river,  is  of  any  considerable  magnitude,  and  few,  if  any, 
can  be  relied  upon  to  furnish  power  at  any  time  except  during  the  winter  and 
early  spring;  for  this  reason,  therefore,  there  are  found  no  water-mills  away 
from  the  channel  of  the  Maumee. 

Another  of  the  natural  .characteristics  of  Henry  county  (now  a  thing  of 
the  past)  was  the  existence  of  the  famous  Black  Swamp,  which  originally  cov- 


64  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ered  the  larger  part  of  the  county's  area,  and  struck  terror  to  the  heart  of  the 
early  pioneer.  The  vast  body  of  land  that  was  formerly  a  part  of  this  swamp, 
is  now  counted  among  the  richest  and  most  productive  farming  lands  to  be 
found  within  the  borders  of  the  county.  Being  the  subject  of  special  mention 
in  another  chapter  of  this  work,  no  repetition  of  it  is  here  needed. 

In  the  year  1820,  by  an  act  of  the  State  Legislature,  the  county  of  Henry 
was  given  a  life.  At  that  time,  and  for  several  years  afterward,  there  were  but 
very  few  residents  within  its  borders,  as  defined  by  the  act.  For  the  purpose 
of  perfecting  some  system  of  organization,  and  exercising  some  sort  of  civil 
jurisdiction  over  it,  it  was,  with  other  counties,  consoHdated,  thereby  including 
a  sufficient  population  within  the  whole  of  them  to  warrant  municipal  control 
subordinate  to  the  civil  control  of  the  State. 

In  the  year  1821  the  county  was  surveyed  and  townships  established,  not 
however,  established,  or  formed  to  the  extent  of  having  a  local  civil  organi- 
zation, but  in  accordance  with  the  necessity  and  order  for  sub-division  into 
convenient  bodies  of  land  for  purposes  of  designation,  and  in  contemplation  of 
future  settlement,  growth,  and  development.  In  the  year  1823  the  county 
entire  was  organized  into  a  township,  or  election  district,  and  called  Damascus. 
There  has  been,  and  still  is,  some  speculation  as  to  the  origin,  or  derivation  of 
the  name  Damascus,  as  applied  in  this  connection.  There  did  exist,  at  a 
point  down  the  river  some  miles,  many  years  ago,  a  trading  post,  or  village, 
known  by  the  French  name  of  "Prairie  du  Mask,"  or  "  Prairie  du  Masque,"  and 
it  is  thought,  and  with  much  show  of  reason,  that  the  prefix  word  "  Prairie"  had 
been  dropped,  and  the  remainder  corrupted,  or  transformed  into  the  name  Da- 
mascus, changing  its  original  character  entirely  and  adding  the  last  syllable  to 
give  euphony.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  a  question  quite  impossible  to 
solve  at  this  day,  as  difficult  at  least  as  it  is  to  determine  why  the  county  seat 
was  named  "  Napoleon."  In  regard  to  each  of  these,  and  the  reason  of  it  we 
must  be  content  with  the  old  and  familiar  saying :  "  It  was  done  because  it 
was  done,  and  that's  the  end  on't." 

In  the  year  1835,  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  passed  at  the  last 
preceding  session,  the  civil  organization  of  Henry  county  was  perfected,  and 
from  that  time  dates  the  separate  organization  6f  her  several  townships,  al- 
though they  were  not  so  organized  at  the  same  time.  It  seems,  unfortunately, 
that  in  the  disastrous  fire  of  1847,  the  court-house,  together  with  all  the 
county  records,  was  destroyed,  and  with  that  loss  was  also  destroyed  the  posi- 
tion and  exact  date  of  the  formation  of  the  several  townships  previously  erected, 
leaving  only  the  imperfect  township  records,  and  the  "  memory  of  man  "  to  be 
relied  upon.  The  former  have,  to  say  the  least,  been  carelessly  kept,  in  most 
instances,  thus  placing  them  on  the  same  level  with  the  memory  of  man,  not 
confidently  to  be  relied  upon.     Such  records,  however,  as  have  been  preserved 


Henry  County.  65 


concerning  the  formation  of  the  townships,  and  dates  thereof,  will  be  found  in 
connection  with  the  history  of  each,  which  appears  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

There  are,  in  Henry  county,  thirteen  separate  township  organizations,  each 
of  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  four  constituting  the  north  tier,  contains,  or 
at  their  original  survey  did  contain,  thirty- six  square  miles  (sections)  of  land. 
The  four  townships  excepted  from  the  above  statement  are  Ridgeville,  Free- 
dom, Liberty  and  Washington.  Liberty  and  Washington,  however,  since  their 
original  survey,  have  been  extended  so  as  to  embrace  all  the  land  lying  be- 
tween their  then  south  boundary  and  the  Maumee  River.  For  this  extension 
the  townships  of  Harrison  and  Damascus  surrendered  territory,  the  former  to 
Liberty,  and  the  latter  to  Washington. 

The  several  townships  of  the  county,  naming  them  promiscuously,  are  as 
follows :  Ridgeville,  Freedom,  Liberty,  Washington,  Napoleon,  Harrison,  Da- 
mascus, Flat  Rock,  Monroe,  Richfield,  Pleasant,  Marion  and  Bartlow,  concern- 
ing each  of  which  a  detailed  chapter  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  work. 


CHAPTER  X. 

GEOLOaY  OF  HENRY  COUNTY. 

BEFORE  speaking  of  the  geology  of  Henry  county,  it  will  be  well  to  give  a 
short  sketch  of  the  general   geological  conditions  of  the  Maumee  Valley. 

Maumee  Valley. — The  latest  open  sea  that  covered  the  valley  of  the  Mau- 
mee was  that  of  the  Devonian  age,  and  the  highest  grade  of  fossils  that  were 
found  in  its  rocks  are  those  of  fishes.  The  Carboniferous  age  being  above  the 
Devonian,  it  is  then  useless  to  look  for  coal  in  the  valley. 

After  the  Devonian  age  came  the  Glacial  epoch  with  its  mighty  glaciers, 
that  extended  from  the  pole  to  Southern  Ohio,  covering  Northwestern  Ohio 
many  hundreds  of  feet  deep  in  ice,  which  was  not  in  a  state  of  rest,  but  went 
plowing  with  resistless  force  across  the  country,  scooping  out  the  beds  of  the 
great  lakes,  grinding  off  the  surface  of  the  rocks,  reducing  them  to  powder 
and  scattering  the  debris  over  the  bare,  rocks,  covering  them  up,  and  thus 
laying  the  foundation  of  soil  upon  which  vegetation  could  grow,  and  air- 
breathing  animals  could  live.  The  marks  upon  the  rocks  show  that  the 
general  course  of  the  glacial  flow  was  up  the  valley  in  a  general  southwestern 
direction.     There  is  a  continuous  ridge  along  the  eastern  banks  of  the  St.  Jo- 


66  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

seph  and  St.  Mary's  rivers,  which  marks  the  point  at  which  a  change  of  climate 
took  place.  The  glacial  stream  was  arrested  and  a  deposit  of  boulders,  sand 
and  gravel  was  made.  During  the  melting  of  this  large  body  of  ice  there  were 
great  floods  of  water,  which  could  not  be  discharged  in  the  direction  of  Lake 
Erie,  as  the  space  was  covered  with  ice  many  hundreds  of  feet  in  thickness. 
This  water  was,  therefore,  discharged  through  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Wabash  Valley,  into  the  Mississippi  and  the  Gulf.  This  gi'eat  flow  of  water 
dug  out  the  present  bed  of  the  Wabash  River,  which  is  now  an  unimportant 
stream,  yet  the  width  and  depth  of  the  valley  shows  that  it  was  once  the  bed 
of  a  mighty  river. 

After  the  melting  of  the  ice  the  Maumee  Valley  was  covered  with  an  im- 
mense lake,  having  its  western  shore  at  the  ridge  just  mentioned.  This  lake 
remained  for  ages  a  quiet  sea  of  fresh  water,  and  with  its  deposits  of  fine  clay 
covered  up  the  scars  left  by  the  ice,  and  left  a  smooth  plain  covered  with  a 
material  in  itself  rich  in  plant  food,  which,  owing  to  its  tenacity  formed  the  best 
possible  basis  for  the  remarkably  fertile  soil  which  now  covers  it. 

After  a  long  period  of  time  another  ridge  was  formed  near  to  and  parallel 
with  the  first  ridge,  which  had  a  height  of  220  feet  above  the  present  surface 
of  the  lake.  This  second  ridge  had  an  elevation  of  195  feet.  Again  after  a 
long  lapse  of  time,  the  third  ridge  was  formed,  parallel  with  the  two  others,  at 
an  elevation  above  the  lake  of  170  feet.  This  ridge  is  known  as  the  Belmore 
Ridge,  and  enters  Henry  county  at  Freedom  Mills  post-office,  passing  through 
Ridgeville  Corners,  and  crossing  the  Maumee  River  at  Independence,  in  De- 
fiance county.  This  ridge,  after  crossing  the  river,  passes  through  Pleasant 
township,  and  also  Marion  township,  in  Henry  county,  near  the  villages  of  New 
Bavaria  and  Richland.  This  is  a  low  sandy  ridge,  generally  but  a  few  rods 
wide,  and  only  four  or  five  feet  high.  The  fourth  beach  is  marked  by  a  sandy 
territory  reaching  from  Sylvania,  in  Lucas  county,  to  a  point  a  few  miles  below 
Napoleon,  and  lies  north  of  the  Maumee  River.  This  tract,  though  not  re- 
markable for  its  fertility,  contains  a  mine  of  wealth,' inasmuch  as  it  furnishes  an 
inexhaustible  supply  of  the  best  quality  of  glass  sand.  It  is  now  being  shipped 
in  immense  quantities  from  Sylvania  and  Monclova,  in  Lucas  county,  for  that 
purpose.  The  shipping  of  the  sand  has  received  a  great  impetus  since  the  dis- 
covery of  natural  gas.  Large  glass  manufactories  will  soon  be  established  on 
this  beach  and  will  be  supplied  with  gas  by  piping,  and  the  shipping  of  the 
sand  saved. 

This  beach  has  an  elevation  of  from  sixty  to  ninety  feet.  The  fifth  beach 
•constitutes  the  present  shore  of  the  lake. 

If  present  conditions  continue,  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  Lake  Erie 
will  disappear,  and  in  its  valley  there  will  flow  an  immense  river,  which  will 
•carry  the  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes,  that  now  flow  through  and  constitute  Lake 


Henry  County.  (jj 


Erie.  Niagara  Falls  has  already  worn  its  way  from  Lewiston  to  its  present 
location.  This  wearing  away  of  the  barrier  will  continue  until  Lake  Erie  is 
tapped  at  or  near  Buffalo,  when  Lake  Erie  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  the 
space  now  occupied  by  its  shallow  waters,  will  be  a  fertile  plain,  supporting  an 
immense  population. 

At  no  distant  date  northwestern  Ohio  (of  which  the  Maumee  Valley  consti- 
tutes the  greater  portion),  owing  to  its  late  discoveries  of  gas  and  oil,  will  be 
called  upon  to  support  a  denser  population  than  any  other  portion  of  the  con- 
tinent of  equal  area.  The  great  agricultural  resources  of  this  region  will  enable 
it  to  comply  with  this  demand  of  the  future. 

Drainage. — The  drainage  of  the  Maumee  Valley  is  towards  the  Maumee 
River  and  Lake  Erie ;  that  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  is  southeast,  while 
that  on  the  south  side  is  towards  the  northeast.  A  peculiar  feature  of  the 
drainage  of  the  valley  is  that  the  St.  Joseph  River,  which,  uniting  with  the 
Au  Glaize  at  Defiance,  forms  the  Maumee  River,  receives  all  its  important 
tributaries  from  its  right  bank.  This  is  also  true  of  Bean  Creek,  the  waters 
from  the  left  bank  flowing  away  from  these  streams.  This  is  reversed  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Maumee,  the  Au  Glaize  receiving  all  its  important  tributaries 
from  the  left  bank.  The  Wabash  takes  its  rise  near  the  edge  of  the  Maumee 
Valley,  and  receives  its  tributaries  from  its  left  bank,  the  water  from  near  the 
right  bank  flowing  into  the  Au  Glaize. 

Henry  County. — Henry  county  lies  very  near  the  center  of  the  famous 
Black  Swamp.  The  Maumee  River  divides  it  very  nearly  in  the  center.  Its 
area  aggregates  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  one  hundred  and  six 
acres  of  land.  The  average  assessed  value  of  this  land  in  1880  was  $12.78. 
An  assessment  made  at  this  time  (1887)  would  place  it  at  from  sixteen  to 
twenty  dollars  per  acre. 

The  general  character  of  the  drainage  of  the  county  is  that  of  the  Maumee 
Valley.  Several  small  streams  empty  into  the  Maumee  from  its  northern  side, 
while  but  one  of  importance,  the  South  Fork  of  Turkey  Foot,  flows  into  it 
from  its  southern  side.  The  southeastern  portion  of  the  county  is  drained  by 
the  Portage  River  and  Beaver  Creek,  which  unite  and  empty  into  Lake  Erie 
at  Port  Clinton,  in  Ottawa  county,  Ohio. 

The  county  is  an  even  prairie,  having  few  undulations,  except  those  made 
by  the  washing  of  the  streams.  The  amount  of  fall  is  from  four  to  six  feet  to 
the  mile,  giving  all  the  fall  needed  for  effectual  drainage,  if  done  with  a  reason- 
able amount  of  engineering  skill. 

The  rock  exposures  of  the  county  are  confined  to  the  bed  and  banks  of 
the  Maumee.  Near  Florida,  in  Flat  Rock  township,  there  are  exposures  of 
the  Huron  shales  and  the  Hamilton  Group.  In  the  lower  portion  of  the  for- 
mer there  is  a  strata  of  black  limestone,  which  is  very  hard,  and  makes  a  good 


68  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

quality  of  water-lime.  In  the  effort  to  find  gas,  a  well  was  bored  in  1886  in 
Napoleon.  The  following  strata  were  passed  through  by  the  drill,  viz. ;  Forty 
feet  of  clay,  under  which  there  was  found  eight  feet  of  sand  and  gravel,  which 
furnished  an  abundant  supply  of  pure  water,  making  forty-eight  feet  of  drift. 
Then  followed  Huron  shale,  a  portion  of  which  was  hard  black  limestone, 
sixty-five  feet.  Then  followed  the  Upper  Helderberg  limestone,  one  hundred 
feet  deep.  Beneath  this  was  six  hundred  feet  of  the  Lower  Helderberg  lime- 
stones ;  Niagara  limestone,  two  hundred  and  twelve  feet ;  Clinton  limestone, 
ninety-five  feet ;  Medina  and  Hudson  River  shales,  three  hundred  and  sixty 
feet ;  Utica  shales,  three  hundred  feet.  Underneath  this  there  lies  an  un- 
known depth  of  Trenton  limestones.  No  strata  of  sandstone  was  found  in  the 
well. 

At  a  depth  of  seventy- five  feet  a  strong  stream  of  sulphur  water  was  found, 
which  rises  to  within  a  few  feet  of  the  top.  Several  other  streams  were  found, 
the  last  at  a  depth  of  one  thousand  feet.  The  surface  of  the  ground  at  the  well 
is  six  hundred  and  sixty-seven  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

Another  well  is  being  bored  one- half  mile  north  of  well  No.  i,  which  be- 
gins at  six  hundred  and  fifty-four  feet  above  tide.  The  present  depth  (Sep- 
tember 3,  1887)  is  one  thousand,  five  hundred  and  eighty-two  feet.  The 
strata  passed  through  are  very  similar  to  No.  i,  meeting  the  different  strata  at 
somewhat  less  depth.  In  well  No.  2  a  vefy  strong  stream  of  sulphur  water  was 
found  at  a  depth  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  which  flows  with  a  powerful 
stream  from  the  top  of  the  well.  Another  well  was  bored  in  Napoleon  some 
years  ago,  and  also  one  in  the  village  of  Texas,  about  ten  miles  below,  on  the 
river.  No  record  of  the  geology  of  these  wells  was  kept.  All  of  these  wells 
furnish  an  abundant  supply  of  valuable  water  for  medicinal  purposes,  and  are 
thronged  with  persons  seeking  their  curative  properties. 

Drainage. — The  character  of  the  drift  in  Henry  county  makes  thorough 
and  deep  drainage  an  absolute  necessity-^ — without  it,  the  best  results  in  the 
production  of  crops  cannot  possibly  be  attained. 

The  surface  being  very  level,  and  the  underlying  clay  very  retentive  of 
moisture,  the  natural  condition  of  the  soil  in  a  wet  season  is  wet  and  cold, 
producing  poor  crops.  In  a  dry  season  the  ground  is  hard  and  dry,  so  that 
the  roots  of  crops  cannot  penetrate  deeply  enough  to  reach  moisture,  and  again 
a  short  crop  results.  But  this  difficulty  can  be  overcome  through  tile  drain- 
age to  the  average  depth  of  four  feet.  The  soil  is  warmed  and  pulverized  to 
the  depth  of  the  tile,  and  is  prepared  for  planting  at  least  ten  days  earlier  in 
the  spring,  and  the  soil  is  kept  warm  and  free  from  frost,  at  least  ten  days 
longer  in  the  fall,  thus  adding  about  three  weeks  to  the  growing  season.  This 
gives  abundant  time  for  any  crop  to  mature  that  is  suitable  to  this  latitude. 

Deep  drainage  is  at  once  a  safeguard  against  too  great  an  amount  of  rain, 


Henry  County.  69 


and  also  against  too  little.  This  may  appear  strange,  yet  it  is  true.  Air  is 
admitted  to  the  depth  of  the  tile,  and  forms  a  constant  circulation  through  the 
ground.  If  the  tile  is  placed  at  the  depth  of  four  feet,  it  insures  the  cooling  of 
the  air  below  the  dew  point.  The  result  of  this  is,  that  the  moisture  that  it 
always  in  the  air,  even  in  the  driest  time,  will  be  deposited  in  the  soil  that  sur- 
rounds the  tile.  If  you  dig  down  to  the  tile,  you  will  find  the  soil  and  tile 
moist  and  cool,  and  you  will  find  that  the  roots  of  the  clover,  timothy,  wheat 
•or  corn,  have  reached  down  to  the  moist  earth,  and  their  growth  shows  clearly 
that  they  have  not  suffered  from  drouth,  while  on  undrained  land  the  surface 
soil  is  entirely  exhausted  of  moisture,  and  the  underlying  clay  is  baked  so  hard 
that  the  roots  cannot  penetrate  it.  A  failure  of  the  crop  results.  Suppose  the 
tile  is  laid  at  a  depth  of  thirty  inches — this  will  insure  a  crop  in  a  wet  season. 
Let  us  see  how  it  will  work  in  a  dry  one.  The  air  enters  the  tile  just  as  freely 
when  thirty  inches  deep  as  when  four  feet  deep ;  but  in  the  former  case  the 
-earth  is  warmed  to  a  depth  of  thirty  inches  or  more,  and  the  air  is  not  cooled 
below  the  dew-point,  and  consequently  does  not  deposit  its  moisture,  therefore 
no  benefit  results ;  on  the  other  hand  it  may  be  a  damage,  as  the  warm  air  in 
passing  through  the  soil  will  carry  along  with  it  what  little  moisture  there  is  in 
the  soil.  This  is  not  mere  theory,  but  has  long  been  a  demonstrated  fact,  and 
is  thoroughly  consistent  with  scientific  principles.  The  difference  then  between 
a  deeply  drained  soil  and  a  shallow  drained  or  an  entirely  undrained  soil,  is  the 
■exact  difference  between  success  and  failure  in  a  series  of  years. 

The  latitude  of  Napoleon,  the  county  seat,  is  N.  41  °  22'.  The  longitude 
is  W.  84°  7'. 

Areas  of  low  barometer  are  mostly  formed  west  of  the  Mississippi  River ; 
are  somewhat  elliptical  in  shape  and  pass  across  the  country  in  a  direction  some- 
what north  of  east,  passing  out  of  the  country,  a  majority  of  them,  along  the  line 
•of  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  The  centers  of  these  low  areas  usually  pass  north 
of  Toledo,  but  a  small  per  cent,  of  them  passing  south  of  that  point.  Now  it 
is  a  well  established  law  of  tornadoes,  that  they  almost  invariably  occur  in  the 
southeastern  quadrant  of  the  storm  or  low  areas.  This  accounts  for  the  fact 
that  we  so  seldom  suffer  from  these  terrible  visitations,  as  we  are  too  far  north 
for  this  storm  area ;  while  tornadoes  are  common,  and  very  destructive  to  life 
and  property,  in  Central  and  Southern  Ohio,  we  are  seldom  seriously  affected. 

The  annual  temperature  of  this  county  is  between  50  and  52  degrees  Fah- 
renheit, and  the  rainfall  from  thirty-six  to  thirty- eight  inches,  giving  all  the 
climatic  conditions  needed  for  the  best  results  in  agriculture.  The  extremes 
of  temperature  are  about  iOO°  in  summer,  and  20°  below  zero  in  winter. 

The  advantages  of  Henry  county,  are  a  remarkably  fertile  soil,  a  favorable 
climate,  and  freedom  from  epidemic  diseases.  Therefore,  nothing  but  ignorance 
and  want  of  enterprise  can  hinder  her  from  taking  her  place  as  one  of  the  most 
j)rosperous  counties  of  the  State. 


70  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Gas.  —  Up  to  this  date  (Sept.  S,  1887)  no  high  pressure  gas  has  been  found 
in  the  county.  The  Huron  shale  is  the  surface  rock  in  the  northwestern  por- 
tion of  the  county ;  this  disappears  a  short  distance  south  of  the  Maumee 
River.  When  digging  a  well  on  the  fair  ground  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
corporate  limits  of  Napoleon,  low  pressure  gas  was  found  near  the  surface  of 
the  Huron  shale,  sufficient  in  quantity  to  heat  and  light  a  large  dwelling.  In. 
many  places  gas  been  found  when  searching  for  water ;  sometimes  in  consid- 
erable quantities. 

In  the  northwestern  part  of  the  county,  low  pressure  gas  could  be  found  in 
a  great  many  places  in  sufficient  quantities  to  warm  and  light  one  or  more 
dwellings,  and  possibly  furnish  power  for  some  light  machinery.  All  that  is 
required  is  a  small  amount  of  money,  and  some  enterprise.  If  some  enterprising 
farmer  sets  the  example,  others  will  soon  follow.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  gas 
is  found  in  the  surface  rock,  high  pressure  gas  need  not  be  looked  for  in  that 
strata.  In  order  to  have  high  pressure  gas,  a  solid  cover  of  rock  must  overlie 
the  stratum  that  contains  the  gas,  to  prevent  its  easy  escape.  Gas  springs  are 
very  common  in  this  part  of  the  county.  It  is,  therefore,  believed  by  many 
that  gas  may  be  found  at  such  places,  by  deep  boring.  This  reasoning  is  fal- 
lacious. The  gas  from  the  gas  springs  escapes  from  the  surface  rock,  because  it 
has  nothing  to  confine  it.  Gas  is  always  found  near  the  surface  of  the  rock 
that  contains  it,  and  is  no  indication  that  deeper  lying  rocks  also  contain  it. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


The  Titles  to  Lands  of  Ohio — Original  Claimants — Extinguishment  of  Indian  Titles — Sur- 
veys in  this  Region. 

THE^territory  that  now  constitutes  the  State  of  Ohio,  was  first  of  all  in  the 
full  possession  of  the  race  of  Mound-builders;  afterwards,  but  still  in  the 
pre-historic  age,  its  sole  occupants  and  owners  for  some  centuries  were  un- 
questionably those  Indian  tribes  who  are  found  already  mentioned  in  this  vol- 
ume. They,  as  well  as  the  Mound-builders,  held  titles  acquired  by  priority  of" 
discovery,  by  conquest,  by  occupancy  or  possession. 

Various  historians  of  accredited  veracity  and  research  state  that  the  adven- 
turous La  Salle,  in  1670,  accompanied  by  a  few  heroic  followers,  passed  from 
Lake  Erie  south,  over  the  Portage  into  the  Allegheny  River,  perhaps  by  way 
of  one  of  its  numerous  tributaries,  and  from  thence  down  into  the  Ohio,  which- 
they  descended  as  far  as  the  falls  on  that  river  (at  Louisville),  and  that  they 
were  therefore  the  first  of  European  birth  to  enter  upon  the  soil  of  Ohio. 


Henry  County.  71 


In  1679  the  intrepid  La  Salle,  with  a  party  of  some  thirty  or  more  French- 
men sailed  along  the  entire  length  of  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie  in  the 
Griffin,  a  small  vessel  of  about  sixty  tons  burthen.  Again,  three  years  later, 
1682,  the  same  voyager  descended  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  the  latter 
to  its  mouth  ;  and  in  1684  he  sailed  along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  past  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  to  a  point  in  Texas,  and  landing  there  became  its  discoverer. 
These  facts  are  noted  for  the  reason  that  upon  these  voyages  of  discovery,  re- 
inforced with  the  provisions  of  some  European  treaties,  that  France  laid  her 
claim  of  title  to  the  whole  territory  north-west  of  the  Ohio  River. 

France  not  only  asserted  ownership  and  held  possession  of  the  territory 
that  now  constitutes  Ohio,  from  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  17 13,  until 
the  treaty  of  Paris,  in  1763,  by  which  peace  was  established  between  France 
and  England,  but  she  also  exercised  authority  and  maintained  control  over  it 
by  military  force,  and  this,  too,  in  defiance  of  titles  set  up  by  Great  Britain, 
one  of  which  was  based  upon  the  treaties  made  with  the  Iroquois  or  Six  Na- 
tion Indians,  who  claimed  title  to  the  whole  country  by  conquest  and  subjuga- 
tion. 

By  conquest  and  treaty  provisions.  Great  Britain  came  into  possession  in 
1763,  which  possession  she  maintained  substantially,  until  the  close  of  the 
Revolution,  when,  by  the  treaty  at  Paris,  in  1783,  and  ratified  in  the  Ameri- 
can Congress  in  January,  1784,  ownership  was  vested  in  the  United  States. 
The  latter,  in  October  of  the  same  year,  extinguished  the  title  of  the  Six  Na- 
tions to  the  Ohio  Valley.  By  the  treaties  at  Forts  Mcintosh  and  Finney,  held 
respectively  in  1785  and  1786,  all  Indian  titles  to  Ohio  territory  were  extin- 
guished, except  that  portion  situate  chiefly  between  the  Cuyahoga  and  Mau- 
mee  Rivers. 

By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  at  Fort  Stanwix,  concluded  with  the  Iroquois, 
or  Six  Nations,  in  October,  1784,  the  indefinite  claim  of  the  confederacy  to  the 
greater  part  of  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio  River  was  extinguished.  The  commis- 
sioners of  Congress  acting  upon  this  occasion  were  Oliver  Wolcott,  Richard 
Butler  and  Arthur  Lee.  The  chiefs  Cornplanter  and  Red  Jacket  represented 
the  Indians. 

The  treaty  at  Fort  Mcintosh,  in  January,  1785,  extinguished  the  title  of 
the  resident  Indians  to  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  established  the  western  boundary 
line  of  the  lands  confirmed  to  the  United  States  at  the  Cuyahoga  River  and 
along  the  main  branch  of  the  Tuscarawas  to  its  forks,  near  Fort  Lawrence ; 
then  westerly  to  the  Portage  between  the  headwaters  of  the  Great  Miami  and 
the  Maumee  or  Miami  of  the  lakes;  thence  down  the  river  to  the  lake  (Erie) 
and  along  the  lake  to  the  mouth  of  Cuyahoga.  This  treaty  rehnquished  the 
rights  of  the  Delawares,  Wyandots,  Ottawas  and  Chippewas.  The  subsequent 
treaty  of  Fort  Finney,  in  January,  1 786,  extinguished  the  rights  of  the  Shaw- 
nese  in  the  territory  bounded  above. 


12  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  treaty  made  in  January,  1795,  and  known  as  the  treaty  of  Fort  Har- 
mer,  was,  in  the  main,  confirmatory  of  treaties  already  made.  So,  also,  was- 
that  made  by  Gen.  Wayne  at  Greenville,  in  October  of  the  same  year. 

The  lands  to  the  northern  and  western  boundaries  of  the  State  were  ac- 
quired by  purchase  on  the  part  of  the  State  in  the  year  18 18.  The  last  pos- 
session of  the  Delawares  was  purchased  in  1829. 

Virginia  acquired  title  to  the  great  northwest  by  its  several  charters,, 
granted  by  James  I.,  bearing  dates  respectively,  April  10,  1606;  May  23,  1609,. 
and  March  12,  1611.  The  Colony  of  Virginia  first  attempted  to  exercise  au- 
thority in,  or  jurisdiction  over  that  portion  of  its  extensive  domain  that  was 
organized  by  the  ordinance  of  "i,"]  into  "the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
River,"  when  in  1769,  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  said  colony  passed  an  act  es- 
tablishing the  county  of  Botetourt,  with  the  Mississippi  River  as  its  western 
boundary.  It  was  provided  by  the  act  that,  "whereas,  the  people  situated  on 
the  Mississippi,  in  the  said  county  of  Botetourt,  will  be  very  remote  from  the 
court-house,  and  must  necessarily  become  a  separate  county  as  soon  as  their 
numbers  are  sufficient,  which  probabl}'  will  happen  in  a  short  time;  be  it  there- 
fore enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  the  inhabitants  of  that  part  of  the 
said  county  of  Botetourt  which  lies  on  the  said  waters  shall  be  exempted  from 
the  payment  of  any  levies  to  be  laid  by  the  said  county  court  for  the  purpose- 
of  building  a  court-house  and  prison  for  said  county." 

Civil  government,  however,  between  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  was 
more  in  name  than  reality  until  1778,  after  the  conquest  of  the  country  by 
General  George  Rogers  Clark,  when  the  Virginia  Legislature  organized  the 
county  of  Illinois,  embracing  within  its  limits  all  the  territory  owned  by  Vir- 
ginia west  of  the  Ohio  River.  Under  an  appointment  from  the  governor  of 
Virginia,  Colonel  John  Tod  served  as  civil  commandant  and  lieutenant  of  the 
county,  until  his  death  at  the  battle  of  Blue  Licks,  in  1782,  less  than  two  years 
before  Virginia  ceded  the  country  in  the  United  States.  In  the  year  1783,. 
however,  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  con- 
veyance of  the  great  northwest  to  the  general  government.  Having  thus  se- 
cured the  absolute  right  of  possession  of  this  vast  domain,  the  United  States  at 
once  took  measures  for  its  civil  conduct  and  government,  the  outcome  of  which 
was  the  act  entitled,  "An  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio."  This  has  generally  and  more 
popularly  been  known  as  "The  Ordinance  of '87,"  and  otherwise  as  "The  Or- 
dinance of  Freedom."  This  also  was  the  fundamental  law  upon  which  has 
been  based  all  the  statutory  enactments  and  subsequent  laws  for  the  govern- 
ment of  this  State. 

The  Ohio  Land  Company  was  an  organization  formed  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  having  for  its  object,  the  purchase  and  settlement  of  a  large 
tract  of  land  in  the  new  territory.     The  purchase  was  effected  October  27, 


Henry  County. 


73 


1787,  and  embraced  a  tract  of  something  like  a  million  and  a  half  of  acres 
without  the  present  counties  of  Washington,  Athens,  Meigs  and  Gallia,  subject 
to  certain  reservations.     This  was  the  second  purchase  and  survey. 

The  first  survey  of  the  public  lands  in  Ohio  was  the  seven  ranges  of  Con- 
gress lands,  and  was  made  pursuant  to  an  act  of  Congress,  of  May  20,  1785. 
The  present  counties  of  Jefferson,  Columbiana,  Carroll,  Tuscarora,  Harrison, 
Gurnsey,  Bellmont,  Noble,  Monroe  and  Washington,  are,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
within  this  survey  of  seven  ranges. 

The  next  survey  was  the  "  Symmes  purchase,"  under  a  contract  of  pur- 
chase made  with  Judge  Symmes  in  October,  1787,  but  subsequently.  May, 
1792,  modified  by  an  act  of  Congress.  The  Symmes  purchase  embraced  the 
entire  Ohio  River  front  between  the  Big  Miami  and  the  Little  Miami  Rivers,  a 
distance  of  twenty-seven  miles,  and  reaching  sufficiently  northward  to  include 
an  area  of  one  million  acres ;  but  by  the  modification,  the  area  was  reduced 
only  three  hundred  and  eleven  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-two  acres, 
exclusive  of  certain  reservations  held  by  the  government. 

The  lands  between  the  Little  Miami  and  Sciota  Rivers,  known  as  the  "  Vir- 
ginia military  lands,"  was  never  regularly  surveyed  into  townships,  but  pat- 
ents were  issued  by  the  president  to  such  persons,  residents  of  Virginia,  as  had 
rendered  service  on  the  continental  establishment  of  the  army  of  the  United 
States  (hence  the  name),  and  in  the  quantities  to  which  they  were  entitled  un- 
der the  act  of  Congress  of  August  10,  1790.  These  military  lands  embraced  a 
body  of  some  six  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy  square  miles,  or  four  mill- 
ion two  hundred  and  four  thousand  eight  hundred  acres  of  land. 

The  Connecticut  claim  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  excepting  the  west- 
ern reserve,  by  deeds  of  cession,  bearing  date  of  September  14,  1786. 

When  Ohio  was  admitted  into  the  Federal  Union  as  an  independent  State, 
one  of  the  ternjs  of  admission  was,  that  the  fee-simple  to  all  the  lands  within 
its  limits,  excepting  those  previously  granted  or  sold,  should  vest  in  the  United 
States.  Different  portions  of  them,  were,  at  different  times,  granted  or  sold  to 
individuals,  companies,  and  bodies  politic.  The  following  are  the  names  by 
which  the  principal  bodies  of  the  land  are  designated,  on  account  of  these  dif- 
ferent forms  of  transfer,  viz.:  i.  Congress  Lands;  2,  United  States  Military; 
3,  Virginia  Military;  4,  Western  Reserve;  5,  Fin  Lands;  6,  Ohio  Company's 
Purchase;  7,  Donation  Tract;  8,  Symmes  Purchase;  9,  Refugee  Tract;  10, 
French  Grant;  11,  Dohrman's  Purchase;  12,  Zane's  Purchase;  13,  Canal 
Lands;  14,  Turnpike;  15,  Maumee  Road  Lands;  16,  School  Lands;  17,  Col- 
lege lands ;    18,  Ministerial  lands  ;    19,  Moravian  Lands  ;   20,  Salt  Sections. 

It  is  thought  that  this  will  furnish  a  sufficient  record  of  the  various  grants, 
without  giving  a  detailed  description  of  the  tracts  themselves. 

The  System  of  Surveys. — The  land  surveys  under  the  United  States  were 
uniform,  and  done  under  what  was  known  as  the  "  rectangular  system."     This 

10 


74  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

system  of  surveys  was  reported  from  a  committee  of  Congress,  May  7,  1784. 
The  committee  consisted  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  chairman ;  Messrs.  Williamson, 
Howell,  Gerry  and  Reas. 

This  ordinance  required  the  lands  to  be  divided  into  "hundreds"  of  ten  geo- 
graphical miles,  and  those  again  to  be  subdivided  into  lots  of  one  mile  square 
each,  to  be  numbered  from  one  to  one  hundred,  commencing  in  the  north- 
western corner,  and  counting  from  west  to  east  and  from  east  to  west  continu- 
ously ;  and  also  that  the  lands  thus  subdivided,  should  be  first  offered  at  public 
sale.  This  ordinance  was  considered,  debated  and  amended  ;  and  on  the  3d 
of  May,  1785,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Grayson,  of  Virginia,  seconded  by  Mr.  Mon- 
roe, the  size  of  the  townships  was  reduced  to  six  miles  square.  After  further 
discussion  the  measure  finally.  May  20,  1785,  passed. 

The  origin  of  this  system  is  not  known  beyond  the  report  of  the  committee. 
There  had  been  land  surveys  in  the  different  colonies  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years ;  still  the  method  for  granting  land  for  settlements  in  vogue  in  all  the 
colonies,  was  in  irregular  tracts,  except  in  the  colony  of  Georgia,  where,  after 
1733,  eleven  townships  of  twenty  thousand  square  acres  each  were  divided 
into  lots  of  fifty  acres  each. 

The  act  of  cession  of  the  State  of  Virginia  of  her  western  territory  provided 
for  the  formation  of  States  from  the  same,  not  less  than  one  hundred,  nor  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  square. 

This  square  form  of  States  may  have  influenced  Mr.  Jefferson  in  favorof  a 
square  form  of  survey,  and  besides  the  even  surface  of  the  country  was  known, 
the  lack  of  mountains  and  the  prevalence  of  trees  for  marking  it,  also  favoring 
a  latitudinal  and  longitudinal  system.  Certain  east  and  west  lines  run  with  the 
parallels  of  latitude,  and  the  north  and  south  townships  with  the  meridians. 

The  system,  as  adopted,  provided  for  sale  in  sections  of  six  hundred  and 
forty  acres,  one  square  mile.  In  1820  a  quarter  section,  or  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  could  be  purchased.  In  1832  sub-divisions  were  ordered  by  law 
into  forty-acre  tracts  or  quarter-quarter  sections  to  settlers,  and  in  1 846  to  all 
purchasers.  On  May  18,  1796,  the  ordinance  of  May  20,  1785,  was  amended; 
also  on  May  10,  1800,  on  the  introduction  of  land  offices  and  credit  sales,  and 
on  February  11,  1805,  April  14,  1820,  April  5,  1832,  and  May  30,  1862. 

Since  the  adoption  of  the  rectangular  system  of  public  surveys.  May  20, 
1785,  twenty-four  initial  points,  or  the  intersection  of  the  principal  bases  with 
surveying  meridians,  have  been  brought  into  requisition  to  secure  the  certainty 
and  brevity  of  description  in  the  transfer  of  public  lands  to  individuals.  From 
the  principal  bases  townships'  of  six  miles  square  are  run  out  and  established, 
with  regular  series  of  numbers  counting  north  and  south  thereof,  and  from  the 
surveying  meridians  a  like  series  of  ranges  are  numbered  both  east  and  west  of 
the  principal  meridians. 

The  first  principal  meridian  divides  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  having 


Henry  County.  75 


for  its  base  the  Ohio  river,  the  meridian  being  coincident  with  84°  5 1'  of  longi- 
tude west  from  Greenwich.  This  meridian  governs  the  surveys  of  public  lands 
in  the  State  of  Ohio. 

Execution  of  Surveys. — The  principal  meridian,  base,  standard,  and  guides 
having  been  first  measured  and  marked,  and  the  corner  boundaries  established 
thereon,  the  process  of  surveying  and  marking  the  exterior  lines  of  townships, 
north  and  south  of  the  base,  and  east  and  west  of  the  meridian,  within  those 
standard  lines,  is  commenced. 

The  public  lands  are  first  surveyed  into  rectangular  tracts,  according  to  the 
true  meridian,  noting  the  variation  of  the  magnetic  needle.  These  tracts  are 
called  townships,  each  six  miles  square,  having  reference  to  an  established  prin- 
cipal base  line  on  a  true  parallel  of  latitude,  and  to  longitude  styled  principal 
meridian.  Any  series  of  contiguous  townships,  north  and  south  of  each  other, 
constitutes  a  range,  the  townships  counting  from  the  base,  either  north  or 
south,  and  the  ranges  from  the  principal  meridian,  either  east  or  west. 

The  first  survey  of  Henry  county  lands  was  made  in  the  year  1821,  soon 
after  the  county  was  organized.  In  the  work  of  making  this  survey  the  engi- 
neers, James  Riley,  P.  F.  Kellogg,  Nathaniel  Beastley,  and  James  Heaton  were 
engaged. 

The  township  of  Ridgeville  was  surveyed  by  James  Riley,  and  was  town- 
ship number  six,  north,  range  five,  east. 

Pleasant  township  was  surveyed  by  P.  F.  Kellogg,  and  was  numbered 
three,  north,  range  six,  east. 

Flat  Rock  township,  surveyed  by  P.  F.  Kellogg,  and  was  number  four, 
north,  range  six,  east. 

Napoleon  township,  surveyed  by  P.  F.  Kellogg,  and  being  township  num- 
ber five,  north,  range  six,  east. 

Freedom  township,  surveyed  by  P.  F.  Kellogg,  and  being  township  num- 
ber six,  north,  range  six,  east. 

Marion,  surveyed  by  Nathaniel  Beastley,  and  being  township  number  three, 
north,  range  seven,  east. 

Monroe,  surveyed  by  Nathaniel  Beastley,  township  number  four,  north, 
range  seven,  east. 

Harrison,  surveyed  by  Nathaniel  Beastley,  township  number  five,  north, 
range  seven,  east. 

Liberty,  surveyed  by  Nathaniel  Beastley,  township  number  six,  north, 
range  seven,  east. 

Bartlow,  surveyed  by  James  Heaton,  township  number  three,  north,  range 
eight,  east. 

Richfield,  surveyed  by  James  Heaton,  township  number  four,  north,  range 
eight,  east. 

Damascus,  surveyed  by  James  Heaton  in  1821  ;  re-surveyed  by  A.  Rice 
in  1833  ;  township  number  five,  north,  range  eight,  east. 


T6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Washington,  surveyed  by  James  Heaton  in  1821  ;  re-surveyed  by  A.  Rice 
in  1833;   township  number  six,  north,  range  eight,  east. 

The  above  designates  the  surveys  of  the  several  townships,  and  their  loca- 
tion in  the  county.  The  county  was  composed  of  township  number  six,  of 
range  five,  east ;  also  townships  three,  four,  five,  and  six,  of  ranges  six,  seven, 
and  eight,  east. 

The  reader  must  not  be  misled  by  the  fact  that  the  several  townships  being 
so  surveyed  at  the  time  indicated  above,  are  evidence  that  the  special  civil 
organization  of  them  was  made  complete  at  that  time.  Such. was  not  the  case. 
The  surveys  were  made  then,  it  is  true,  and  the  territory  embraced  by  each 
survey,  substantially  includes  the  townships  as  named  and  bounded,  respec- 
tively. They  were  so  surveyed  in  accordance  with  the  system  of  surveys  then 
adopted  and  hereinbefore  fully  set  forth.  The  separation  is  made  for  the  pur- 
pose of  locating  the  survey  in  each  case. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

HENRY  COUNTY  IN  THE  WAR  OF  1861-65. 

FOR  several  years  prior  to  this  great  event  in  our  national  history,  Henry 
county  had  no  military  organization  of  any  kind.  To  be  sure,  there  had 
been,  many  years  before  this  time,  a  militia  company  in  the  county,  an  organ- 
ization complete  and  well  equipped  for  the  time,  but  its  deeds  of  valor  were 
narrowed  down  to  "general  training"  on  muster  day  and  the  customary  wrest- 
ling match,  and  eating  of  ginger-bread  and  doughnuts.  But  this  old  militia 
company  had  been  broken  up  many  years  before  that  fateful  day,  early  in 
April,  1861,  when  the  words  were  written  on  our  political  horizon,  ''  civil  war" 
and  the  news  spread  instantly  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 
At  this  time  Henry  county  had  not  to  exceed  ten  thousand  population,  but 
nobly  did  she  respond  to  the  president's  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  volun- 
teers to  "put  down  the  rebellion."  In  less  than  one  week  from  that  call.  Com- 
pany F,  of  the  Fourteenth  Regiment,  was  recruited  and  ready  for  duty  with 
over  one  hundred  men,  and  in  just  ten  days  the  regiment  left  Toledo  for  Camp 
Taylor,  near  Cleveland.  From  that  time  to  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1865, 
Henry  county  was  never  behind  her  quota.  In  addition  to  the  several  sepa- 
rate organizations  that  left  the  county  for  the  service,  there  were  many  men 
that  went  to  other  counties  to  enlist,  for  which  the  county  did  not  receive 
credit.  It  is,  therefore,  safe  to  assume  that  in  the  service,  Henry  county  con- 
tributed more  than  one  per  cent,   of  her  entire  population.     From  the  time  of 


Henry  County.  "jj 


the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  until  the  final  surrender  in  1865,  there  went  from 
Henry  county  between  eleven  and  twelve  hundred  volunteers. 

Money  was  not  lacking  and  contributions  to  the  several  relief  funds  were 
generous  and  prompt.  Volunteers  were  ready,  therefore  but  little  money  was 
needed  to  provide  substitutes,  and  the  volunteer  had  the  fullest  assurance  that 
in  his  absence  his  family  would  be  provided  for. 

During  the  war  Henry  county,  through  her  soldiers,  made  an  excellent 
record,  a  record  that  has  borne  favorable  comparison  with  the  best  and  richest 
counties  of  the  State.  But  turn  to  that  record  and  let  the  deeds  of  her 
soldiers  prove  the  statement. 

The  Fourteenth  Regiment — Three  Months  Service. 

The  records  of  the  services  of  men  and  regiments  of  the  three  months  ser- 
vice are  decidedly  incomplete.  The  Fourteenth  was  recruited  very  soon  after 
President  Lincoln's  first  call  for  troops,  from  the  counties  of  Lucas,  Fulton, 
Williams,  Paulding,  Wood  and  Henry.  The  latter  contributed  Company  F  to 
the  formation  of  the  regiment.  The  commission  for  the  command  of  the  com- 
pany was  issued  to  Andrew  Crawford,  who  was  afterward  killed  by  accident 
at  PhilHpi,  West  Virginia.  John  D.  Belknap  was  elected  first  lieutenant,  and 
he,  too,  was  accidentally  killed  at  Cheat  Mountain.  Samuel  Pomeroy  was 
commissioned  second  lieutenant  and   subsequently  became  a  veteran  captain. 

The  organization  of  the  regiment  was  made  complete  at  Toledo,  during 
the  latter  part  of  April,  1861,  by  the  election  of  field  officers.  They  were  as 
follows :  colonel,  James  B.  Steedman ;  lieutenant  colonel,  George  P.  Este ; 
major,  Paul  Edwards;  surgeon,  J.  A.  Coons;  assistant  surgeon,  W.  C.  Daniels. 

With  nearly  one  thousand  men  in  line,  the  Fourteenth  left  Toledo  and 
went  to  Cleveland,  arriving  there  on  the  2Sth  of  April.  Here  they  went  into 
camp  for  drill  and  instruction  in  the  duties  of  active  field  service.  On  the  22d 
of  May  the  regiment  left  Camp  Taylor  and  proceeded  to  Columbus,  where  they 
were  fully  equipped,  and  thence  went  forward  to  service  in  Virginia.  On  the 
27th  the  regiment  reached  Parkersburg,  Va.,  and  for  the  first  time  unfurled  and 
floated  its  flag  on  rebel  soil.  The  enemy  retreated  at  once  from  the  place  and 
commenced  burning  the  bridges  on  the  line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad. 
A  company  was  immediately  double-quicked  along  the  line  of  the  road  and 
the  fires  were  extinguished,  and  several  of  the  rebels  were  captured  in  the  act 
of  firing  the  bridges  and  some  other  property.  For  several  days  the  regiment 
was  engaged  in  repairing  the  bridges  and  preventing  further  destruction.  On 
the  2d  of  June,  a  dark  and  dismal  night,  the  command  marched  to  Phillipi, 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  drove  out  the  rebel  cavalry  stationed  there,  tak- 
ing a  few  prisoners  and  capturing  the  stores  with  five  wagon  loads  of  arms  and 
ammunition. 

In  this  little  affair  the  Fourteenth  had  four  men  wounded.      On  the  7th  of 


78  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

June  the  rebels  appeared  in  force  on  Laurel  Hill ;  several  cavalry  charges  were 
made  by  the  enemy,  and  repulsed  by  the  Union  troops.  On  the  I2th  General 
Garnett  began  his  retreat ;  the  Union  forces,  with  the  Fourteenth  in  the  lead, 
pressed  on  after  the  retreating  forces ;  the  rebel  columns  were  so  closely 
pressed  that  the  road  was  littered  with  with  trunks,  boxes,  tents,  stalled  bag- 
gage-wagons and  tired  out  Confederates.  At  Carrick's  Ford,  the  rebels  made 
a  stand  in  order  to  save  their  trains,  and  taking  a  strong  position  awaited  the 
approach  of  the  Union  force.  The  advanced  guard  of  the  Fourteenth  were 
soon  under  fire  from  the  rebel  guns,  and  they  were  greeted  with  a  shower  of 
rebel  bullets.  The  Fourteenth  immediately  closed  on  its  advance,  and  an- 
swered the  rebels'  first  volley  before  they  fired  the  second.  In  twenty  minutes, 
and  just  as  the  main  column  came  up,  the  enemy  gave  way,  leaving  everything 
behind,  and  "ran  for  dear  life."  The  fruits  of  this  victory  were  two  hundred 
and  fifty  prisoners,  three  stand  of  colors,  one  battery,  and  thirty  well  laden 
baggage-wagons.  The  next  morning  the  regiment  returned  to  Phillipi  with 
the  prisoners  and  captured  trains,  but  owing  to  the  heavy  rains,  the  rivers  and 
creeks  were  swollen,  and  there  being  no  bridges,  they  did  not  reach  Phillipi 
until  the  15th  of  July.  On  the  22d  the  Fourteenth  started  on  its  homeward 
trip,  and  arrived  at  Toledo,  on  the  25th  of  July,  where  after  a  few  days  it  was 
mustered  out  and  paid  off. 

Whitelaw  Reid,  in  his  "  Ohio  in  the  War,"  says :  "  After  partaking  of  a 
sumptuous  feast,  prepared  by  the  citizens  at  the  Oliver  House,  the  regiment 
dispersed,  and  after  a  few  days'  rest  at  home,  the  men  re-assembled,  and  again 
volunteered  in  a  body,  for  three  years,  or  during  the  war."  In  this  statement, 
the  worthy  compiler  is  most  certainly  in  error.  But  few,  comparatively,  of  the 
men  from  this  county  re-entered  the  Fourteenth,  for  the  three  years  service, 
although  nearly  all  did  re-enlist,  but  in  different  regiments  then  forming. 

Of  the  contingent  from  Henry  county,  some  re-enlisted  in  the  three  years 
service  in  the  Fourteenth  (the  regiment  still  retaining  that  number  in  the  hne), 
but  a  fair  proportion  of  those  who  made  up  Company  D,  were  recruits  gath- 
ered and  enlisted  by  Samuel  Pomeroy  and  William  H.  Brownell.  But  this 
company  more  properly  forms  the  subject  of  a  separate  sketch  and  follows  this. 

The  Fourteenth  Regiment — Three  Years  Service. 

Toward  the  original  strength  of  this  regiment,  the  county  of  Henry  contrib- 
uted one  company,  which  in  the  completion  of  regimental  organization  was 
given  the  name  of  "D."  This  company  as  well  as  the  regiment,  was  com- 
posed, in  part,  of  men  who  had  but  recently  returned  from  the  three  months 
service,  but  it  is  questionable  whether  or  not  a  majority  of  the  regiment  were 
formerly  of  the  Fourteenth,  in  the  short  term.  However  this  may  be,  this  reg- 
iment held  the  same  number  in  the  Hne  of  Ohio  soldiery  as  when  first  organ- 
ized. 


Henry  County.  79. 


The  roster  of  Ohio  soldiers,  now  being  published  by  ai'ithority  of  the  State 
Legislature,  says:  "This  regiment  was  organized  at  Toledo,  from  August  14, 
to  September  5,  1 861,  to  serve  three  years.  On  the  expiration  of  its  term  of 
service,  the  original  members  (except  veterans)  were  mustered  out,  and  the 
organization,  composed  of  veterans  and  recruits,  retained  in  service  until  July 
II,  1865,  when  it  was  mustered  out  in  accordance  with  orders  from  the  War 
Department." 

Company  D  was  raised  by  Samuel  Pomeroy  and  William  H.  Brownell,  both 
of  whom  were  veterans  of  the  three  months  service.  The  former  was  com- 
missioned captain,  and  the  latter  first  lieutenant,  upon  the  complete  organiza- 
tion of  the  company.  On  the  23d  day  of  August,  1861,  the  regiment  left 
Toledo,  and  proceeded  to  Cincinnati,  and  after  receiving  its  arms  and  equip- 
ments on  the  25th,  crossed  the  Ohio  River  to  Covington,  Ky.,  and  took  cars 
for  Lexington  and  Frankfort.  On  this  trip  the  train  was  assaulted  by  some 
of  the  Kentucky  chivalry,  with  a  volley  of  stones  and  other  missiles,  by  which 
the  windows  of  the  officers'  car  were  broken,  and  some  slight  injuries  inflicted. 
The  train  was  stopped  and  two  of  the  assaulting  party  captured  and  taken  to 
Frankfort  While  marching  up  Main  street,  a  citizen  rushed  through  the  ranks 
and  drew  a  butcher's  knife  across  the  throat  of  one  of  the  prisoners,  severely 
wounding  him. 

From  Frankfort  the  regiment  moved  to  Nicholsville,  and  from  there  about 
the  1st  of  October  to  Camp  Dick  Robinson.  About  this  time  news  was  re- 
ceived that  a  small  garrison  situate  on  Wild  Cat  Mountain,  about  sixty  miles 
from  Camp  Dick  Robinson,  was  being  surrounded  by  the  rebels.  The 
Fourteenth,  with  the  Thirty-eighth  Ohio  and  Barnett's  Battery,  immediately 
marched  to  their  relief,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  21st  of  October,  after  a 
double-quick  of  three  miles  through  mud  and  slush  up  the  Wild  Cat  Hills, 
they  found  five  companies  of  the  Thirty-third  Indiana  Regiment  nearly  sur- 
rounded by  rebel  troops  under  General  Zollicoffer.  Barnett's  Battery  was  im- 
mediately placed  in  position  and  commenced  shelling  the  enemy,  while  two 
companies  of  the  Fourteenth  crawled  through  the  brush,  and  with  shovels  and 
picks  soon  fortified  the  knob  on  the  crest  of  the  hill.  The  other  troops  now 
coming  up,  and  the  enemy  meeting  with  so  warm  a  reception,  after  twice 
charging  the  Httle  fortified  position  abandoned  the  attack  and  retreated  towards 
Loudon,  leaving  about  thirty  killed  and  wounded  on  the  field.  The  Four- 
teenth and  Thirth-eighth  pursued  the  fleeing  enemy  as  far  as  Loudon.  Zol- 
licoffer having  already  retreated  from  that  place,  the  Union  forces  went  inta 
camp  and  threw  up  fortifications  a  short  distance  north  of  the  town.  The  reg- 
iment remained  here  about  two  weeks,  when  they  were  ordered  to  march  back 
towards  Lancaster  by  the  way  of  Crab  Orchard  and  Mount  Vernon.  The 
march  was  made  in  the  night,  in  a  terrible  storm  of  rain.  Rock  Castle  River 
had  to  be  forded,  and  the  mud  and  slush  being  deep,  on  arriving  at  Crab 


8o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Orchard  next  morning  the  men  were  completely  exhausted,  and  unable  to 
march. 

After  resting  'one  day,  the  regiment  marched  to  Lebanon  and  went  into 
winter  quarters.  It  remained  at  Lebanon  until  the  latter  part  of  December, 
when  it  was  ordered  to  join  its  brigade  at  Somerset,  where  it  arrived  January 
I,  1862.  It  remained  in  camp  at  Somerset  until  the  19th  of  January,  when 
die  brigade  to  which  the  Fourteenth  belonged  was  ordered  out  and  marched 
rapidly  towards  Mill  Springs,  -  where  Zollicoffer  had  been  strongly  intrenched 
during  the  winter.  General  Crittenden  having  recently  assumed  command 
of  the  rebel  forces  at  that  place,  on  that  morning  marched  out  of  his  fortifi- 
cations to  give  battle  before  General  Thomas  could  concentrate  the  Union 
forces,  hoping  to  whip  them  in  detail.  The  rebels  met  the  Union  forces  at 
Logan's  Cross-roads,  about  six  miles  north  of  Mill  Springs,  and  a  lively  litde 
battle  took  place.  The  Fourteenth  and  Thirty- eighth  Ohio  coming  up,  the 
rebels  gave  way,  and  in  confusion  retreated  to  their  fortifications  at  Mill 
Springs,  closely  pursued  by  the  Union  forces.  Owing  to  the  delay  in  fording 
Fishing  Creek,  the  water  being  up  to  the  arm-pits,  and  the  current  swift,  a 
cable  was  stretched  across  the  stream  for  the  men  to  hold  on  while  crossing. 
But  one  company  of  the  Fourteenth  —  Company  C  —  reached  the  field  in  time 
to  take  part  in  the  action.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Union  forces  at  the  enemy's 
fortifications,  the  batteries  commenced  shelling  the  works,  and  the  Fourteenth 
lay  on  their  arms  all  night  in  a  driving  rain,  ready  for  the  assault  which  was 
ordered  for  early  dawn.  The  Fourteenth  in  advance  carried  the  works,  and 
found  that  the  enemy  had  crossed  the  river  during  the  night,  except  one  regi- 
ment which  was  captured  with  twenty  pieces  of  artillery,  all  their  camp  and 
garrison  equipage,  together  with  a  large  number  of  horses,  mules,  wagons,  and 
■other  property. 

The  Fourteenth  did  not  arrive  at  Pittsburgh  Landing  in  time  to  take  part 
in  the  battle,  but  took  part  in  the  slow  siege  on  Corinth.  After  the  siege  the 
regiment  marched  to  luka,  Miss. ;  thence  to  Tuscumbia,  Ala.,  and  from  there 
to  Nashville,  Tenn.,  where  it  arrived  on  the  7th  day  of  September,  1862; 
thence  to  Bowling  Green,  Ky.,  in  pursuit  of  Bragg's  army ;  then  moving  on 
toward  Louisville,  which  last  named  place  was  reached  September  22.  This 
was  a  severe  march  on  the  men,  the  weather  being  intensely  hot,  roads  dusty, 
and  water  scarce,  and  of  poor  quality.  From  Louisville  the  regiment  marched 
to  Perryville,  but  being  detailed  as  guard  to  the  ammunition  train,  did  not  take 
part  in  the  battle.  After  the  pursuit  of  Bragg  was  abandoned,  the  regiment 
marched  to  Gallatin,  and  on  the  isth  of  November  went  into  winter  quarters, 
and  during  the  winter  was  almost  daily  skirmishing  with  John  Morgan's  guer- 
rillas, and,  at  the  Robling  Fork,  giving  Morgan's  entire  command  a  severe 
drubbing.  The  regiment  left  Gallatin  June  13,  1863,  and  reached  Nashville  on 
the  iSth;  from  there  to  Laverque,  and  thence  to  Triune,  Tenn.,  and  was 
placed  in  the  advance  of  Rosecrans's  army  on  TuUahoma  and  Chattanooga. 


Henry  County. 


On  the  26th  of  June  the  Fourteenth  with  its  brigade,  had  a  sharp  engage- 
ment with  the  enemy,  and  lost  thirty  men  in  killed  and  wounded.  On  June 
28  Tullahoma  was  reached,  and  the  Fourteenth  drove  in  the  enemy's  pickets, 
and  got  near  enough  the  town  to  see  the  enemy  was  evacuating  the  place. 
An  advance  was  ordered  early  next  morning,  and  on  crossing  Elk  Run  several 
men  were  drowned.  On  the  last  day  of  August,  1863,  the  National  forces 
•crossed  the  Tennessee  river  on  rafts,  the  pontoons  not  having  arrived,  and  on 
the  19th  of  September  encountered  the  enemy  at  Chickamauga  Creek.  The 
Fourteenth,  under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Kingsbury,  being  in  the 
advance,  was  deployed  in  line  of  battle.  The  regiment  having  been  on  the 
march  for  the  previous  twenty-four  hours,  were  much  fatigued ;  but  it  became 
immediately  hotly  engaged  with  the  enemy,  and  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing until  four  o'clock  P.  M.,  was  continually  under  fire,  after  which  it  was  re- 
lieved for  a  short  time  to  replenish  its  cartridge  boxes,  when  it  was  again 
engaged  and  so  remained  until  sundown.  The  next  morning  it  had  a  desper- 
ate encounter  with  a  part  of  Longstreet's  Division,  after  which  the  Union 
forces  fell  back  to  Rossville.  In  these  several  encounters  the  regiment  lost 
two  hundred  and  thirty-three  men  in  killed,  wounded  and  missing,  out  of  a 
total  of  four  hundred  and  forty-nine.  Among  the  wounded  were  eight  line 
officers.  On  the  21st  of  September  the  regiment  was  in  line  of  battle  all  day, 
but  was  compelled  to  fall  back  into  hastily  constructed  entrenchments  near 
Chattanooga,  closely  pursued  by  the  enemy. 

About  the  middle  of  November  in  the  brilliant  assault  on  Mission  Ridge, 
the  Fourteenth  charged  and  took  a  battery  of  three  guns,  loosing  in  this  en- 
counter sixteen  killed,  ninety-one  wounded  and  three  missing. 

On  the  17th  of  December,  1864,  all  but  thirty  men  of  the  Fourteenth  re- 
enlisted  for  another  three  years,  and  on  Christmas  day  and  night  they  were 
re-mustered  into  the  United  States  service.  They  were  then  sent  home  on 
veteran  furlough  and  arrived  in  Toledo  on  the  6th  of  January,  1864.  On  the 
6th  of  February  it  again  left  Toledo  for  the  front,  and  arrived  at  Chattanooga 
on  the  29th,  it  having,  in  the  mean  time,  while  on  veteran  furlough,  recruited 
its  decimated  ranks  to  a  full  regiment,  many  of  whom  came  from  Fulton  and 
Henry  counties  During  the  months  of  March  and  April,  1864,  the  Four- 
teenth was  engaged  doing  picket  duty  and  building  corduroy  roads  between 
Chattanooga  and  Ringgold.  On  the  9th  of  May  it  moved  with  its  brigade  on 
Dalton,  driving  in  the  enemy's  videttes  near  Tunnell  Hill,  at  which  place  com- 
menced that  long  and  terrible  campaign  for  the  possession  of  Atlanta,  in  which 
in  all  the  marches,  incessant  skirmishing  and  fighting,  the  Fourteenth  bore  an 
honorable  part  and  lost  heavily  in  officers  and  men ;  and  while  lying  in  front 
of  Atlanta  the  regiment  lost  twenty  men  in  killed  and  wounded. 

On  the  26th  of  August,  in  a  flanking  movement  towards  Jonesboro,  the 
Fourteenth  and  other  regiments  of  its  brigade  captured  two  hundred  prisoners, 
n 


82  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

On  the  1st  of  September  the  division  of  the  Fourteenth  army  corps,  with 
which  the  Fourteenth  was  brigaded,  marched  towards  Jonesboro,  destroying 
the  railroad  as  it  marched,  and  at  4  o'clock  that  P.  M.,  confronted  the  enemy's 
works  surrounding  that  place.  The  third  brigade,  to  which  the  Fourteenth 
belonged,  commanded  by  Colonel  Este,  of  Baird's  Division,  Fourteenth  Corps, 
was  in  line  of  battle  directly  in  the  rear  of  General  Carlin's  Division,  which  had 
just  made  an  unsuccessful  charge  on  the  rebel  works,  when  Colonel  Este,  with 
the  Fourteenth  and  Thirty-eighth  Ohio,  Tenth  Kentucky  and  Seventy-fourth 
Indiana,  being  all  ready  for  the  fight,  Colonel  Este  gave  the  command :  Bat- 
talions, forward  !  guide  center  !  His  lines  moved  steadily  forward  amid  a  shower 
of  balls.  A  battery  was  also  opened  with  grape  and  canister,  but  the  brigade 
moved  steadily  on;  the  edge  of  the  abattis  was  gained,  and  with  a  yell  and  a 
charge  the  rebel  works  were  gained  and  a  hand  to  hand  fight  ensued.  The 
rebels  fought  with  desperation  and  not  until  many  of  them  were  killed  did  the 
remainder  surrender,  and  were  marched  as  prisoners  to  the  rear.  The  Four- 
teenth took  about  three  hundred  prisoners  and  several  stand  of  colors,  but  the 
cost  was  frightful,  as  fully  one-third  of  the  Fourteenth  were  killed  or  wounded. 
This  was  the  last  severe  fight  for  the  regiment,  although  it  marched  from  At- 
lanta, with  Sherman,  to  the  sea  and  through  the  Carolinas  to  Goldsboro  and 
Raleigh,  thence  to  Washington,  where  it  was  reviewed  by  the  president  and  his 
cabinet,  and  on  the  13th  of  July,  1865,  was  mustered  out  of  service  and  re- 
turned home,  having  spent  four  j^ears  in  active  military  duty  in  the  field. 

As  has  already  been  stated  Company  D  of  the  Fourteenth  was  enlisted  in 
Henry  County  and  as  a  complete  roster  of  its  officers  and  men  can  be  obtained, 
it  is  proper  that  they  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  this  sketch. 

Field  and  Staff  Officers. 

James  B.  Steedman,  colonel;  promoted  to  brigadier  general  July  16,  1862. 

George  P.  Este,  colonel;  prom,  from  lieut.  col.,  July  17,  1862;  mustered 
out  July  7,  1865. 

Paul  Edwards,  lieut.  col.;  prom,  from  major  July  17,  1862;  resigned  Nov. 
26,  1862. 

Henry  D.  Kingsbury,  lieut.  col.;  prom,  from  capt,  Company  A,  to  major, 
July  17,  1862;  lieut.  col.,  Dec.  27,  1862;  mustered  out  Nov.  8,  1864. 

Albert  Moore,  lieut.  col. ;  prom,  from  capt..  Company  A,  to  lieut.  col.  Nov. 
18,  1864. 

John  W.  Wilson,  major;  prom,  from  capt,  Company  E,  Jan.  20,  1863; 
died  Oct.  3,  1864,  from  wounds. 

Roster  of  Company  D. 

Samuel  Pomroy,  capt.,  enl.  Sept.  4,  1861 ;  wd.  at  Chickamauga,  Sept.  19, 
1863;  mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 


Henry  County.  83 


Oscar  N.  Gunn,  capt.  enl.  Sept.  5,  1861  ;  prom,  to  second  lieut.,  com- 
pany I,  Dec.  20,  1862  ;  first  lieut.  Nov.  18,  1864,  and  to  capt.  Jan  6,  1865  ; 
must,  out  with  company,  July  11,  1865. 

William  H.  Brownell,  first  lieut.,  enl.  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  resigned  Sept.  10, 
1864. 

John  P.  Crawford,  first  Heut.  enl.  Aug.  25,  1861;  prom,  sergt,  company 
K.,  Jan.  6,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  11,  1865. 

Wm.  B.  Steedman,  second  lieut.,  Sept.  4,  1861;  prom,  to  first  lieut,  Dec. 
21,  1862,  and  assigned  to  company  C. 

Joseph  Reynolds,  first  sergt.  Sept  4.  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company. 

Joseph  B.  Wilder,  sergt.  Sept  4,  1861,  mustered  out  with  company. 

William  Nanna,  sergt  Sept.  4,  1861,  prom,  from  corp.;  mustered  out  with 
company. 

John  Plegstone,  sergt  Sept.  4,  i86i,prom.  from  corp.;  mustered  out  with 
company. 

John  Heckler,  sergt  Sept  4,  1861,  prom,  from  corp.;  mustered  out  with 
company. 

Andrew  McConnell,  sergt  Sept  4,  1861,  disch.  for  disability  Aug.  8,  1862. 

James  W.  Barrett,  sergt  Sept  4,  1861,  mustered  out  Sept  12,  1864. 

Smith  Cadwalader,  sergt.  Sept  4,  1861,  prom,  to  q.  m.  sergt  Dec.  17,  1863, 
assigned  to  field  and  staff". 

James  P.  Stout,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861,  appt  Apr.  i.  1864,  mustered  out  with 
company ;  veteran. 

Joseph  Snyder,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861;  appt  Apr.  i,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company ;  veteran. 

WilHam  Hollis,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861  ;  appt.  Apr.  20,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company ;  veteran. 

Henry  Houston,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861  ;  appt.  Apr.  20,  1864;  mustered  out 
with  company ;  veteran. 

George  W.  Williams,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861  ;  appt  Oct.  i,  1864;  mustered 
out  with  company  ;  veteran. 

Henry  A.  Anglemeyer,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861;  appt  Oct  i,  1864;  mustered 
out  with  company ;  veteran. 

Peter  Storch,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861  ;  appt  Oct  4,  1864;  mustered  out  with 
company ;  veteran. 

James  Swanger,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861  ;  appt  June  S,  1865;  mustered  out 
with  company  ;  veteran. 

George  Zefange,  corp.  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  died  of  wounds  received  at  Chicka- 
mauga  Sept  19,  1863. 

George  B.  Hartman,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861  ;  wounded  at  Chickamauga  Sept 
19,  1863;  mustered  out  Sept  12,  1864. 

James  Wells,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861  ;  killed  at  Chickamauga  Sept  19,   1863. 


84  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Andrew  B.  Clements,  corp.  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  killed   at  Chickamauga  Sept. 
19,  1863. 

George  W.  Long,  corp.  Sept  4,  1861  :  disch.  for  disability  Aug.  19,  1862. 

Philip  Hueston,  corp.  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Sept.  19,  1864. 

Lewis  Kramer,  corp.  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   died  Sept.  23,  1863,  from  wounds. 

Harvey  B.  Bartell,  corp.  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   died  from  wounds  received  at  At- 
lanta, Ga.,  Sept.  10,  1864. 

John  Zink,  corp.  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

William  F.  Barret,  musician,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

George  M.   D.   Steadman,    musician,    Sept.  4,    1861  ;  mustered   out  with 
company  ;   veteran. 

Philip  Frankhouse,  wagoner,   Sept.  4,    1861  ;  captured  Feb.  28,  1865  ;  no 
record. 

Henry  Andrex,  private,  Oct.  5,  1862  ;  wounded  at  Chickamauga  Sept.  19, 
1863  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

Jasper  Allen,  Feb.  22,  1864;   mustered  out  July  11,  1865. 

James  H.  Brown,  Sept.  4,   1861  ;    mustered   out  July  11,    1865  ;    veteran. 

David  Burk,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  July  11,  1865  ;  veteran. 

George  Bruker,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   died  from  wounds  received  Sept.  19,   1863. 

Thomas  Burke,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   wounded  at  Chickamauga  Sept.  19,  1863; 
mustered  out  Sept  12,  1864. 

Samuel  R.  Bottomfield,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  wounded  at  Chickamauga  Sept.  19, 
1863;   mustered  out  Sept.   12,  1864. 

John  Bottomfield,  Sept.  4.  1861  ;  disch.  for  disability  July  3,  1862. 

Edmund  Borden,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  died  Feb.  27,  1862,  at  Lebanon,  Ky. 

Stephen  H.  Bates,  Sept  4,  1861  ;  missing  at  Chickamauga  Sept.  19,  1863. 

John  Bowker,  Sept.   4,    1861  ;   captured  at   Chickamauga  Sept.  19,  1863; 
mustered  out  Oct.  9,  1864. 

David  K.  Bowker,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  prom,  to  com.  sergt.  Dec.  15,  1863,  and 
transferred  to  field  and  staff. 

Robert  Bowen,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   died  Jan.  2,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

Henry  F.  Benchie,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  discharged. 

Martin  W.  Bowker,  Feb.  11,  1864;  disch.  June  10,  1865,  at  Camp  Chase, 
O.,  by  order  of  War  Department. 

Andrew  Christy,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  ;  veteran. 

Daniel  Cook,  Feb.  11,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  11,  1865. 

Zachariah  T.  Cole,  Jan.  19,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company. 

James  Cunningham,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  disch.  Sept.  2,  1862,  for  disability. 

William  Casteele,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   wounded  at  Chickamauga  Sept.  19,  1863; 
mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

Joseph  CHck,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  died  Oct.  24,  1862,  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Henry  C.  Clark,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  killed  at  Jonesboro,  Ga.,  Sept.  i,  1864. 


Henry  County.  85 


John  Deetrick,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

Jacob  Dixon,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  disch.  for  disability  at  Louisville,  Ky. 

Thomas  Davis,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  killed  near  Huntsville,  Ala.,  Aug.  7,  1862. 

William  Edsul,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  died  Oct.  18,  1863,  from  wounds  received 
at  battle  of  Chickamauga  Sept.  19,  1863. 

James  S.  Ensminger,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

William  Foster,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

Isaiah  Fox,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   died  Sept.  8.  1862,  at  Tuscumbia,  Ala. 

John  Gewars,  Sept.  4,  1867  ;   mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

WiUiam  Gallagher,  Sept.  19,    1863;  absent;  mustered  out  July  11,  1863. 

Hiram  E.  Gruber,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  disch.  for  disabilities  July  i,  1862. 

Benjamin  Houk,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  ;  veteran. 

Philip  Hollingshead,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  ;  veteran. 

Joseph  F.  Hill,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  trans,  to  Vet.  Res.  Corps  March  14,  1865  ;. 
mustered  out  July  25,  1865  ;   veteran. 

Stephen  Hain,  Jan.  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company. 

Henry  Hain,  Feb.  22,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company. 

Aaron  Heaton,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company;   veteran. 

Philemon  Hendrix,  Jan.  19,  1864;  died  Sept.  4,  1864,  from  wounds  re- 
ceived at  battle  of  Jonesboro,  Ga.,  Sept.  i,  1864. 

William  Halter,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  disch.  Dec.  6,  1862,  for  disability. 

Alfred  W.  Hinds,  August  28,  1861;  trans,  from  Co.  F  March  24,  1864;; 
mustered  out  with  company,  July  11,  1865  ;  veteran. 

John  Keller,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company;   veteran. 

Robert  Kelsey,  September  4,  1861  ;  disch.  Oct.  13,  1863,  for  disability. 

Smith  Knowles,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  wounded  at  Chickamauga,  Ga.,  Sept.  19,, 
1863;  mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

Samuel  Kilbourn,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  trans,  from  Co.  F,  Mch.  14,  1864;  mus- 
tered out  Oct.  22,  1864. 

Frank  Long,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company;   veteran. 

Jacob  Lohr,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

John  F.  Luderman,  Feb.  14,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company. 

Alonzo  Lamphere,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  died  November  23,  1681,  at  Lexing- 
ton, Ky. 

Ephraim  Long,  August  18,  1861  ;   died  Dec.  12,  1862,  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Walter  Linn,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;   discharged  July  21,  1862,  at  Louisville,  Ky. 

Jarvis  Long,  Feb.  11,  1864;   absent,  sick;  mustered  out  July  11,  1865. 

Joseph  Long,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

Austin  Leach,  Feb.  11,  1864;  disch.  Oct.  10,  1864,  for  disability. 

Bass  R.  Myrice,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  July  11,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Barney  McGee,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  July  11,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Samuel  Myrice,  Oct.  i,  1862  ;  mustered  out  with  company. 


86  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

David  Marsh,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

Lee  Morrow,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  no  record. 

Bruce  D.  McBane,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  discharged  Dec.  5,  1862,  at  Colum- 
bus, O. 

William  B.  Morris,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  died  Oct.  16,  1863,  at  Chattanooga 
Hospital. 

Matthew  Morrison,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  left  at  Corinth  Hosp.,  Miss.;  died  Sep. 
17,  1862. 

James  Mann,  Aug.  18,  i86i  ;   mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

John  W.  Miller,  Aug.  1861  ;   killed  at  Chickamauga,  Sept.  19,  1863. 

George  S.  Myers,  Oct.  15,  1862  ;  discharged  May  12,  1865. 

Daniel  Marsh,  Oct.  18,  1861  ;  killed  at  Jonesboro,  Ga.,  Sept.  i,  1864. 

Theron  McMillen,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  trans,  from  Co.  F,  March  15,  1864; 
mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

David  C.  Meek,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  trans,  to  Vet.  Eng.  Corps,  Aug.  10.  1864; 
veteran. 

Noah  J.  Overmeyer,  Oct.  15,  1862  ;  mustered  out  with  company. 

Samuel  Overmeyer,  Oct.  18,  1862;   mustered  out  with  company. 

James  Ostrander,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  trans,  from  Co.  F,  March  15,  1864; 
mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

Thomas  Patton,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  wounded  at  Chickamauga,  Sept.  19,  1863; 
mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

George  Pretenious,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  trans,  to  Vet.  Eng.  Corps,  Aug.  26, 
1 864 ;  veteran. 

Robert  L.  Roberts,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;   no  record. 

Ahusiel  Rhone,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

Granville  Russell,  Aug    18,  1861  ;  died  Feb.  24,  1862,  at  Lebanon,  Ky. 

Allen  Rich,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  wounded  at  Chickamauga,  Ga.,  Sept.  19,  1863; 
discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Converse  P.  Russell,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  discharged  Jan.  10,  1864,  for  wounds 
received  at  Chickamauga,  Ga.,  Sept.  19,  1863. 

Jacob  Richler,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  disch.  Jan.  i,  1863,  at  Louisville,  Ky. 

Peter  Shauteen,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  died  Sept.  27,  1863,  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
from  wounds  received  at  Chickamauga,  Ga.,  Sept.  19,  1863. 

James  W.  Smith,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  died  March  14,  1862,  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Orlando  B.  Stout,  Sept.  4.  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

Robert  W.  Showman,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

Jacob  Sill,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  disch.  Mch.  20,  1863,  for  disability. 

Frederick  Speigle,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  capt.  at  Chickamauga,  Ga.,  Sept.  19, 
1863  ;  died  Aug.  1 1,  1864,  at  Andersonville  Prison. 

James  O.  Smith,  Aug.  18,  i86i  ;  disch.  Nov.  12,  1862,  for  disability. 

Milo  Smith,  Aug.  28,  i86i ;  trans,  from  Co.  F;  mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 


Henry  County.  87 


Thomas  Taylor,  Sept.  4,  j86i  ;  mustered  out  with  company;  veteran. 

Allen  F.  Thatcher,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  capt.  at  Chickamauga,  Sept.  19,  1863  ; 
mustered  out  Sept.  12,  1864. 

George  C.  Westcott,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  ;  veteran. 

John  C.  Williams,  Dec.  17,  1863  ;  mustered  out  with  company,  July  11,. 
1865. 

Martin  Westcott,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company  ;  veteran. 

William  Weaver,  Feb.  2,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company,  July  11,  1865, 

John  White,  Dec.  29,  1863  ;  mustered  out  with  company. 

Isaac  Wells,  Aug.  18,  1861  ;  disch.  for  disability  Jan.  28,  1862,  at  Louis- 
ville, Ky. 

The  Thirty-Eighth  Regimgnt. 

The  second  regiment  raised  for  the  three  years  service  to  which  Henry 
county  contributed  was  the  Thirty-eighth  O.  V.  Infantry,  raised  during  the 
summer  and  fall  of  the  year  1861,  in  answer  to  the  call  of  President  Lincoln 
for  three  hundred  thousand  men  for  three  years.  Company  B  of  this  regi- 
ment was  recruited  in  this  county,  and  there  may  have  been  other  men  in  other 
companies,  but  they  were  scattering  and  went  in  singly  and  not  as  a  regular 
organization  as  did  Company  B.  The  regiment  was  organized  at  Defiance,  on 
the  1st  of  September.  On  the  22d  of  the  same  month  it  was  transferred  to 
Camp  Dennison,  where  the  men  received  their  arms  and  field  equipments,  and 
were  drilled  preparatory  to  active  service,  after  which  they  were  ordered  to 
proceed  to  Kentucky,  where  they  arrived  October  i.  On  the  next  day  the 
regiment  passed  through  and  encamped  near  Nicholasville.  About  two  weeks 
later  it  was  ordered  to  the  relief  of  the  garrison  at  Wild  Cat,  Ky.,  and  after  a 
forced  march  of  some  sixty  miles  reached  its  destination  on  the  19th  of  Octo- 
ber. Afterward  it  pursued  the  enemy  to  Loudon  and  Barboursville  ;  marched 
on  all  of  the  subsequent  campaigns  during  the  fall,  and  went  into  winter  quar- 
ters about  Christmas  time  near  Somerset.  During  the  winter  months  the  men 
suffered  severely,  not  being  accustomed  to  the  climate  and  the  rough  usages 
of  camp  life,  so  that  in  a  short  time  less  than  three  hundred  in  the  entire  reg- 
iment were  fit  for  duty.  The  regiment  participated  in  the  campaign  of  Mill 
Springs,  and  marched  to  Louisville,  arriving  there  on  February  28,  1862. 

Early  in  March  the  regiment  proceeded  to  Nashville  where  preparations 
were  made  for  the  spring  campaign  ;  thence  it  proceeded  with  the  army  of  the 
Ohio  through  Middle  Tennessee,  and  encamped  during  the  month  of  April  on 
the  battle-field  of  Pittsburg  Landing,  and  then  again  marched  under  General 
Hallet  toward  Corinth,  Miss.,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  siege  of  that  place. 

After  the  evacuation  of  Corinth,  May  27,  1862,  the  Thirty-eighth  marched 
with  the  army  in  pursuit  of  Beauregard  as  far  as  Boonville,  and  on  returning 
encamped  near  Corinth  until  the  20th  of  June,  when  it  marched  with  the  armjr 


88  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

to  Tuscumbia,  Ala.,  arriving  there  on  the  28th.  On  the  28th  the  regiment 
proceeded  to  Winchester,  Tenn.,  where  it  arrived  on  the  7th  of  August.  From 
this  point  several  reconnoitering  parties  were  sent  out,  and  among  them  none 
were  more  actively  engaged  than  the  Thirty-eighth.  A  party  of  eighty  men 
from  this  regiment  made  a  forced  march  upon  Tracy  Creek,  which  was  cap- 
tured and  a  large  quantity  of  stores  destroyed.  For  this  event  those  engaged 
made  the  march  and  return,  a  total  distance  of  seventy-two  miles,  in  less  than 
twenty- four  hours. 

The  regiment  participated  in  the  battle  with  the  enemy  at  Chaplain  Hill, 
and  afterward  in  the  campaign  in  Kentucky,  and  went  into  camp  late  in  Octo- 
ber, on  Rolling  Fork,  near  Lebanon.  From  here  it  soon  proceeded  toward 
Nashville,  Tenn.  During  the  months  of  November  and  December  it  was 
guarding  railroads  between  Gallatin  and  Nashville,  but  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  it  marched  to  Nashville  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  battle  at  Stone 
River,  and  fortunately  met  with  but  slight  loss.  After  the  battle  the  Thirty- 
eighth  went  into  winter  quarters  near  the  city  and  remained  until  March  13, 
1863,  when  it  joined  with  the  forces  at  Triune. 

Commencing  in  June,  the  year  1863  witnessed  for  the  regiment  these 
events  :  Marched  with  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  and  took  part  in  the  Tul- 
lahoma  campaign ;  began  the  march  to  Chattanooga  August  17  ;  moved  with 
the  center  corps,  crossed  the  Cumberland  mountains  to  the  Tennessee  River, 
which  was  crossed  on  log  rafts  on  the  night  of  September  2,  and  proceeded 
over  Lookout  and  Raccoon  Mountains  and  arrived  in  the  Lookout  Valley 
about  the  middle  of  September;  acted  as  guard  for  an  immense  wagon  train 
to  Chattanooga,  by  special  order  of  General  Thomas,  and  thus  escaped  the 
battle  of  Chickamauga,  but  successfully  accomplished  the  task  assigned  it.  On 
the  25th  of  November  the  division  to  which  the  regiment  was  attached  as- 
saulted the  enemy's  works  at  the  foot  of  Mission  Ridge  and  carried  them,  driv- 
ing Bragg's  forces.  Li  this  brief  engagement  the  Thirty-eighth  was  on  the 
extreme  left,  and  was  subjected  to  a  terrible  fire  from  the  rebel  infantry.  In 
this  charge  the  regiment  lost  seven  killed,  and  forty-one  wounded. 

After  pursuing  the  enemy  as  far  as  Ringgold  the  Thirty-eighth  returned 
to  camp  near  Chattanooga,  where  on  the  26th  of  December  the  men  re-enlisted 
as  a  veteran  organization,  and  was  furloughed  home.  At  the  expiration  of 
the  furlough  the  regiment  joined  the  army  then  at  Ringgold,  Ga.  Recruits 
were  sent  forward  and  when  Sherman  started  on  the  memorable  Atlanta  cam- 
paign the  regiment  numbered  seven  hundred  and  forty-one  men. 

On  May  5,  1864,  the  regiment  broke  camp  and  marched  to  Buzzard's  Roost 
Gap,  where  it  was  brought  into  action.  After  skirmishing  about  for  a  few 
•days,  in  which  the  Thirty- eighth  took  an  active  part,  several  men  were  killed 
and  wounded.  The  regiment  then  participated  in  the  campaign  that  followed;  in 
the  siege  of  Kenesaw  and  elsewhere,  fortifying  and  skirmishing,  and  brought  up 


Henry  County.  89 


July  5,  1864,  on  the  Chattahoochie  River.  On  the  17th  they  advanced,  crossed 
the  river,  and  on  the  22d  had  the  honor  of  establishing  the  picket  line  of  the 
Fourteenth  Corps  in  front  of  Atlanta.  On  the  3d  of  August  it  moved  to  Utoy 
Creek,  where  two  days  later  Companies  A,  C  and  K  of  the  regiment  charged 
the  enemy's  line  successfully. 

By  a  series  of  movements  the  army  arrived  at  Jonesboro,  Ga.,  early  in 
September,  coming  upon  Hardee's  pickets  at  four  o'clock  P.  M.  of  the  ist. 
Este's  brigade  at  once  charged  the  works.  The  regiment  lost  here,  in  killed 
and  wounded,  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  nearly  one-half  its  entire  strength. 

Following  the  Jonesboro  campaign  came  the  campaign  of  Georgia.  The 
army  broke  camp  on  October  3,  1864,  and  retraced  its  lines  as  far  north  as 
Dalton,  Hood  in  the  mean  time  having  reached  the  rear  of  Sherman's  army. 
The  Thirty-eighth  accompanied  the  expedition  thus  far,  and  moved  thence 
via  Gaylesville,  Ala.,  to  Rome,  and  reached  Kingston,  Ga.,  November  5.  Ar- 
riving at  Milledgeville  on  the  24th  of  November,  the  regiment  was  assigned  to 
provost  duty  in  the  city.  It  was  soon  sent  to  destroy  the  bridge  across  the 
Big  Ogeechee,  which  was  done,  the  regiment  marching  on  that  day  a  distance 
of  forty- four  miles  before  reaching  Louisville,  to  which  place  the  army  had 
gone.  From  Louisville  the  army  went  to  Savannah,  arriving  there  on  the  21st 
of  December,  where  the  regiment  went  into  camp.  During  their  stay  here  the 
regiment  received  two  hundred  drafted  men  and  substitutes. 

On  the  30th  of  January,  1865,  the  Thirty- eighth  left  Savannah  with  the 
army,  and  participated  in  the  "  Campaign  of  the  Carolinas,"  and  after  forty 
days  came  to  Goldsboro,  N.  C.  From  there  it  went  to  Holly  Springs,  where 
it  remained  until  after  the  surrender  of  Johnston's  army.  From  Holly  Springs 
the  regiment  marched  to  Raleigh,  thence  to  Richmond,  and  finally  to  Alexan- 
dria, Va.,  where  it  remained  until  after  the  grand  review  at  the  capital,  when 
it  encamped  near  Washington.  It  remained  there  until  June  15,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  Louisville,  Ky.,  where  it  arrived  on  the  23d.  On  the  12th  of  July 
the  muster  out  was  completed,  and  the  regiment  proceeded  to  Cleveland,, 
where  it  was  finally  discharged  on  the  22d  day  of  July,  1865. 

Thirty- Eighth  Regiment — Field  and  Staff. 

Edwin  D.  Bradley,  col. ;  resigned  Feb.  8,  1862. 

Edward  H.  Phelps,  col. ;  prom,  from  lieut.  col. ;  killed  in  action  Nov.  25, 
1863. 

William  A.  Choate,  col. ;  prom,  from  lieut.  col.  ;  died  of  wounds. 
Charles  Greenwood,  maj. ;  prom,  to  lieut.  col. 
William  Irving,  maj. ;  promoted  to  lieut.^col. 
Andrew  Newman,  maj. ;  mustered  out  with  regiment. 
Epaphras  L.  Barber,  maj. ;  resigned  Jan.  12,  1862. 
Moses  R.  Brailey,  maj. ;  resigned  Feb.  9,  1862. 
12 


90  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Israel  Coons,  surg. ;   resigned  July  13,  1863. 
James  Haller,  surg.  ;   mustered  out  Jan.  4,  1865. 

H.  B.  Powell,  surg.  ;  prom,  from  asst.  surg. ;  mustered  out  with  the  regi- 
ment. 

Company  Roster. 

The  muster  roll  of  Company  B  is  hardly  as  complete  as  could  be  desired, 
but  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  State  roster  is  not  yet  published,  the  same  can- 
not now  be  given  in  full.  The  following  roll  is  made  from  a  company  memo- 
rial, and  shows  the  name  of  each  officer  and  man,  but  its  record  is  not  full : 

William  A.  Choate,  capt.  ;  prom,  to  col. 

Edmund  Metz,  first  lieut. ;  mustered  out  with  regiment. 

William  E.  Kintigh,  first  lieut.  ;  prom,  to  capt. ;   resigned  March  24,  1863. 

Benj.  S.  Pindar,  second  lieut.  ;  prom,  to  capt.  ;  resigned. 

William  H.  Ellis,  sergt.  ;  prom,  second  lieut.  March  6,  1862;  first  lieut. 
May  5,  1863  ;   resigned  September  15,  1864. 

Sergeants. — James  E.  Eidson,  first  serg't,  veteran ;  Edward  T.  Gray, 
wounded  Aug.  4,  1864,  veteran  ;  Jacob  Altenberger,  veteran  ;  Cornelius  Nye, 
veteran  ;  George  W.  Ford,  veteran ;  Forman  Evans,  first  serg't,  prom,  to 
second  lieut.,  to  first  lieut.,  Co.  K  ;  James  M.  Patterson,  first  serg't,  prom,  to 
second  lieut.  Co.  C,  to  first  lieut.  Co.  E  ;  Henry  P.  Urquhart,  trans,  to  Vet, 
Res.  Corps. 

Corporals. — John  Babcock,  disch.  Dec.  13,  1862  ;  Samuel  M.  Powell,  disch. 
April  18,  1862;  David  Kilpatrick,  disch.  Dec.  29,  1862;  WilHam  W.  Wad- 
dams;  Daniel  Hartley,  disch.  Sept.  13,  1864;  Loyal  L.  Bly,  disch.  Sept.  13, 
1864;  James  McEwen,  veteran;  John  Burnhour,  wounded  Sept.  i,  1864; 
William  C.  Eidson,  captured  Feb.  26,  1864,  veteran  ;  Israel  Weamer,  veteran; 
David  Bost,  wounded  Sept.  i,  1864,  veteran;  Robert  Babcock,  wounded  Sept. 
I,  1864,  veteran;  George  Brown,  veteran  ;  Wilson  Quick,  captured  Feb.  26, 
1864,  veteran;  Jacob  Hafer,  prom,  to  com.  serg't. 

Privates. — Cyrus  Altman,  vet. ;  Samuel  Bost,  captured  Feb.  26,  1865,  vet. ; 
Lemuel  Howard,  vet.  ;  William  D.  Hudson,  vet.  ;  James  M.  Knox,  wounded 
Sept.  I,  1864,  vet.  ;  George  Lighthiser,  vet. ;  John  McCracken,  vet.  ;  Joseph 
Mares,  vet.  ;  Leander  Mares,  wounded  Sept.  i,  1864,  vet.  ;  William  Mares, 
vet.  ;  Edmund  B.  Magill,  vet. ;  Henry  C.  McIIenry,  vet.  ;  William  F.  Reig- 
hard,  vet.  ;  Hugh  M.  Reighard,  vet.  ;  William  H.  Sprague,  vet. ;  Philip  Witt- 
mer,  vet.;  Valentine  Zink,  vet;  Daniel  CHmer,  wounded  July  21,  1864; 
Thomas  Chambers,  Levi  Donnelly  ;  William  H.  Dennis,  wounded  Aug.  4, 
1864;  Daniel  W.  Frease,  Adam  Lighthiser;  George  Myers,  wounded  Au- 
gust 5,  1864;  Thomas  Rose,  Elmer  Struble,  Silas  Wright,  Joseph  Wells, 
George  M.  Zink,  William  H.  Ellis,  Frank  Kitsmiller ;  John  Babcock,  wounded 
Sept.   I,  1864;  Patrick  Cassidy,  Levi  Frysinger,  David  Kennedy,  John  Sim- 


Henry  County.  91 


erly,  William  A.  Babcock,  Alva  Spade,  William  H.  Atherton,  William  H. 
Bestor,  Cornelius  Carder,  Peter  Doubenmyer,  Dudley  T.  Fields,  Henry  Gear- 
hart,  James  Garretson,  Alexander  Henry,  Jasper  L.  Jones,  David  Nessley, 
George  Ream,  Andrew  Barnhart,  captured  July  9,  1864. 

Members  Discharged. — Philip  B.  Walterhouse  April  18,  1862  ;  Lulius  Kelly, 
July  16,  1862  ;  George  B.  Corbett,  Aug.  18,  1862  ;  Thomas  Barrett,  Dec.  11, 
1862;  Presley  C.  Durbin,  Dec.  29,  1862;  Robert  McEwen,  Jan.  26,  1863; 
Lawrence  A.  Durbin,  date  not  given  ;  Joseph  W.  Davis,  Dec.  27,  1862  ;  D.  H. 
Latta,  July  27,  1862  ;   Henry  Shatzer,  July  27,  1863;    Frederick  Sprow,  July 

27,  1863;  Adam  Bost,  July  27,  1863;  John  Booher,  July  27,  1863;  Seth 
Kenter,  July  28,  1863  ;  John  Sprague,  Jan.  4,  1862  ;  Smith  Cowdrick,  Jan.  4, 
1862;  George  Smith,  Jan.  4,  1862;  Francis  M.  Bascom,  Sept.  13,  1864; 
Charles  Gillespie,  Sept.  13,  1864;  William  H.  Russell,  Sept.  13,  1864;  Will- 
iam Sands,  September  13,  1864;  Daniel  W.  Davis,  September  13,  1864; 
Francis  M.  Kinney,  Sept.  13,  1864;   Perry  S.  C.  Durbin,  April  22,  1862. 

Company  Death  Roll. — Corp.,  Robt.  Frees,  March  6,  1864;  corp.,  Henry 
Wittmer,  July  26,  1864;  corp.,  James  Cowan,  June  6,  1862  ;  corp.,  Oscar  P. 
Randall,  killed  Sept.  i,  1864;  corp.,  George  Struble,  killed  Sept.  i,  1864; 
Henry  Ellis,  date  not  given  ;  Perry  S.  Pinder,  April  28,  1862  ;  Henry  Weaver, 
May  28,  1862;  Benjamin  F.  Wright,  Sept.  15,  1862;  Joseph  W.  Britnell,  Sept. 
25,  1862;  James  M.  Frederick,  Oct.  22,  1862;  Samuel  Lorah,  Dec.  15,  1862; 
John  W.  Carter,  May,  1863;  Philip  Naugle,  Feb.  15,  1863;  Balser  Borts, 
March  i,  1863;  Lewis  F.  Frysinger,  April,  8,  1863  ;  Robert  McCracken,  Oct. 
II,  1863;  David    McCracken,  of  wounds,   Nov.   4,    1864;   O.  D.  Riley,  Dec. 

28,  1863;  James  M.  Green,  March  20,  1864;  William  Richmond,  March  12, 
1864;  Azariah  Bast,  March  22,  1864  ;  Andrew  Saltsman,  April  5,  1864; 
Philo  W.  Amy,  Dec.  27,  1861  ;  Thomas  J.  Richmond,  date  not  given  ;  Michael 
Hayes,  date  not  given;  Samuel  A.  Palmer,  Jan.  26,  1862;  George  Ceiling, 
Nov.  13,  1861  ;  George  Price,  Sept.  13,  1861  ;  William  Manley,  Nov.  24,  1861  ; 
Joseph  Huston,  June  i,  1864;  Michael  Bast,  date  not  given;  William  Parker, 
killed  Aug.  11,  1864;  Charles  A.  Alexander,  killed  Aug.  19,  1864;  Bennett 
Ponteous,  killed  Sept.  i,  1864;  Jacob  Green,  Feb.  9,  1864;  S.  L.  F.  Jones, 
Dec.  30,  1864;  William  Fellers,  wounded  Sept.  i,  1864;  died  Sept.  10,  1864. 

SixTY-f^iGHTH  Infantry. 

This  regiment  was  composed  mainly  of  young  men  of  from  seventeen  to 
thirty  years  of  age.  Fulton,  Wilhams,  Paulding  and  Defiance  counties,  each 
furnished  one  company,  and  Henry  county  furnished  the  great  majority  of  the 
men  of  the  other  companies.  The  regiment'  commenced  to  rendezvous  at 
Camp  Latty,  Napoleon,  O.,  November  21,  1861.  Sibley  tents,  with  stoves  and 
plenty  of  straw,  gave  the  boys  sumptuous  quarters.  The  rations  furnished 
were  of  the  best  quality,  and   abundant,  and   the   supplies  of  delicacies  sent 


92  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

them  by  their  friends  at  home  were   frequent,    and   generous  in  quantity  and 
variety. 

On  the  5th  of  January,  1862,  the  regiment  moved  to  Camp  Chase,  where 
it  remained  until  February  7,  when  it  moved  to  Fort  Donelson,  Tenn.,  arriv- 
ing on  the  14th.  The  regiment  was  assigned  to  General  Charles  F.  Smith's 
division  and  occupied  a  very  important  position  on  the  left  of  the  lines  during 
the  two  days'  operations.  After  the  surrender  the  regiment  encamped  near 
Dover  until  the  15th  of  March,  when  it  moved  to  Metal  Landing,  on  the  Ten- 
nessee, and  from  there  to  Crump's  Landing,  and  from  there  to  Pittsburgh  Land- 
ing. Up  to  this  time  the  health  of  the  men  had  been  comparatively  good  ;  but 
now  bad  water,  bad  weather  and  bad  rations  operated  very  seriously  upon 
the  boys,  fresh  from  the  comforts  of  home  life,  and  the  strength  of  the  regi- 
ment was  reduced  by  sickness  from  one  thousand  to  less  than  three  hundred 
men  fit  for  duty.  The  regiment  was  assigned  to  General  Lew  Wallace's 
division,  and  during  the  battle  of  Pittsburgh  Landing  was  engaged  in  guarding 
ordnance  and  supply  trains.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Scott  and  Captain  Richards 
went  as  volunteer  aids  to  General  Thayer,  and  were  mentioned  in  his  official 
report  for  gallant  and  efficient  service.  During  the  operations  around  Corinth 
the  regiment  was  constantly  on  duty  in  building  roads,  bridges  and  entrench- 
ments. After  the  evacuation  the  Sixty-eighth  with  the  Twenty- third  Indiana, 
was  stationed  at  Bolivar,  Tenn.,  where  they  rebuilt  the  bridge  across  the 
Hatchie,  and  formed  the  guards  along  the  railroad  for  a  number  of  miles. 

The  first  regular  engagement  participated  in  by  the  regiment  was  the  bat- 
tle of  Metamora  (or  the  Little  Hatchie),  and  for  gallantry  in  which  the  regiment 
was  complimented  in  general  orders.  The  regiment  also  participated  in  the 
battle  of  luka.  It  closed  the  campaign  of  1 862  by  forming  the  advance  of  an 
expedition  which  attempted  to  get  into  the  rear  of  Vicksburg  by  the  way  of 
Holly  Springs  and  Granada,  Miss.  The  design  was  frustrated  by  the  surren- 
der of  Holly  Springs,  and  the  regiment  returned  to  Memphis.  During  the 
campaign  in  Mississippi  the  regiment  was  assigned  to  the  Second  Brigade, 
Third  Division,  Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  where  it  remained  until  the  close  of 
the  war. 

In  the  spring  of  1863  the  regiment  moved  with  its  command  to  Lake 
Providence,  La.,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  where  it  worked  on  the  Lake  Provi- 
dence canal  in  the  fruitless  attempt  to  clea'r  a  passage  for  the  river  boats 
through  Bayou  Tensas.  It  engaged  in  similar  work  in  the  vicinity  of  Walnut 
Bayou  in  the  vicinity  of  Eagle  Bend.  About  the  loth  of  April,  1863,  the 
regiment  moved  down  to  Milliken's  Bend,  where  it  was  engaged  in  working 
on  the  military  road  toward  Richmond,  La.  While  here  Lieutenant  John  C. 
Banks,  of  Company  C,  and  privates  John  Snyder  of  Company  A,  Joseph 
Longbury  and  William  Barnhart,  of  Company  C,  volunteered  to  take  one  of 
the  transports,  a  common  river  steamer,  past  the  Vicksburg  batteries.     They 


Henry  County.  93 


•succeeded  in  this  undertaking  on  tlie  night  of  April  21.  On  the  23d  of  April 
the  regiment  began  its  march  for  the  rear  of  Vicksburg.     It  marched  more  than 

seventy  miles  over  low  bottom  lands,  still  partly  submerged,  crossed  innumer- 
able bayous  on  bridges  hastily  constructed  of  timber  from  neighboring  houses 

-and  cotton  gins,  and  reached  the  Mississippi  at  Grand  Gulf  The  regiment 
moved  down  to  Bruinsburg,  where  it  crossed  the  river,  and  by  a  forced  march 
was  able  to  participate  in  the  battle  of  Thompson's  Hill,  May  i,  1863.  The 
regiment  pursued  the  retreating  rebels  and  was  engaged  in  the  battles  of  Ray- 
mond, May  21  ;  Jackson,  May  14;  Champion  Hills,  May  16,  and  Big  Black. 
The  regiment  lost  heavily  in  all  these  engagements,  especially  at  Champion 
Hills,  where  Lieutenant- Colonel  John  S.  Snook  was  killed. 

The  regiment  engaged  in  an  attack  on  the  rebel  works  in  the  rear  of  Vicks- 
burg on  May  18,  and  in  the  assault  on  Fort  Hill  on  the  22d.  During  the  early 
part  of  the  siege  the  regiment  was  constantly  in  the  trenches,  and  it  also  furn- 
ished large  details  of  sharp-shooters ;  but  during  the  latter  part  of  the  siege  it 
was  placed  in  the  army  of  observation,  near  Big  Black.  It  was  on  the  recon- 
noissance  toward  Yazoo  city,  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  and  participated  in  the 
engagement  at  Jackson  on  the  12th  of  July.  After  the  battle  it  guarded 
about  six  hundred  prisoners  into  Vicksburg.  The  regiment  was  quartered 
comfortably  in  the  suburbs  at  Vicksburg  until  the  middle  of  August,  when 
it  moved  on  an  expedition  to  Monroe,  La.,  and  returned  with  one- third  of 
its  men  either  in  the  hospital,  or  on  the  sick  list.  In  October  the  regiment 
moved  on  a  reconnoissance  with  the  Seventeenth  Corps,  and  was  engaged  in  a 
skirmish  at  Bogue  Chitta  Creek,  and  on  the  Sth  of  February,  1864,  it  partici- 
pated in  the  fight  at  Clinton  and  Jackson,  Miss,  while  on  the  Meridian  raid. 
This  expedition  prevented  the  regiment  from  going  north  on  veteran  furlough 
as  promptly  as  it  otherwise  would  have  gone.  It  was  one  of  the  first  regi- 
ments in  the  Seventeenth  Corps  to  report  three-fourths  of  its  men  re-enlisted, 
it  having  done  so  on  the  15th  of  December,  1863.  Upon  its  return  from 
the  Meridian  raid  the  men  were  supplied  with  clothing,  and  the  regiment  em- 
barked for  the  North,  leaving  one  hundred  and  seventy  recruits  at  Vicksburg, 
who  arrived  just  as  the  regiment  was  moving  down  to  the  landing.  The  regi- 
ment arrived  at  Cairo  on  the  23d  of  March,  and  embarked  on  the  cars,  moved 
by  way  of  Indianapolis,  Bellefontaine  and  Columbus  to  Cleveland,  where  it 
arrived  the  26th.     Through  Illinois  and  Indiana  the  regiment  was  welcomed 

•  everywhere  with  banners  and  flags.  It  was  royally  entertained  at  the  Soldiers' 
Home  in  Indianapolis  on  the  morning  of  the  24th,  and  was  feasted  bountifully 
by  the  citizens  of  Muncie,  Ind.,  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day.  The  regiment 
was  detained  ten  days  at  Cleveland  before  a  paymaster  could  be  obtained,  and 
soon  after  payment  the  regiment  started  for  Toledo,  where  it  arrived  at  three 
o'clock  P.  M.,  on  the  6th  of  April.     It  was  met  by  a  delegation  of  citizens, 

beaded  by  the  mayor  of  the  city,  with  bands   of  music,  and   after  marching 


94  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

through  the  principal  streets  it  was  escorted  to  the  Island  House,  where  a 
splendid  dinner  was  in  waiting.  This  was  the  first  welcome  the  regiment  had 
received  since  entering  the  State.  Special  trains  were  made  up  on  the  differ- 
ent roads,  and  by  night  all  the  men  were  at  home. 

On  the  7th  of  May  the  regiment  again  took  the  cars  at  Cleveland,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Carlo  by  way  of  Cincinnati.  At  Cairo  it  was  joined  by  the  recruits- 
left  at  Vicksburg,  and  these,  with  those  obtained  during  furlough,  numbered 
over  three  hundred.  Here,  too,  the  regiment  turned  over  its  old  arms  and 
drew  new  Springfield  muskets.  On  the  12th  of  May  the  regiment,  with  more 
than  seven  hundred  men  for  duty,  embarked  for  Clifton,  Tenn.,  and  thence 
it  marched  by  way  of  Huntsville,  Decatur  and  Rome,  to  Acworth,  Ga., 
where  it  joined  the  main  army  under  Sherman  on  the  loth  of  June.  During 
the  remainder  of  the  Atlanta  campaign  the  Sixty-eighth  was  under  fire  almost 
constantly.  It  was  on  the  advance  line  for  sixty-five  days  and  nights,  and  it 
was  engaged  at  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Big  Shanty,  Nicojack,  Atlanta,  July  22d: 
and  28th,  Jonesborough  and  Lovejoy.  On  the  22d  of  July  the  regiment  was- 
engaged  very  heavily.  It  had  been  selected  to  go  to  the  rear,  and  to  picket 
the  roads  in  the  vicinity  of  army  and  corps  headquarters ;  but  upon  reaching 
its  position  it  discovered  in  its  front,  instead  of  cavalry,  a  corps  of  rebel  in- 
fantry ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  another  line  of  rebel  troops  was  forming 
across  the  road  in  its  rear.  Thus  the  Sixty-eighth  was  sandwiched  between 
the  enemy's  advance  and  rear  lines.  The  rebels  were  totally  unaware  of  the 
position  of  this  little  Buckeye  band.  The  commands  of  the  rebel  officers  could 
be  distinctly  heard,  and  prisoners  were  captured  almost  from  the  rebel  line  of 
file  closers.  As  the  rebel  line  moved  forward  the  Sixty-eighth  advanced, 
cheering,  on  the  double-quick,  and  dropping  behind  a  fence,  poured  a  volley 
into  the  rebels,  who  were  in  the  open  field.  The  batteries  of  Fuller's  brigade. 
Sixteenth  Corps,  responded  to  the  alarm  thus  given,  and  the  fight  opened  in 
earnest.  The  Sixteenth  Corps  engaged  the  enemy  so  promptly  that  the  regi- 
ment was  enabled  by  a  rapid  movement  by  the  flank,  and  a  wide  detour,  to 
pass  around  the  enemy's  right,  and  to  rejoin  its  brigade,  which  it  found  warmly- 
engaged.  The  attack  came  from  front  and  rear,  and  the  men  fought  first  on 
one  side  of  the  works  and  then  on  the  other.  At  one  time  a  portion  of  the 
brigade  was  on  one  side  of  the  works,  firing  heavily  in  one  direction,  while  a 
little  way  lower  down  the  line  the  remainder  of  the  brigade  was  on  the  other 
side  of  the  works,  firing  heavily  in  the  other  direction.  The  left  of  the  brigade 
swung  back  to  the  crest  of  a  small  hill,  the  right  still  resting  on  the  old  works, 
and  a  few  rails  were  thrown  together,  forming  a  barricade,  perhaps  a  foot 
high,  when  the  last  charge  of  the  day  was  made  by  two  rebel  divisions.  On 
they  came  in  splendid  style,  not  firing  a  shot,  arms  at  "  right  shoulder  shift," 
officers  in  front,  lines  well  dressed,  following  each  other  in  quick  succession^ 
The  brigade  held  firm  until   the  first  line  had  crossed  a  ravine  in  its  front,  and- 


Henry  County. 


95 


the  second  line  of  reserves  could  be  seen  coming  down  the  opposite  slope. 
Then  came  a  terrific  crash  of  musketry,  and  then  volley  after  volley.  The 
rebels  fell  back,  leaving  the  ground  thickly  strewn  with  the  dead  and  dying. 
After  the  engagement  at  Lovejoy,  September  2-6,  the  regiment  was  stationed 
on  the  Rough  and  Ready  road,  near  East  Point,  for  two  weeks,  when  it  moved 
in  pursuit  of  Hood.  The  regiment  advanced  as  far  as  Gaylesville,  Ala.,  and 
here  quite  a  number  of  men  were  mustered  out  by  reason  of  expiration  of  term 
■of  service.  The  regiment  commenced  its  return  march  about  the  ist  of  No- 
vember, and  moved  by  way  of  Cave  Springs  and  Lost  Mountain  to  Smyrna 
camp-meeting  ground,  where  the  men  were  supplied  with  clothing,  and  every- 
thing was  thoroughly  overhauled.  The  railroad  was  destroyed,  and  on  the 
14th  the  regiment  moved  to  Atlanta,  and  at  daylight  on  the  15th  commenced 
the  march  to  the  sea.  With  the  exception  of  an  engagement  with  the  Georgia 
militia  at  the  crossing  of  the  Oconee,  and  the  destruction  of  the  railroad  build- 
ings at  Millen,  the  regiment  experienced  no  variation  from  the  easy  marches 
and  pleasant  bivouacs,  which  all  enjoyed.  On  the  loth  of  December  the  regi- 
ment reached  the  works  around  Savannah.  On  the  12th  the  Seventeenth 
Corps  moved  well  around  to  the  right  of  the  main  road  running  from  the  city 
to  King's  Bridge.  Here  the  regiment  assisted  in  throwing  up  a  heavy  line  of 
works,  and  furnished  two  companies  daily  as  sharp-shooters.  During  the  op- 
erations around  Savannah  the  regiment  subsisted  almost  entirely  upon  rice, 
which  was  found  in  large  quantities  near  camp,  and  which  the  men  hulled  and 
ground  in  rude  hand-mills.  Upon  the  occupation  of  the  city  the  regiment 
was  ordered  on  guard  duty  in  the  town,  and  was  quartered  comfortably  in 
Warren  and  Oglethorp  parks.  Here,  too,  the  regiment  lost  some  valuable  men, 
who  were  mustered  out  by  reason  of  expiration  of  term  of  service.  A  large 
number  of  commissions  were  received,  and  the  regiment  was  supplied  with  a 
fine  corps  of  young  and  enthusiastic  officers. 

On  the  5th  of  January,  1865,  the  regiment  embarked  at  Thunderbolt  Bay 
for  Beaufort,  and  from  there  it  formed  the  advance  of  the  corps  for  most  of  the 
way  to  Pocotaligo.  Here  some  heavy  works  were  thrown  up,  and  after  rest- 
ing about  two  weeks  the  troops  moved  on  the  campaign  of  the  Carolinas. 
The  regiment  marched  by  way  of  Orangeburg,  Columbia,  Winnsboro  and 
Cheraw,  destroying  property,  both  public  and  private  ;  but  upon  entering  the 
State  of  North  Carolina  this  destruction  of  property  was  forbidden  by  orders 
from  superior  headquarters.  The  march  was  continued  through  Fayetteville 
to  Goldsboro ;  where  the  regiment  arrived  ragged,  bare-footed,  and  bare- 
headed, and  blackened  and  begrimed  with  the  smoke  of  pine  knots.  On  the 
morning  after  its  arrival  the  adjutant's  report  showed  forty-two  men  bare- 
footed, thirty-six  bare-headed,  and  two  hundred  and  sixty  wearing  some 
article  of  citizen's  clothes.  The  regiment  rested  ten  days  and  then  moved  out 
to  Raleigh. 


g6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

After  the  surrender  of  Johnson  the  regiment  marched  by  way  of  Dinwid- 
dle C.  H.,  Petersburg,  Richmond,  Fredericksburg  and  Alexandria  to  Wash- 
ington city,  where  it  participated  in  the  grand  review  on  the  26th  of  May.. 
After  the  review  the  Sixty-eighth  camped  at  Tenallytown  for  a  week,  when  it 
was  ordered  to  Louisville,  Ky.  It  went  into  camp  about  two  miles  from  the 
city,  and  a  regular  system  of  drill  and  discipline  was  maintained  until  the  loth 
of  July,  when  the  muster  out  rolls  were  signed,  and  the  regiment  was  ordered 
to  report  to  Camp  Taylor,  near  Cleveland,  for  payment  and  discharge.  Upon 
arriving  at  Cleveland  the  Sixty-eighth  was  met  at  the  depot  by  a  delegation 
of  citizens,  and  was  escorted  to  Monument  Square,  where  a  splendid  breakfast 
was  served.  After  this  the  regiment  marched  to  camp,  where  it  remained 
until  the  l8th  of  July,  1865,  when  it  was  paid  and  discharged. 

During  its  term  of  service  the  regiment  was  on  the  "  sacred  soil  "  of  every 
rebel  State  except  Florida  and  Texas.  It  marched  over  seven  thousand  miles,. 
and  traveled  by  railroad  and  steamboat  over  six  thousand  miles.  Between 
nineteen  hundred  and  two  thousand  men  belonged  to  the  regiment,  and  of 
these  ninety  per  cent,  were  native  Americans,  the  others  being  Germans,  Irish, 
or  English,  the  Germans  predominating.  Colonel  R.  K.  Scott  commanded  the 
regiment  in  all  its  engagements  except  Metamora,  when  Lieutenant- Colonel; 
J.  S.  Snook  commanded  until  after  the  Vicksburg  campaign,  when  the  com- 
mand devolved  upon  Lientenant-Colonel  George  E.  Wells,  and  he  continued 
to  hold  the  command  in  all  subsequunt  engagements,  skirmishes  and  marches- 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  The  regiment  was  presented  with  a  beautiful  ban- 
ner by  the  citizens  of  Henry  county  just  before  its  muster  out;  it  having  been 
impracticable  to  send  the  flag  to  the  regiment  at  Atlanta,  as  was  intended, 
the  flag  was  returned  by  Colonel  Wells,  on  behalf  of  the  regiment,  to  the 
citizens  of  Henry  county.  The  regimental  colors  were  turned  over  to  the- 
adjutant-general  of  the  State,  and  were  deposited  in  the  archives.  Upon 
these  flags,  by  authority  from  corps  and  department  headquarters,  were  in- 
scribed the  names  of  the  following  battles  :  Fort  Donelson,  Pittsburgh  Land- 
ing, Siege  of  Corinth,  luka,  Metamora,  Thompson's  Hill,  Raymond,  Jackson,. 
Champion  Hills,  Big  Black,  Vicksburg,  May  22,  and  siege;  Jackson,  July  12;. 
Monroe  Raid,  Bogue  Chitta,  Meridian  Raid,  Kenesaw,  June  27,  and  siege ; 
Nicojack,  Atlanta,  July  21,  22  and  28,  and  siege;  Jonesboro,  Lovejoy,  Oc- 
onee, Savannah,  Pocotaligo,  Salkehatchie,  Orangeburg,  Columbia,  Cheraw,. 
Bentonville  and  Raleigh. 

This  regiment  was  organized  in  the  State  of  Ohio  at  large,  in  October,^ 
November  and  Decejmber,  1861,  to  serve  three  years.  On  the  expiration  of 
its  term  of  service  the  original  members  (except  veterans)  were  mustered  out^ 
and  the  organization,  composed  of  veterans  and  recruits,  retained  in  service 
until  July  10,  1865,  when  it  was  mustered  out  in  accordance  with  orders  from 
the  war  department. 


i^'ii-iyE'SmiumsSa-jify' 


Bri&.&Bre't   IvIaj,  C-Eh'L     U.S. Vol 


Henry  County.  97 


The  official  list  of  battles,  in  which  this  regiment  bore  an  honorable  part,  is 
not  yet  published  by  the  war  department,  but  the  following  list  has  been 
compiled,  after  careful  research,  during  the  preparation  of  this  work :  Thomp- 
son's Hill,  Miss.,  May  i,  1863;  Raymond,  Miss.,  May,  12,  1863;  Jackson, 
Miss.,  May  14,  1863  ;  Champion  Hills,  Miss.,  May  16,  1863  ;  siege  of  Vicks- 
burg,  Miss.,  May  18  to  July  4,  1863  ;  Clinton  and  Jackson,  Miss.,  February  5, 
1864;  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Ga.,  June  9  to  30,  1864;  Big  Shanty,  Ga.,  June 
15,  1864;  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Ga.  (general  assault),  June  27,  1864;  Atlanta, 
Ga.  (Hood's  first  sortie),  July  24,  1864;  siege  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  July  28  to 
September  2,  1864;  Jonesboro,  Ga.,  August  31  to  September  i,  [864;  Love- 
joy  Station,  Ga.,  September  2  to  6,  1864. 

Roster. 

Field  and  Staff.  —  Mustered  out  July  10,  1865,  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  by  Cy- 
rus M.  Roberts,  captain  Seventy-eighth  O.  V.  Infantry.  No  record  of  mus- 
ter in  found. 

Company  A.  —  Mustered  in  December  13,  1861,  at  Camp  Latty,  Napoleon, 
O.,  by  Lewis  Y.  Richards,  captain  Sixty-eighth  O.  V.  I.  Mustered  out  July 
10,  1865,  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  by  Cyrus  M.  Roberts,  captain  Seventy- eighth  O. 
V.  Infantry. 

Field  and  Staff. — Samuel  H.  Steedman,  colonel,  October  i,  1861,  three 
years.     Promoted  from  lieut.-col.  Nov.  29,  1861  ;  disch.  July  5,  1862. 

Robert  K.  Scott,  col.,  Oct.  i,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  to  lieut-col.  from  maj. 
Nov.  30,  1861  ;  to  col.  July  5,  1862  ;  brev.  brig-general  Jan.  25,' 1865  ;  brig.- 
general  March  31,  1865  ;  brev.  maj. -general  Dec.  S,  1865. 

John  S.  Snook,  lieut.-coL,  Nov.  29,  1861,3  years;  prom,  from  maj.  July 
S,  1862;  killed  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss. 

George  E.  Wells,  lieut-col.,  Oct  29,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  to  maj.  from  adj. 
July  5,  1862  ;  to  lieut-col.  May  16,  1863  ;  to  col.  June  16,  1865  ;  not  must.  ; 
must,  out  with  reg.  July  10,  1865. 

Arthur  Crocker,  maj.,  Nov.  2,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  capt.  company 
D,  Feb.  26,  1864,  to  lieut-col.  June  16,  1865  ;  not  must;  must,  out  with  reg. 
July  10,  1865. 

Eugene  B.  Harrison,  surgeon,  Nov.  6,  1861,  3  years;  resigned  June  9, 
1864. 

M.  A.  Brown,  surgeon,  Sept.  26,  1864,  3  years;  declined. 

John  G.  Brigham,  surgeon,  Dec.  7,  1864,  3  years;  must,  out  with  regt. 
July  10,  1865. 

Benjamin  F.  Berkley,  ass't-surgeon,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  resigned  Dec. 
31,  1862. 

S.  C.  Chase,  ass't-surgeon,  Aug.  19,  1862,  3  years  ;  resigned  Oct.  31,  1862. 

David  C.  Rathburne,  ass't-surgeon,  Feb.  4,  1863,  3  years;  declined. 

13 


98  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

W.  C.  Catlin,  ass't-surgeon,  April  28,  1863,  3  years;   declined. 

William  Massie,  ass't-surg.,  July  10,  1863,  3  years;  appt.  July  20,  1863; 
prom,  to  surg.  July  13,  1864;   declined ;   resigned  Aug.  20,  1864. 

L.  B.  Vorhees,  ass't-surg.,  July  13,  1864,  3  years;   declined. 

E.  C.  De  Forest,  ass't-surg.,  Oct.  25,  1864,  3  years;  declined. 

Andrew  Jackson,  adjt.,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  second  lieut. 
company  F,  July  5,  1862  ;  resigned  Feb.  24,  1863. 

Thomas  T.  Cowan,  adjt,  Oct.  4,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  from  first  lieut.  com- 
pany H,  Feb.  28,  1863;  prom,  to  capt.  May  9,  1864;  declined — , ;  must, 

out  Oct.  27,  1864,  on  the  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Henry  Welty,  adjt.,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  from  first  lieut.  company 

A,  Oct.  24,  1864;  prom,  to  capt.  Nov.  26,  1864;  declined  — , ;   must,  out 

with  reg.  July  10,  1865. 

James  G.  Haley,  quartermaster,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  Oct.  26, 
1861  ;   resigned  Oct.  26,  1862. 

Leverett  G.  Crandall,  quartermaster,  Nov.  2,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  from  first 
lieut.  company  D,  Oct.  26,  1862 ;  detailed  April  24,  1863,  to  command  mortar 
boats  which  opened  bombardment  of  Vicksburg  May  20,  1863  ;  returned  to  • 
regiment  May  25,  1863  ;  prom,  to  cap.  and  ass't-adjt-gen'l  on  staff  of  Gen'l 
Robert  K.  Scott,  2d  Brigade,  3d  Div.,  17th  Army  Corps  Nov.  8,  1864;  mus- 
tered out  March  20,  1865. 

Charles  Bates,  quartermaster,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  to  serg't-maj. 
from  private,  company  K,  Nov.  23,  1861  ;  to  second  lieut.  company  B,  April 
I,  1862  ;  first  lieut.  company  B,  May  16,  1864,  but  declined  to  accept;  must, 
out  April  9,  1865,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Elmer  Y.  Smutz,  quartermaster,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  from  first 
lieut.  company  C,  April  10,  1865  ;  must,  out  with  regiment  July  10,  1865. 

Martin  Perkey,  chap.,  Dec.  24,  1861,  3  years;  resigned  Sept.  17,  1862. 

Samuel  R.  Adams,  serg't-maj.,  Oct.  17,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  to  quarter- 
master-sergeant from  private  company  F,  Nov.  20,  1861. 

Isaac  McCoy,  serg't-maj.,  Oct.  22,  i'86i,  3  years;  prom,  from  first  serg't 
company  C,  Oct.  26,  1862  ;  to  second  lieut.  company  A,  Nov.  10,  1863. 

Milton  Stout,  serg't-maj.,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  first  serg't 
company  F,  April  30,  1864;  to  capt.  company  F,  Jan.  11,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Alfred  M.  Russel,  serg't-maj.,  Dec.  3,  1863,  3  years;  prom,  from  private 
company  C,  Jan.  27,  1865  ;  mustered  out  with  regiment  July  10,  1865. 

Jacob  Bruner,  quartermaster-sergeant,  Nov.  23,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from 
serg't  company  C,  April  i,  1862  ;  disch.  April  9,  1863,  to  accept  promotion  in 
9th  Louisana  Volunteers,  African  descent;  killed  June  7,  1863,  at  action  in 
Milliken's  Bend,  La. 

Charles  E.  Reynolds,  quartermaster-sergeant,  Jan.  5,  1862,  3. years;  prom, 
from  private  company  F,  April   20,  1863;  captured  May,    1863,  at  Chnton, 


Henry  County.  99 


Miss.,  while  carrying  dispatches;  exchanged  Aug.,  1863  ;  captured  Feb.  10, 
1864,  at  Morton,  Miss. ;  exchanged  April  17,  1865  ;  must,  out  June  16,  1865, 
at  Camp  Chase,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department ;  veteran. 

William  G.  Lamb,  com.-serg't.,  Nov.  26,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  private 
company  I,  Nov.  27,  1861  ;  disch.  July  23,  1862,  at  Cincinnati,  O.,  on  sur- 
geon's certificate  of  disability. 

Jacob  A.  Dorshimer,  com.-serg't,  Nov.  9,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  pri- 
vate company  K,  Feb.  14,  1863  ;  to  first  lieut.  company  K,  Nov.  26,  1864  ; 
veteran. 

Frank  Flemmer,  com.-serg't.  Oct.  29,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  private, 
company  F,  Dec.  25,  1864;   must,  out  with  regt.  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

James  M.  McGriffin,  hosp.  steward,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from 
private,  company  I,  Nov.  26,  1861  ;  disch.  May  8,  1862,  at  Shiloh,  Tenn.,  on 
surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

John  G.  Parry,  hosp.  steward,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  private, 
company  F,  Oct.  23,  1863;  wounded  May  6,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion 
Hills,  Miss.;  must,  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of 
term  of  service. 

Cary  E.  McCann,  hosp.  steward,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  pri- 
vate, company  I,  Oct.  8,  1864;  to  second  lieut.  Jan.  11,  1865  ;  not  must; 
must,  out  with  regiment  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Larkin  Linthicum,  prin.  mus.,  Oct  19,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  private 
•company  A,  March  12,  1862;  mustered  out  with  regt.  July  10,  1865  ;  vet- 
eran. 

Ithamer  Culbertson,  prin.  mus.,  Dec.  5,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  private, 
company  E,  April  12,  1862;  must,  out  with  regiment  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

GuyE.  Eastman,  drum-maj.,  Nov.  15,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  April  9,  1862, 
by  order  of  war  department 

John  B.  Mikesell,  fife-maj.,  Dec.  5,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  11,  1862,  at 
Fort  Donelson,  Tenn. 

Company  A.  —  Lewis  W.  Richards,  captain  Oct  3,  1861,  3  years;  app't 
Nov.  5,  1861  ;   mus.  out  Oct  26,  1864,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Isaac  McCoy,  captain,  Oct  22,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  to  second  heut  from 
serg't-maj.  Nov.  10,  1863  ;  capt.  Nov.  26,  1864;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865. 

Abram  C.  Urquhart,  first  lieutenant,  Oct  28,  1861,  3  years;  appt  Nov. 
21,  1861  ;  prom,  to  captain  Nov.  11,  1862,  but  declined  to  accept;  mus.  out 
Dec.  19,  1864,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

William  F.  Wilhams,  first  lieut,  Oct  12,  1861,  3  years;  appt  second 
lieut  Nov.  21,  1 86 1  ;  prom,  to  first  Heut  Oct  26,  1862  ;  to  capt  company  D, 
May  9,  1862." 

Henry  Welty,  first  lieut,  Oct  7,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  to  second  lieut  com- 
pany F,  Feb.  26,  1864  ;  appt  adj.  Oct  24,  1862. 


loo  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Upton,  Spurgeon,  first  lieut,  Oct,  8,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  i^ 
1861;  serg't  July  i,  1862;  first  serg't  Jan.  i,  1863;  prom,  to  first  lieut.  Nov. 
26,  1864;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

Samuel  R.  Adams,  second  lieut.,  Oct.  17,  1861,  3years;  prom,  from  serg't- 
maj.,  Oct.  26,  1862  ;  to  first  lieut.  company  K,  Feb.  26,  1864. 

Peter  Huner,  first  serg't,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as  private;  appt.  first 
serg't  Dec.  i,  1861  ;   died  Dec.  6,  1862,  at  Bolivar,  Tenn. 

Elmer  Y.  Smutz,  first  serg't,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as  private;  appt.. 
serg't.  Jan.  i,  1863;  first  serg't,  Dec.  26,  1864;  prom,  to  first  lieut.  company 
C,  Jan.  II,  1865;  veteran. 

Andrew  J.  Treslar,  first  serg't,  Dec.  12,  1861,  3,  years;  appt.  corp  — , ; 

wounded  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  appt.  serg't.  March 
9,  1864;  first  serg't,  Jan.  30,  1865  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ; 
veteran. 

Jacob  Battenfield,  serg't.,   Oct.   24,    1861,   3   years;  appt.    corp. — , ? 

serg't,  Dec.  24,  1864;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Horace  Waters,  serg't,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  ;  serg't,. 

Dec.  24,  1864;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Ehas  Kigar,  serg't,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years  ;  appt.  from  private  Dec.  24, 
1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Robert  B.  Wood,  serg't,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  24,  1864; 
serg't.  Jan.  30,  1865  ;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Samuel  Morse,  serg't,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as  private;  appt.  serg't, 
Dec.  I,  1 861  ;  died  Dec.  14,  1863,  at  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Elmer  Y.  Baker,  corp.,  Oct.  22,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  24,  1864; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Richard,  Steward,  corp.,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863,  in 
battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  25,  1864;  mus.  out  with 
company  July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Thomas  Jenkins,  corp.,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  24,  1864; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Ebenezer  W.  Schooley,  corp.,  Oct.  25,  1863,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  24, 
1864;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Joseph  Rickey,  corp.,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  24,  1864; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  186.';;  veteran. 

John  Kigar,  corp.,  Oct.  17,  186 1,  3  years  ;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  24,  1864;  mus. 
out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Henry  Dickerson,  corp.,  Oct.  27,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  i,  1861  ; 
disch.  — , ,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Henry  C.  WiUiams,  corp.,  Oct.   21,  1861,  3  years;  appt.   corp.  — , ; 

died  Sept.  3,  1864,  at  Cairo,  111.,  of  wounds  received  June  12,  1863,  in  action 
near  Vicksburg,  Miss. 


Henry  County.  lor 


Barr,  William  J.,  private,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  companjr 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Thomas  Burrow,  private,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3  years;  captured  Feb.  10,  1864,  at 
Morton,  Miss.;  mus.  out  June  16,  1865,  at  Camp  Chase,  O.,  by  order  of  war 
department ;  veteran. 

Bortz,  George,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years. 

Buchele,  Louis,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  Lewis  Buckleys 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Beck,  Adam,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863,  in 
battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  mustered  out  with  company  July  10,  1865;. 
veteran. 

Beck,  Benton,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Beck,  Paul,  private,  Aug.  26,  1862,  3  years;  died  June  8,  1863  at  hospitat 
at  Lake  Providence,  La. 

Battenfield,  William  D.,  private,  Oct  16,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with 
company,  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Bear,  Abraham,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Brenner,  Nathaniel,  private,  Dec.  24,  1861,  3  years;  captured  May  10,  1864, 
at  Morton,  Miss.;  died  Sept.  11,  1864,  in  rebel  prison  at  Andersonville,  Ga.;. 
veteran. 

Bowman,  Frederick,  private,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  to  company  D. 

Bowman,  Frederick,  private,  Jan.  5,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company- 
July  10,  1865. 

Bordner,  Henry,  private,  Dec.  10,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Branghno,  John,  private,  Feb.  7,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company- 
July  10,  1865. 

Babcock,  John  D,  private,  Dec.  23,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company- 
July  10,  1865. 

Babcock,  William  O.,  private,  Jan.  25,  1864,  3  years;  mus,  out  with  com- 
pany, July  10,  1865. 

Babcock,  Alonzo  A.,  private,  Jan.  16,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Babcock.  James  H.,  private,  Feb.  7,  1864,  3  years;  died  June  4,  1865, 
Harewood  General  Hospital  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Brackham,  Frederick,  private,  Oct.  7,  186 1,  3  years;  trans,  from  company- 

F,  — , ;   mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of 

term  of  service. 

Berthmyer,  David,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  died  May  22,  1862,  at 
Napoleon,  O. 


102  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Best,  Azariah,  private,  Oct.  17,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  26,  1862,  at 
Crump's  Landing,  Tenn. 

Baker,  John  K.,  private,  Dec.  i,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  i,  1862,  at  Co- 
lumbus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Bonny,  Joseph  M.,  private,  Oct.  31,  1861,  3  years  ;  disch.  June  20,  1862,  at 
Oamp  Cliase,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Cross,  Abel,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years  ;  disch.  May  2,  1862,  at  Pitts- 
burgh, Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Cary,  Harlan  P.,  private,  Oct.  22,  1861,  3  years;  transferred  to  8th  Michi- 
gan Light  Art,  Dec.  10,  1862. 

Dunbar,  John,  private,  Aug.  26,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  May  29,  1865, 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Dunbar,  Boyd,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  w'd  May  16,  1863  in  battle 
of  Champion  Hills,  Miss;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Dunbar,  James,  private,  Oct.  20,  1862,  3  years;  discharged  June  26,  1863, 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Davis, George  R.,  private,  Oct.  20,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Davis,  John,  private,  Dec.  23,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865. 

Drummond,  Levi,  private,  Jan.  15,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  July  21,  1865, 
in  New  York  city  by  order  of  war  department. 

Dennis,  Andrew  J.,  private,  Sept.  i,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  May  29,  1865, 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Done,  Eugene  O.,  private,  Dec.  i,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  June  8,  1865, 
at  Camp  Dennison,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Duell,  Eugene  F.,  private,  Dec.  31,  1863,  3  years  ;  died  April  22,  1864, 
at  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Delong,  Charles,  private,  Dec.  31,  1863,  3  years;  died  Sept.  15,  1865,  at 
Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Edson,  John  B.,  private,  Dec.  4,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865. 

Edgar,  John,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years ;  discharged  Oct.  8,  1862. 

Frantz  Henry,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865.;  veteran. 

Frederick,  Erastus,  private,  Oct.  17,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany, July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Foster,  Charles  E.,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  three  years;  on  mus.  roll  but 
never  reported  for  duty. 

Foster,  Charles  E.,  private,  May  J,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Flenner,  George,  private,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Dec.  23, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 


Henry  County.  ioj 


Friend,  Jacob,  private,  Feb.   22,    1864,   3    years;  killed  June   22,  1864  in 
action  at  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Ga. 

Galman,  Joseph,  private,  Oct.    16,  1864,    i   year;   mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865. 

Goodwell,  Nathaniel,  private,  Oct.    21,    1861,   3  years;   mus.  out  Oct.  28, 
1864,  at  Chattanooga,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Garret,  Jacob,  private,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Helberg,  Christian  H.,  private,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany, July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Helberg,  Frederick,   private,   Oct.    5,    1861,   3    years;   discharged  Oct.  17, 
1862,  at  Bolivar,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Hutchins,  Simon  J.,  private,    Oct.    14,    1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany, July  10,  1865. 

Howe,  William  H.,  private,  Jan.  5,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Haller,  William,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal ; 

sergeant,  March  9,  1864;  reduced  to  ranks,  Dec.  17,  1864;  wounded,  June 
II,  1863,  in  action  near  Vicksburg;  mus.  out  with  company,  July  10,  1865; 
veteran. 

Hershberger,  Wilson,  private,  Oct.   S,  1861,  3   years;  died  April  24,  1862, 
at  Pittsburgh  Landing,  Tenn. 

Hershberger,  Thomas,    private,   Oct.    14,  1861,  3  years;  on   mus.  roll,  no 
further  record  found. 

Hissong,  Lyman  J.,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  to   company  I, 
Dec.  I,  1861. 

Hiser,  John,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  died  Jan.  22,  1864  in  ho!5pi- 
tal  at  Vicksburg,  Miss.  ;  veteran. 

Konzen,  Leanord,  private,  Jan.  18,  1864,  3  years;  captured  Nov.  17,  1864, 
on  march  from  Atlanta  to  Savannah,  Ga. ;  no  further  record  found. 

Kriling,  John,  private,  Oct.  S,  1861,  3  years;  died  Oct.    18,  1862,  in  hos- 
pital at  Jackson,  Tenn. 

Kemm,  Christian,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;-  died  July  9,  1862,  at  Na- 
poleon, O. 

Knapp,  James  H.,  private,  Oct.  22,  1861,3  years;  transferred  to  company  D. 
Kittering,  John,   F.,  private,    Oct.   20,    1861,    3    years;  absent   March  13, 
1862,  in  general  hospital,  Mound  City,  III;   no  further  record  found. 

Kelly,  Alvey,  private,  Oct  28,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  July  29,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  surgeon's  certificate  of  disabihty. 

Laher,  Gottlieb,  private,  Oct.    19,  1861,  3  years;   mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Lawrence,  George  F.,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865;  veteran. 


I04  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Lettick,  Simon,  private,  Oct.  9,  1862,  3  years;  also  borne  on  the  rolls  as 
-Simon  Leetlirk;  mus.  out  with  company,  July   10,   1865;  veteran. 

Large,  Erastus,  private,  Oct.  13,  1861,  3  years;  on  mus.  roll,  no  further 
record  found. 

Large,  Erastus  D.,  private,  Jan.  i,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865. 

Linthecome,  Larkin,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  promoted  to  princi- 
pal musician  March  12,  1862. 

Lesnet,  Lafayette,  private,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Oct.  17, 
1862,  at  BoHvar,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Lyman,  Nathan,  private,  Nov.  11,  1861,  3  years;  killed  Sept.  24,  1862,  in 
railroad  accident  near  Jackson,  Miss. 

Miller,  John,  private,  Oct.  24,  1864,  i  year;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,    1865. 

Mapes,  James  F.,  private,  Jan.  16,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865. 

Mitchell,  Andrew,  private,  Feb.  8,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865. 

Mitchell,  Aaron,  private,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  16,  1862,  at 
Savannah,  Tenn. 

Myers,  George,  W.,  private,  Oct.  27,  186 1,  3  years;  appointed  sergeant, 
July  I,  1861;  reduced  to  ranks  March  9,  1864;  mus.  out  with  company,  July 
10,  1865;   veteran. 

Mann,  Abraham,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Oct.  27,  1862, 
-at  Cincinnati,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Miller,  Fenelson  G.,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  June  27, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Moore,  John,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  June  27,  1862, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Merris,  James  M.,  private,  Oct.  17,  1861,  3  years;  also  borne  as  James  M. 
Morris;  discharged  Sept.  27,  1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate 
of  disability. 

Moses,  Charles  W.,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  detached  as  hospital 
steward  42d  United  States  colored  infantry,  June  29,  1864;  mus.  out  Octo- 
ber 31,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Ottinger,  Jacob  G..,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany, July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Onweller,  James,  private,  Nov.  10,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  June  24, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Parker,  George,  private,  Dec.  5,  1863,  3  years;  transferred  to  veteran  re- 
serve corps,  July  i,  1864. 

Prentice,  Jacob,  private,  Sept.  i,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  May  29,  1865, 
-at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 


Henry  County.  105 


Preston,  George  W.,  private,  Feb.  6,  1864,  3  years;  died  March  23,  1864, 
in  Washington  general  hospital  at  Memphis,  Tenn. 

Preston,  William,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  died  on  or  about  March 
16,  1862,  at  Cincinnati,  O. 

Plossman,  Frederick,  private,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3   years;   discharged   Oct.    i  7 

1862,  at  Bolivar,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Parsons,  William  H.,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years  ;  discharged ,  1861, 

at  Napoleon,  O.,  by  civil  authority. 

Primmer,  Simon,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Oct.  13,  1862 
at  Cincinnati,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Percy,  Perrin  S.,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Peters,  David  W.,  private,  Sept.    3,    1862,   3    years;  discharged  Sept.  16, 

1863,  at  Keokuk,  la.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Retig,  George,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Roddy,  John,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Roddy,  William,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  186s  ;  veteran. 

Roddy,  Daniel,  private,  Sept.  3,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  May  29,  1865, 
at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Reed,  George,  private,  Oct.  S,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863,  in 
battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  vet- 
eran.        ' 

Reed,  John,  private,  Nov.  2,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company,  July 
10,  1865. 

Reed,  Jesse,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  12,  1864,  at 
Vicksburg,  (?)  Miss. 

Robinson,  Lorenzo,  private,  Oct.  12,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Robinson,  Benjamin  F.,  private,  Oct.  5,  1861,  S  years;   discharged  Dec.  12, 

1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disabihty. 

Rhodes,  Jacob,  private,  Feb.  22,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Rose,  Daniel,  private,  Dec.  13,  1 861,  3  years;  mus.  out  May  29,  1869,  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department ;   veteran. 

Richmond,  Thomas,  private,  Oct.  27,  1861,  3  years  ;  discharged  March  22, 

1863,  at  Lake  Providence,  La.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Rhiad,  John,  private,  Oct.  22,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  22,  1862,  at  Cin- 
cinnati, O. 

Simmons,  Frederick,  private,  Feb.  7,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865.  ^* 


io6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Simmons,  Thomas,   private,  Oct.    15,  1861,  3   years;    mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Spurgeon,  Lemuel,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;    died  Dec.  9,  1863,  at 
Vicksburg,  Tenn. 

Spurgeon,  Jeremiah,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;    mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Sworden,  Harvey,  private,  Jan.  16,  1864,  3  years;    died  Sept.  7,  1864,  at 
17  the  Army  Corps  Hospital,  Marietta,  Ga. 

Stout,  George  H.,  private,  Dec.  8,  1863,  3  years;   mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Spade,  William  H.,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  27,  1862, 
at  Napoleon,  O. 

Snyder,  George,  private,  Jan.  15,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Snyder,  Noah,  private,  Jan.  15,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Snyder,  John,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  veteran. 

Sweet,  Charles  R.,  private,  Jan.  15,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Stickler,  Peter,  private,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  July  18,  1862, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Siford,  Frederick,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  died  May  27,  1863,  near 
Vicksburg,  Miss.,  of  wounds  received  May  22,  in  action  near  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Taylor,  James,  private,  Nov.  9,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865. 

Trouby,  Samuel,  private,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years. 

Vonness,  William  G,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Aug.  25, 
1862,  at  Bolivar,  Tenn. 

Van  Hyning,  Julius,  private,  Nov.  13,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  July  18, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Willard,  Samuel  D.,  private,  Sept.  9,  1863,  3  years;  discharged  July  18, 
1865,  at  Finley  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Willard,  Elias,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863,  in 
battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  vet- 
eran. 

White,  John  M.,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Withrow,  John,  private,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  to  103d  company,  2d 
battalion  V.  R.  C,  Nov.  22,  1863. 

Whilton,  Orrin  S.,  private,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  also  borne  as  Orrin  S. 
Whitten  ;  discharged  July  i,  1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of 
■disability. 


Henry  County.  107 


Company  D,  ditk  Regiment. — Arthur  C.  Crockett,  captain,  Nov.  2,  1861, 
3  years;   appointed  Nov.  21,  1861  ;  promoted  to  major  Feb.  26,  1864. 

William  F.  Williams,  captain,  Oct.  12,  1861,3  years;  promoted  from  first- 
lieut.  company  A  May  19,  1864;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1861. 

Leverette  G.  Crandall,  first  lieut.,  Nov.  2,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  Nov. 
21,  1 861  ;  appointed  regimental  quartermaster  Oct.  26,  1862. 

Levi  Coffman,  first  lieut,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  second  lieut. 
Nov.  21,  1861;  promoted  to  first  lieut.  Nov.  21  1862;  transferred  to  com- 
pany B  March  3,  1863. 

William  Gilson,  first  lieut.,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal  Dec. 
I,  1861;  sergeant,  Dec.  i,  1861;  first  sergeant,  Dec.  16,  1863;  wounded  Aug. 
31,  1864;  promotedtofirstlieut.Jan.il,  1865;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Elias  Rottinger,  second  lieut,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  sergeant 
from  private  Dec.  i,  1861  ;  first  sergeant  May  i,  1862  ;  promoted  to  second 
lieut  April  i,  1864;  to  captain  company  E  Nov.  26,  1864. 

Michael  Neff,  first  sergeant,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  from  private 
Dec.  I,  1861  ;  discharged  Aug.  27,  1862,  at  Columbus,  0.,on  surgeon's  cer- 
tificate of  disability. 

Angelo  Emery,  first  sergeant,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal 
Dec.  I,  1861  ;  sergeant  Dec.  16,  1863;  first  sergeant  Jan.  27,  1865;  mus.  out 
with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Rezen  H.  Moore,  sergeant,  Oct  11,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  from  private 
Dec.  1,  1861  ;  mus.  out  Oct  28,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of 
term  of  service. 

Wesley  Pontius,  sergeant,  Oct  12,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  sergeant  from 
private  Dec.  i,  1861  ;  mus.  out  July  15,  1865,  at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order 
of  war  department. 

Henry  De  Long,  sergeant,  Oct  28,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal  Dec. 
I,  1861  ;  sergeant  Oct.  12,  1864  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  vet- 
eran. 

Levi  Hoy,  sergeant,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal  Dec.  i, 
1861  ;  sergeant  Oct  12,  1864;  .mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  vet- 
eran. 

Benjamin  Parker,  sergeant,  Oct  15,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  from  private 
Dec.  I,  1861  ;  discharged  by  civil  authority. 

Jerry  Hollinshead,  sergeant,  Nov.  6,  1 861  ;  3  years  ;  mus.  as  private  ;  ap- 
pointed sergeant;  wounded  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.; 
mus.  out  Dec.  15,  1864,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

John  W.  Kelly,  corporal,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal,  Dec. 
I,  1861  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

John  Getz,  corporal,  Dec.  7,  1861,  3  years  ;  appointed  corporal,  July  i, 
1864;   rnus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 


io8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Frank  W.  Smith,  corporal,  Nov.  ii,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal 
Dec.  I,  1861  ;  mus.  out  Dec.  19,  1864,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of 
term  of  service. 

William  Booher,  corporal,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal  July 
I,  1864;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Stephen  Shartzer,  corporal,  Dec.  13,  1861,3  years;  appointed  corporal 
July  I,  1864;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Eugene  M.  Rugg,  corporal,  Aug.  26,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal 
July  I,  1864;  mus.  out  May  29,  1865,  at  Washington,  D.  C  ,  by  order  of  war 
department. 

Samuel  McConn,  corpora],  Nov.  11,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal 
Dec.  I,  1861  ;  died  May  5,  1862,  in  general  hospital  at  Keokuk,  la. 

Thomas  Gilson,  corporal,  Oct.  25,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal  Dec. 
I,  1861  ;  discharged  April  15,  1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate 
of  disability. 

Charles  Morey,  corporal,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;  appointed  corporal  Dec. 
I,  1861;  died  Aug.  23,  1863,  in  McPherson  Hospital,  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  of 
wounds  received  May  22,  1863,  in  action  near  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Andrews,  John,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Altman,  George,  private,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  years;  absent,  sick  since  May 
30,  1865,  at  Washington,  D.  C;  mus.  out  July  28,  1865,  at  Cleveland,  O.,  by 
order  of  war  department ;  veteran. 

Altman,  Andrew,  private,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Adams,  Samuel  L.,  private,  Oct.  27,  1861,  3  years;  transferred  to  non- 
commissioned staff;  no  further  record  found. 

Adams,  Noah  T.,  private,  March  18,  1863,  3  years;  prom,  to  first-lieut. 
135th  U.  S.  Colored  Inf,  March  27,  1865. 

Bloomfield,  John,  private,  Nov.  4,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10;  veteran. 

Beamen,  Samuel,  private,  March  2,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Bunting,  Levi,  private,  Jan.  15,  1864,  3  years;  trans,  from  company  K 
June  29,  1864;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

Bonghna,  Hacob,  private,  Feb.  29,  1864,  3  years;  wounded  August  17, 
1864,  in  action  near  Atlanta,  Ga.  ;  disch.  June  21,  1865,  at  General  Hospital, 
Cleveland,  O. 

Bowman,  Frederick,  private,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;   trans,  from  company 

A ;    mus.   out   Oct.   28,   1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of 

term  of  service. 

Booher,  George  W.,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  i,  1862,  in 
hospital  at  Cairo,  111. 


Henry  County.  109 


Berry,  Henry,  private,  Nov.  5,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  i,  1862,  at  Cov- 
ington, Ky. 

Brown,  William  H.,  private,  Nov.  27,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Dec.  13,  1862, 
•on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Babcock,  James  H.,  private,  Dec.  12,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  March  31, 
1862,  at  Crump's  Landing,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  inability. 

Bowker,  Harman,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  to  126th  com- 
pany, ind.  battalion  Vet.  Reserve  Corps  Jan.  25,  1864. 

Burgess,  Owen,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  time  of  service. 

Grossman,  Hiram,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Crockett,  John,  private,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  years  ;  wounded  May  25,  1863,  in 
action  near  Vicksburg,  Miss.  ;   mus.  out  with  company,  July  10,  1865. 

Crockett,  Jonathan,  private,  Oct.  27,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Oct.  23,  1862, 
at  Bolivar,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  inability. 

Crockett,  Eber,  private,  Oct.  26,  1 861,  3  years;  died  Sept.  22,  1862,  at  Bol- 
ivar, Tenn. 

Churchill,  James  M.,  private,  Jan.  15,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  from  company 
K,  June  29,  1864;  trans,  to  company  K  6th  V.  R.  C.  Dec.  22,  1864;  mus. 
out  July  26,  1865,  at  Cincinnati,  O.,  by  order  war  department. 

Dewell,  Clark  W.,  private,  Feb.  23,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Dobbs,  Judson,  private,  Jan.  18,  1864,  3  years;  trans,  from  company  K 
June  29;  mus.  out  June  19,  1865,  at  Columbus,  O.,  by  order  of  the  war  de- 
partment. 

Durbin,  William,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Evans,  Amos  E.,  private,  Feb.  23,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  May  29,  1865, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Emery,  Nathaniel,  private,  Oct.  27,  1861,  3  years;  died  June  28,  1863,  at 
Milliken's  Bend,  La. 

Eastman,  G.  C,  private,  Nov.  15,  1861,  3  years  ;  discharged  April  9,  1862, 
•on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Edwards,  Swuire  G.,  private,  Oct.  23,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Nov.  24,  1862, 
at  La  Grange,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Ellis,  William  F.,  private^Oct.  20,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  25,  1863, 
in  action  near  Vicksburg,  Miss. ;  mus.  out  Dec.  19,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on 
expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Freeman,  Albert,  private,  Nov.  11,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  8,  1862,  at 
■Columbus,  O.  ;  re-enlisted  Dec.  i,  1863;  wounded  August  31,  1864,  in  battle 
•of  Jonesboro,  Ga. ;  trans,  to  company  H,  6  Vet.  Reserve  Corps,  March  3,  1865  ; 
.mus.  out  July  23,  1865,  at  Johnson's  Island,  O.,  by  order  war  department. 


no  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Fisher,  Jacob,  private,  March  23,  1864,  3  years;  mustered  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Francis,  WilHam  H.  H.,  private,  Feb.  29,  1864,  3  years;  disch.  May  2, 
1865,  at  Columbus,  O.,  for  wounds  received  July  22,  1864,  in  battle  of  At- 
lanta, Ga. 

Frederick,  John  L.,  private,  Oct.  23,  1861,  3  years;  veteran. 

Finigan,  John,  private,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Jan.  i,  1862,  at 
Camp  Latty,  O. 

Getz,  Michael,  private,  Dec  8,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  23,  1863,  in 
action  near  Vicksburg,  Miss.  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ! 
veteran. 

Gillette,  Theodore,  private,  Feb.  27,  1864,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Gilson,  David,  private,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  June  18,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Goaky,  Joseph,  private,  Nov.  7,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  July  14,  1862, 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Goon,  Moses,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Hill,  David,  private,  Oct.  23,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Haynes,  \Yilliam  I.,  private,  Dec.  5,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Hoffman,  Sebastian  W.,  private,  March  25,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with 
company  July  10,  1865. 

Hughes,  Evan  M.,  private,  Jan.  5,  1864,  3  years;  trans,  from  company  K 
June  29,  1864,  while  absent;   died  April  23,  1864. 

Hudson,  Horace,  private,  Oct.  4,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Dec.  21,  1862,  at 
La  Grange,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Hopkins,  Phineas,  private,  Nov.  i,  1861,  3  years  ;  discharged  1861,  on 
surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Hamm,  James,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  on  muster  roll,  no  further 
record  found. 

Haines,  Orelious,  private,  Oct.  13,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863, 
in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.  ;  mus.  out  to  date  Oct.  13,  1864,  at  Colum- 
bus, O.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Harman,  Jacob,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  i,  1862,  at 
Covington,  Ky. 

Harman,  John,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Dec.  19,  1864, 
near  Savanah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Hartman,  Joseph,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  detached  in  8th  Ohio- 
Battery  June  I,  1862  ;  mustered  out  Dec.  6,  1864,  at  Columbus,  on  expiration- 
of  term  of  service. 


Henry  County.  i  i  i 


Hoy,  Daniel,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  August  26,  1863,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

High,  Johnson  N.,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  July  11, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Johnson,  Joseph  D.,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28, 
1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Jones,  William,  private,  Nov.  i,  1861,  3  years;  discharged,  1861,  on  sur- 
geon's certificate  of  disability. 

Kelley,  James,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  May  18,  1865,  at 
Cleveland,  O.,  from  wounds  received  July  22,  1864,  in  battle  at  Atlanta,  Ga.  ; 
veteran. 

Knapp,  James  H.,  private,  Oct.  22,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  from  company  A 
;  died  Nov.  13,  1863,  at  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Keek,  George,  private,  Feb.  29,  1864,  3  years;  trans,  to  Vet.  Reserve 
Corps  Jan.  10,  1865  ;  mus.  out  July  20,  1865,  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  by  order 
war  department. 

Kneule,  William,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  transferred  from  com- 
pany F ;  disch.  Nov.  24,  1862,  at  La  Grange,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certifi- 
cate of  disability. 

Lamphire,  Austin,  private,  Nov.  25,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  May  9,  1862,  at 
Shiloh,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Love,  Reuben,  private,  March  3,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Losh,  Daniel,  private,  Feb.  25,  1864,  3  years;  died  July  9,  1864,  at  Rome, 
Ga. 

Long,  William  J.,  private,  Nov.  16,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  May  9, 
1862,  at  Shiloh,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Morey,  Albert,  private,  March  29,  1864,  3  years;  died  Oct.  6,  1864,  at 
Atlanta,  Ga. 

Morey,  Justus,  private,  Oct.  13,  1861,  3  years  ;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Meech,  Welcome,  private,  Oct.  20,  1861,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Marris,  David,  private,  Dec.  i,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Marris,  James,  private,  Feb.  25,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Maul,  John,  private,  Oct.   23,    1861,   3   years;    disch.  ,    1 861,  by  civil 

authority. 

Maul,  John,  private,  Sept.  29,  1862,  3  years;  died  Feb.  5,  1864,  at  CHnton, 
Miss.,  of  wounds  received  in  action  same  day. 

Mayman,  Robert,  private,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;  died  Dec.  lo,  1864,  in 
rebel  prison  at  Andersonville,  Ga. ;  veteran. 


112  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Miller,  Warren,  private,   Oct.  12,  1861,  3   years;    mus.  out  Dec.  19,  1864, 
near  Savannah.,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Miller,  Eli,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years  ;   died  April  8,  1862,  at  Crump's- 
Landing,  Tenn. 

Myers,   Lorenzo,   private,   Oct.   23,    1861,   3  years;  discharged  ,   by 

civil  authority. 

Ozier,  Cyrus  M.,  private,  Feb.  17,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865. 

Osgood,  Marquis,  private,  Feb.  29,  1864,  3  years;   mus.  out  with  company,. 
July  10,  1865. 

Overlightner,  Jacob,  private,  Dec.  i,  1863,  3  years;   died  May  22,  1864  3t 
Vicksburgh,  Miss. 

Overmire,  Hiram,  private,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct,  28,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Ottman,  George,  private,  Dec.  15,  1863,  3  years  ;   mus.  out  July  28,  1865,^ 
at  Camp  Cleveland,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Pontius,  David,  private,  Oct.  29,  1861,  3   years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Palmer,  William  F.,  private,  Dec.   2,  1861,  3    years;  discharged  April  11,. 
1862  at  Crump's  Landing,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Palmer,  William  F.,  private,  Oct.  2,  1863,  3  years;   mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Palmer,  Rundle,  private,  Dec.  9,  1863,  3   years;   mus.  out  with   company 
July  10,  1865. 

Primmer,  Lewis   A.,  private,    Feb.    8,  1864,  3  years;  wounded  Aug.  26, 
1864,  near  Atlanta,  Ga. ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

Parsons,  Thomas,  private,  Feb.  17,  1864,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  July  27,  1865, 
at  Newark,  N.  J.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Parsons,  William  H.,  private,   Feb.  17,  1864,  3  years;   mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1864. 

Patrick,  Martin,  private,    Feb.    18,  1864,  3  years;   died  June   30,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

Pearse,  Joseph,  private,  Oct.    24,    1861,    3   years;  died  May   12,    1863,  at 
Grand  Gulf,  Miss. 

Price,  Allen,  private,  March  29,  1864,  3  years;   died  May  17,  1864,  at  Pu- 
laski, Tenn.,  of  accidental  injury  received  on  railroad. 

Packard,  James,  private,  Nov.  i,  1861,  3  years;   died  Nov.  6,  1862,  at  Bol- 
ivar, Tenn. 

Reed,  Aaron,  private,  Dec.  31,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  4,  1862,  at  Camp 
Chase,  O. 

Reid,  James,  private,  Dec.  22,  1863,  3  years;  discharged  June  7,  1864,  to 
accept  promotion  in  4th  United  States  Heavy  Artillery. 


Henry  County.  113 


Reeves,  John  H.,  private,  Feb.  29,  1864,  3  years;  died  Nov.  9,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

Rogers,  James  P.,  private,  Nov.  30,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany, July  10,  1866;  veteran. 

Reneule,  William,  private,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  years;  on  mus.  roll,  no  further 
record  found. 

Toberson,  Chester,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;   discharged ,  1861, 

on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Rehl,  John,  private,  Oct.  25,  1861,  three  years. 

Stephens,  Harman,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28, 
1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Sunnyfrank,  George,  private,  Feb.  8,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Snide,  Peter,  private,  March  22,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  June  30,  1865  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Smith,  George,  private,  March  6,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Slee,  John,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Nov.  10,  1862,  at 
La  Grange,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Saul,  William,  private,  I-^eb.  29,  1864,  3  years;   mus.  out  June  ,  1865 

at  Camp  Chase,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Stockman,  Frederick,  private,  Nov.  3,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Nov.  12, 
1862,  at  Cincinnati,  O,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Span gler,  Joseph,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Dec.  i,  1861, 
at  Napoleon,  O.,  by  civil  authority. 

Spangler,  Frederick,  private,  Dec.  14,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  June  18, 
1862,  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Stickley,  Jacob,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  22,  1863, 
in  action  near  Vicksburg,  Miss.;  mustered  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at  Chattanooga^ 
Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Snow,  John,  private,  Oct.    16,    1861,   3   years;   discharged  ,  1861,  by 

civil  authority. 

Slack,  Wilbur  G.,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863, 
in  the  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  discharged  May  21,  1864,  at  Jefferson 
Barracks,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  ofdisabihty. 

Seeling,  Henry,  private,  Nov.  22,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Dec.  19,  1864, 
near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Tharp,  Harrison,  private,  Feb.  8,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Van  Pelt,  George,  W.,  private,  Nov.  7,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Dec.  19, 
1864,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Wells,  Robert,  private,  Nov.  10,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Dec.  19,  1862 
at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability.  ^^ 


114  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Wells,  Joseph  A.,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  see  Company  B,  38tli 
O.  V.  I. 

Wolf,  John  G.  private,  Nov.  3,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Dec.  31,  1861, 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Company  E. — Nelson  A.  Skeele,  captain,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  appt. 
Dec.  I,  1 861;   killed  July  22,  1864,  in  battle  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Elias  R.  Ottinger,  captain,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  2d  lieut.,^ 
company  D.,  Nov.  26,  1864;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

Thomas  T.  Lamberg,  ist  lieut.,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  Dec.  i,  1861; 
detached  at  brigade  headquarters,  June  27,  1865;  mus.  out  with  company,, 
July  10,  1865. 

Jacob  Bartlett,  2d  lieut,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  Dec.  i,  1861  ;  re- 
signed Feb.  14,  1863. 

Henderson  J.  Hunter,  2d  lieut.,  Nov.  9,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  from  serg't,. 
company  K.,  April  14,  1863;  trans,  to  company  I. 

William  Harrison  Highshew,  1st  serg't,  Nov.  18,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as 
private;  appt.  ist  sergeant, ;  wounded  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Cham- 
pion Hills,  Miss;  prom,  to  1st  Heut.  Nov.  26,  1864,  but  not  mus.;  mus.  out 
Dec.  19,  1864,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Mortimer  Belding,  1st  serg't,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  serg't  Oct.  24,. 
1861;  1st  serg't,  Dec.  20,  1864;  prom,  to  ist  lieut.,  company  G.,  Jan.  11, 
1865;  veteran. 

Enos  M.  Shaw,  1st  serg't,  Oct.  22,  1861,  3    years;   mus.  as  private;  appt. 

■serg't ;   wounded  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  appt. 

to  1st  serg't,  Jan.  27,  1865;   mus.  out  with  company,  July  10,  1865. 

William  A.  Ling,  serg't,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as  private;  appt. 
serg't, ;  mus.  out,  with  company,  July  10,  1865,  veteran. 

Charles  W.  Cornell,  serg't,  Oct.    21,    1861,   3  years;   appt.  corporal, ; 

serg't  Oct.  I,  1864;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Miles   W.    Higgley,   serg't,    Dec.    5,   1861,   3  years;  appt.  corporal, ; 

wounded  May,  16,  1863   in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss;  appt.  serg't  Jan. 
27,  1865;  mus.  out  with  company,  July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

John  B.  Stites,  serg't  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corporal,  — • — ;  serg't 
Jan.  27,  1865;    mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Edward  WilHams,  serg't  Nov.  18,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  from  private  Dec. 
15,  1861;    died  March  23,  1862,  at  Savannah,  Tenn. 

Daniel  Jones,  corp.,  Nov.  14,  1861,   3   years;  appt.  corp.  — , ;  mus. 

out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Martin  D.  Palmer,  corp.,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years  ;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  16,  1864; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Samuel  Kelley,  corp.,  Nov.  4,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  Samuel  Kelly; 
appt.  corp.  Jan.  27,  1865  ;   mus.  out  with  corp.  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 


Henry  County.  115 


Andrew  J.  Wheeler,  Corp.,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Jan.  27, 
1865  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Francis  M.  Barnes,  corp.,  Oct.  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  — , ;  wounded 

May  16,  1863  ;  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Sanford,  Reese,  corp.,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  — , ;   mus. 

out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  at  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Andrew,  Daniel,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  22,  1863,  at 
Savannah,  Tenn. 

Austin,  James  C,  private,  Oct.  29,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Nov.  i,  1862,  at 
Detroit  barracks,  Michigan,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Barber,  Oscar  H.,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Barber,  Osmer,  private,  Dec.  5,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  25,  1862,  in 
hospital  at  Savannah,  Tenn. 

Biery,  Samuel,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  died  Sept.  3,  1862,  in  hos- 
pital at  Bolivar,  Tenn. 

Bayes,  Thomas  M.,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Oct.  30,  1862, 
at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Burville,  Judson,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  as  Judson  Bur- 
well,  Oct.  28,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Burke,  John,  private,  Nov.  2,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  18,  1862,  at  Co- 
lumbus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Brink,  Watson  W.,  private,  Nov.  6,  1861,  3  years;  died  Sept.  6,  1862  in 
hospital  at  Bolivar,  Tenn. 

Baty,  William  C. ,  private,  Nov.  31,  1861,3  years  ;  on  muster  in  roll ;  never 
reported  for  duty. 

Call,  Thomas  J.,  private,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  Thomas  I.  Cole  ; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Connelly,  Elisha  C,  private,  Nov.  30,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Connelly,  Andrew  H.,  private,  Nov.  30,  1861,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Connelly,  John  D.,  private,  Dec.  25,  1863,  3  years;  disch.  May  i8th,  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Clark,  William  B.,  private,  Oct.  7,  1863,  3  years;  trans,  to  company  C, 
22d  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  Aug.  10,  1864;  mus.  out  July  17,  1865,  at  Camp 
Cleveland,  O. 

Cix,  Straus,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  died  June  4,  1864,  in  hospital 
at  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Creglow,  Noah,  private,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  20,  1862,  at 
Crump's  Landing,  Tenn. 


ii6  History  op'  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Cottman,  Oscar,  private,  Nov.  8,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Feb.  1864,  to  enlist 
in  Battery  8th  1st  Mich.  L.  Artillery. 

Culbertson,  Ithamer,  private,  Dec.   5,   1861,   3   years;  prom,   to  principal 
musician  April  12,  1862. 

Dickson,  Charles,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Nov.  25,  1862,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Duke,  Thomas,  private,  Nov,  7,  1861,  3  years. 

Duck,  Than,  private,  Nov.  20,  1861,  3  years. 

Elsvort,  Silvester,  private,  Oct.  23,  1861,  3  years;  on  muster-in  roll,  never 
reported  for  duty. 

Emick,  James  P.,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  April  21,  1862,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Ford,  Henry  H.,  private,  Feb.  8,  1865,  i  year;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Fowler,  John,  private,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Dec.  15,  1862,  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Fowler,  Benjamin,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Jan.  3,  1863,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Foster,  Thomas  B.,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Fowty,  Stephen,  pri^'^'.te,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  to  141st  company, 
2d  bat.  vet.  reserve  corps  July  25,  1863, 

Graets,  Francis  G.,  private,  Oct.  16,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  service. 

Gilbreth,  James,  private,  Nov.  31,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  March  6,  1863,  at 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Gayler,  James,  private,  Nov.  2,  1861,  3  years;  on  muster  in  roll;  never 
reported  for  duty. 

Hall,  Lewis,  private,  Feb.  8,  1865,  i  year ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10, 
1865. 

Hayward,  Ralph  D.,  private,  Dec.  11,  1863,  3  years;  trans,  to  vet.  reserve 
corps  Jan.  10,  1865  ;  mus.  out  July  20,  1865,  at  IndianapoHs,  Ind.,  by  order  of 
war  department. 

Haverfield,  James,  private,  Dec.  10,  1863,  3  years;  killed  July  22,  1864  in 
battle  of  Atlanta,  Ga.;  veteran. 

Hart,  Juhus  C,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  April  22,  1862,  at 
Crump's  Landing,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Higler,  Austin,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  died  July  25,  1864,  in  3d 
div.  hospital,  17th  army  corps  near  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Higley,  Sheldon,  private,  Aug.  28,  1862,  3  years;  disch.  Sept.  20,  1863,  at 
Vicksburg,  Miss.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Higby,  William,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  5,  1863,  at 
Memphis,  Tenn. 


Henry  County.  \\j 


Higby,  Elisha,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;   died  March  2,  1862,  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo. 

Hutchins,  Meredy,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  14,  1862,  at. 
Savannah,  Tenn. 

Hoffmire,  John,  private,  Oct.   21,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  25,  1862,  on 
surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Hale,  Smith,  private,  Nov.  6,  1861,  3  years;  died  Oct.  8,  1862,  at  Bolivar, 
Tenn. 

Hone,  Daniel  H.,  private,  Nov.  20,  1861,  3  years  ;  disch.  — , ,  on  sur- 
geon's certificate  of  disability. 

Kelley,  John,  private,  Dec.  8,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865. 

Lingle,  Elmore  Y.,  private,  Feb.  7,  1865,  i  year;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Lingle,  Oscar  B.,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;   mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;     veteran. 

Lyons,  Ellas,  private,  Oct.  17,  1861,  3  years  ;  disch.  July  31,  1862,  at  Camp 
Chase,  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disabiUty. 

Lyons,  Sylvester,  private,  Nov.  2,   1861,  3  years;  died  Oct.  15,   1862,  in 
hospital  at  Jackson,  Tenn. 

Loozer,  John  I.,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3   years;   died  June  17,   1862,  at 
Wauseon,  O. 

Longer,  George,  private,  Nov.  23,  1861,  3  years. 

Larimer,   Linos  L.,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;   mus.  in  as  Linos  Lar- 
mar;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Matteson,   George  F.,  private,  Dec.  8,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Markly,   George  H.,  private,  Dec.  17,  1863,  3  years;   died  May  19,  1865, 
at  Findley  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Moyer,  Daniel,  private,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years  ;  died  May  20,  1862,  in  hos- 
pital at  Pittsburg  Landing,  Tenn. 

Mily,  Benjamin,  private,  Dec.  S,  1861,  3  years;   disch.  May  3,  1862,  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Mikesell,  John  B.,  private,  Dec.  5,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  11,  1862,  at 
Fort  Donelson,  Tenn. 

Osborn,  George,  private,  Dec.  S,  1861,  3  years;   disch.  April  21,  1862,  at 
St  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Oldfield,   Gilbert,  private,  Dec.  5,  1861,  3  years;   disch.   Oct  17,  1862,  at 
Bolivar,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Fennel,   John,   private,  3  years;  mus.    out  with  company  July  10,    1865  '■, 
veteran. 

Purdy,  Alfred,  private,  Feb.  4,  1862,  3   years;   mus.  out  Feb.  3,  1865,  at 
Beaufort,  S.  C,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 


ii8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Purdy,  John,  private,  Feb.  4,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  Feb.  3,  1865,  at 
Beaufort,  S.  C,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Pomeroy,  Timothy,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Aug.  14,  1863, 
-at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  for  wounds  received  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion 
Hills,  Miss. 

Richards,  Wilson  S.,  private,  Nov.  8,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  Richard 
Wilson;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;   veteran. 

Richards,  Israel,  private,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  14,  1862,  at 
Cairo,  111. 

Richards,  Curtiss,  private,  Feb.  2,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Reese,  Charles  M.,  private,  Oct.  20,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Radcliff,  Thomas,  private,  Jan.  14,  1862,  3  years;  disch.  Feb.  10,  1865,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Roasner,  Daniel,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Dec.  19,  1864, 
near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Rogers,  George  W.,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  15,  1862, 
at  Mound  City,  111. 

Reeder,  David,  private,  Nov.  18,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  25,  1862,  at 
Keokuk,  la. 

Somer,  Edward,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Somers,  Martin,  private.  May  4,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Sweeney,  Elijah,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Shellenberger,  Daniel,  private,  Jan.  i,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  Jan.  10, 
1865,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Shellenberger,  Nicholas,  private,  Dec.  5,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  24, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Shank,  Henry  H.,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years  ;  disch.  Jan.  29,  1863,  at 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Smith,  Lewis  O.,  private,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  June  18,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Silsbee,  Morris,  private,  Oct.  28,  1 861,  3  years;  died  April  25,  1862,  at 
Keokuk,  la. 

Stites,  Alonzo,  private,'  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  died  May  28,  1862,  at 
Camp  Dennison,  O. 

Swartz,  David,  private,  Nov.  2,  186 1,  3  years;  died  Sept.  18,  1862,  at 
Bolivar,  Tenn. 

Stewart,  James  C,  private,  Nov.  6,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  April  21,  1862,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 


Henry  County.  119 


Sloan,  Wilson,  private,  Nov.  30,  1861,  3  years. 
Stilwell,  Oliver,  private,  Oct.  30,  1861,  3  years. 

Spencer,  Daniel  C,  private,  Dec.  4,  1861,  3  years  ;   disch.  Feb.  14,  1863,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Spencer,  Allen  H.,  private,  Oct.  4,  1861,  3  years;   disch.  June  24,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Sisco,  John,  private,  Dec.  S,  1861,  3  years  ;  disch.  July,  1862,  at  Columbus, 
O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Strictcraub,  Christ,  private,  Nov.  i,  1861,  3  years;  on  muster  in  roll,  never 
reported  for  duty. 

Terpening,  William   H.,  private,  Oct.  7,  1863,  3  years;   mus.  out  of  com- 
pany,  July  10,  1863. 

Taylor,  Hiram,  private,  Nov.  23,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  April  11,  1862,  at 
Crump's  Landing,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 
Taylor,  Edward,  private,  Nov.  15,  1861,  3  years. 

Woodworth,  James  O,,  private,  Jan.  14,  1864,  3  years;  killed  July  22,  1864,. 
in  battle  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Wilcox,  Anza,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years  ;  died  April  10,  1862,  at  Sa- 
vannah, Tenn. 

Warner,  Dexter,  private,  Oct  24,  1861,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Warner,  Orrin  B.,  private,  Sept.  i,  1862,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863, 
in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  trans,  to  4th  Veteran  Res.  Corps  Feb.  11, 
1864;  mus.  out  July  12,  1865,  at  Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Williams,  Walker,  private,  Oct.  28,  1861,  3  years;  died  May  23,  1862,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Waters,  William  A.,  private,  Nov.  2,  1861,  3  years  ;  died  Nov.  16,  1861. 
Weaver,  Michael,  private,  Nov.  19,  1861,  3  years  ;  on  muster  in  roll;  never 
reported  for  duty. 

Company  F. — Wesley  W.  Bowen,  captain,  Oct.  3,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  Dec. 
17,  1861  ;  mus.  out  Dec.  25,  1864,  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of 
service. 

Milton  Stout,  captain,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  private;  appt. 
serg't  Dec.  20,  1861  ;  1st  serg't  Jan.  i,  1863  ;  prom,  to  serg't-maj.  April  30, 
1864;  to  captain  Jan.  11,  1865;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 
James  Lannen,  first  lieut,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  Dec.  17,  1861  ; 
prom,  to  captain  Feb.  26,  1864;  not  mus.;  mus.  out  Dec.  20,  1864,  at  Savan- 
nah  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Jasper  H.  Smith,  first  lieut,  Oct.  23,  1861,  3  years;   mus.  as  private  ;  appt. 

serg't  — , ;  first  serg't  April  30,  1864;   prom,  to  first  lieut.  Jan.  11,  1865  ; 

mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Andrew  Jackson,  second  lieut,  Oct  lO,  1862,  3  years;  prom,  to  first  lieut. 
and  adj.  July  5,  1862. 


T20  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Henry  Welty,  second  lieut,  Oct.  7,  186 1,  3  years;  appt.  first  serg't  from 
private  Dec.  20,  1861  ;  prom,  to  2d  lieut.  July  5,  1862  ;  to  1st  lieut.  company 
A,  Feb.  26,  1864. 

George  W.  Scott,  first  serg't,  Nov.  30,   1861,    3  years;  mus.  as  private; 

appt.  serg't — ,  ;  first  serg't  Jan.  27,   1865;  prom,  to  second  lieut.  Jan. 

II,  1865  ;  not  mus.;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Remus  Howard,  serg't,  Nov.  21,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as  private;  appt. 
serg't;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;   veteran. 

John  W.  Leach,  serg't,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as  private;  appt.  serg't 
— ,  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

Abraham  V.  Wilson,  serg't,  Oct.  7,  1861,   3   years;  appt.  corp.  — , ; 

serg't  April  30,  1864  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

William  Moore,  serg't,  Dec.  5,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  — ,  ;  serg't 

Jan.  27,  1865  ;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Robert  Wheeler,  corp.,  Dec.  2,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  — ,  ;  mus. 

out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

John  A.  Brukaker,  corp.,  Oct.  9,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  June  i,  1864; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Samuel  W.  May,  corp.,  Jan.  i,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  June  i,  1864; 
THUS,  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

William  MoJlett,  corp.,  Nov.  25,  1861,  3  3'ears ;  appt.  corp.  June  i,  1864; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;   veteran. 

David  Schleiser,  corp.,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  — , ;  mus. 

out  June   23,    1865,   at   Camp   Dennison,    O.,   by   order  of  war  department; 
veteran. 

Patrick    Brennan,    corp.,    Oct    15,    1861,  3    years;   appt.    corp. — , ; 

-wounded  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;   died  May  6,  1864, 
at  Monroeville,  Huron  county,  O.;  veteran. 

Agler,  George  W.,  private,  Jan.  i,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Adams,  Lorenzo,  private,  March  8,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Adams,  Samuel  R.,  private,  Oct.  17,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  to  quartermaster- 
sergeant  Nov.  20,  1 861. 

Albough,  John,  private,  Jan.  5,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Berry,  Henrj^  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  to  company  D. 

Boorman,  Isaac  H.,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  died  May  17,  1862,  at 
Camp  Pea  Ridge,  Tenn. 

Brackan,  Frederick,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  trans,  to  company  A. 

BuUen,  Ignatius  L.,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;   veteran. 


Henry  County.  121 


Bowen,  Jesse  P.,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company- 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Burbaker,  William  D.,  private,  Oct  16,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Jan.  13,  1863, 
at  Jackson,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Burbaker,  Levi  H.,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Burbaker,  Francis  M.,  private,  Oct.  9,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Braily,  David  C,  private,  Nov.  30,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Jan.  11,  1865,. 
at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Biglow,  James  L.,  private,  Jan.  5,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Biglow,  Edward  A.,  private,  Dec.  31,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Barnhart,  Edward,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  died  Aug.  29,  1863,  in 
hospital  at  Keokuk,  la. 

Barnhart,  George,  private,  Oct.  19,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Barnhart,  John,  private,  Dec.  i,  1861,  3  years;  transferred  to  8th  Ohio 
battery,  Jan  i,  1864;  veteran. 

Breachisen,  Lewis,  private,  Sept.  6,  1862,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863, 
in  batde  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  mus.  out  May  29,  1865  at  Washington,  D. 
C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Bruner,  John  L.,  private,  Oct.  10,  1863,  3  years;  died  July  12,  1864,  in 
field  hospital  at  Rome,  Ga. 

Babcock,  Solomon,  private,  Nov.    12,    1861,  3   years;   discharged  Dec.  — ,. 

1 86 1,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Baker,  Charles,  private,  Dec.  3,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  31,  1862,  at 
Crump's  Landing,  Tenn. 

Bailey,  Philander,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  31,  1862,  at 
hospital  in  Cincinnati,  O. 

Carr,  Samuel,  private,  Nov.  27,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Clark,  Hiram,  private,  Aug.  30,  1862,  3  years. 

Cooper,  William,  private,  Dec.  8,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Cooper,  Charles,  private,  March  il,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Cole,  Newton,  private,  Nov.  30,  1861,  3  years;  (?)  transferred  to  signal 
corps  Sept.  7,  1863. 

Chester,   Burget,    private,    Dec.    12,    1861,    3   years;   discharged  June   20, 

1862,  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

16 


122  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Day,  William,  private,  Nov.  29,  1861,  3  years;   died  Feb.  3,  1862,  at  Camp 
Chase,  O. 

Davison,  William,  private,  Nov.  8,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Dec.  — ,  i86i, 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Durbin,  Rodney  C,  private,  Jan.  5,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  TO,  1865. 

Dodd,  William,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  died  Oct.  12,  1862,  at 
Jackson,  Tenn. 

Dikeman,  Christian,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  died  July  9,  1862,  at 
Bolivar,  Tenn. 

Eis,  Peter,  private,  Nov.  5,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  3,  1862,  in  general 
hospital,  Cincinnati,  O. 

Emery,  John  G.,  private,  Nov.  19,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  July  5,  1862, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Fleming,  Michael,  private,  June  i,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Flenner,  Frank,  private,  Oct.  29,  1861,  3  years;  promoted  to  com.  serg't 
Dec.  25,  1864;   veteran. 

Fuller,  Frank  M.,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  10,  1862,  at 
Crump's  Landing,  Tenn. 

Feeny,  Michael,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  29,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Gunn,  Julian  H.,  private,  Oct.  18,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863, 
in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865; 
veteran. 

Griffley,  Leo,  private,  Feb.  28,  1864,  3  years;  discharged  June  13,  1864, 
3  years;  discharged  June  13,  1864,  at  Jefferson  Barracks,  St.  Louis,  on  sur- 
geon's certificate  of  disability. 

Grim,  Jacob  F.,  private,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  10,  1862,  on 
board  steamer  on  Tennessee  River. 

Grabel,  George,  private,  Oct.  21,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  29,  1862,  at 
Crump's  Landing,  Tenn. 

Groshner,  Frederick,  private,  Dec.  7,  1861,  3  years;  killed  May  16,  1863, 
in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss. 

Hopkins,  George  W.,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  26, 
1863,  in  action  in  rear  of  Vicksburg,  Miss.;  mus.  out  with  company,  July  10, 
1865;  veteran. 

Hartman,  Watson,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865,  veteran. 

Hughes,  Cyrus,  private,  May  7,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Hughes,  James  R.,  private,  Jan.  21,  i864,*3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 


Henry  County.  123 


Hileman,  Jacob,  private,   Oct.    11,    1861,    3   years;    discharged 
enlisted  Jan.  5,  1864;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 


Howard,  Samuel  F.,  private.  May  7,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,    1865. 

Hague,  James  B.,  private,  March  3,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Harper,  Hiram,  private,  Jan.  2,  1864,  3  years;  died  Sept.  2,  1864,  in  field 
hospital  at  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Heath,  Alvero,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  Alvin  Heath; 
died  March  7,  1865,  at  home  in  Henry  county,  O. ;  veteran. 

Heath,  John  F.,  private,  Nov.  2,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Nov.  10,  1864, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Houston,  Jeremiah,  private,  Oct.  9,  1861,  3  years. 

Hartley,   Samuel,   private,   Oct.    20,    1861,    3    years. 

Herrick,  Egbon  O.,  private,  Oct.  6,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Feb.  16 
1863,  at  Overton  hospital,  Memphis,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Homan,  Samuel,  private,  Nov.  27,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Sept.  17, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Jones,  John,  private,  Oct.  19,  1865,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  29,  1864; 
mus.  out  Oct.  29,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  ser- 
vice. 

Jones,  Allen,  private,  Oct.  19,  1865,  3  years;  discharged  July  15,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Kaylor,  Samuel,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company, 
July  10,  1865;   veteran. 

Kannerst,  August,  private,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  August 
Kahnast;  discharged  July  25,  1862,  at  Columbus,  O.;  re-enlisted  Jan.  5,  1864; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

King,  Oliver,  private,  April  20,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Krisinger,  Joseph,  private,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  12,  1862,  at 
Mound  City,  111. 

Kneule,  William,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  transferred  to  company  D. 

Lewis,  Joseph  J.,  private  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  captured  Feb.  10,  1864, 
at  Morton,  Miss.;   mus.  out  June  16,  1865,  at  Camp  Chase,  O.;   veteran. 

Lowry,  George  O.,  private,  Sept.  29,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  George 
O'Lary ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

Limestall,  Joseph,  private,  Nov.  27,  1863,  3  years;  killed  Aug.  4,  1864,  in 
action  near  Atlanta,  Ga.;  veteran. 

McCuUough,  James,  private,  Oct.  18,  1865,  3  years;  discharged  March  26, 
1863,  3t  Memphis,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability ;  re-enlisted  Dec. 
15,  1863  ;  discharged  May  30,  1865,  at  Camp  Dennison,  O.,  on  surgeon's  cer- 
tificate of  disabihty. 


124  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

McBlaine,  John,  private,  Jan.  5,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company- 
July  10,  1865. 

Morrison,  John,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865;   veteran. 

Morrison,  George,  private,  Feb.  21,  1865,  i  year;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  ID,  1865. 

May,  Harrison  T.,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863, 
in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865; 
veteran. 

Morrow,  John  D.,  private,  Dec.  2,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  June  3,  1865, 
at  N.  Y.  City  by  order  of  War  Department. 

Morse,  Curtiss  L.,  private,  March  8,  1865,  i  year;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Miller,  Ferdinand,  private,  Oct  8,  1861,  3  years;  died  Oct.  23,  1864,  in 
general  hospital  at  Rome,  Ga.;  veteran. 

Murphey,  John,  private,  Nov.  2,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Oct.  17,  1862, 
at  Bolivar,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Marlow,  Christoff,   private,  Nov.    12,    1861,  3   years;   discharged  July  25, 

1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Mall,  John,  private,  Oct,  22,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  7,  1862,  in  general 
hospital.  Savannah,  Tenn. 

Myerholtz,  Henry,   private,   Oct.   30,   1861,   3  years;  discharged  Jan.  22, 

1863,  at  Cincinnati,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Newell,  Ira,  private,  Oct.  18,  1863,  3  years;  trans  to  97th  co.  2d  Battalion 
Veteran  Reserve  Corps  Sept.  28,  1863. 

Parry,  John  G.,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  promoted  to  hospital  stew- 
ard Oct.  23,  1863. 

Pearce,  Albert,  private,  Nov.  28,  1863,  3  years;  mus,  out  with  company 
July  ID,  1865. 

Parmer,  Jacob  W.,  private,  March  i,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Paul,  William  P.,  private,  Sept.  29,  1864,  i  year;  drafted;  discharged 
Aug.  31,  1865,  at  Washington,  D.  C,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Potter,  Alexander,   private,  Feb.    29,  1864,    3  years;  discharged   May  16 
1865,  at  McDougal  Hospital,   New  York    Harbor,    on  surgeon's   certificate  of 
disability. 

Robison,  Jeremiah,  private,  Nov.  6,  1861,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;   veteran. 

Rapp,  Jacob,  private,  Dec.  i,  1861,  3  years ;  discharged  June  10,  1862,  on 
surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Reynolds,  Charles  E.,  private,  Jan.  5,  1862,  3  years;  promoted  to  q.  m.  s. 
April  20,  1863. 


Henry  County.  125 


Sisler,  Stephen,  private,  Oct.  15,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  compan)'- 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Stephens,  John,  private,  Oct.  11,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  John  Stiffens; 
THUS,  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Shupe,  John,  private,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  j'ears  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
•10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Schaaf,  Peter,  private,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865,  as  Peter  Schawf;  veteran. 

Squires,  Mortimer,  private,  Oct.  26,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Smith,  James  O.,  private,  Dec.  2,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Smith,  James  S.,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  died  May  8,  1862,  at  Cov- 
ington, Ky. 

Smith,  James  A.,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  29,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Sheffield,  Byron  E.,  private,  Feb.  23,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
_pany  July  10,  1865. 

Seibert,  Anthony  G.,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  killed  June  22,  1864, 
in  action  near  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Ga;  veteran. 

Sinkep,  John,  private,  Oct.  8,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  29,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Sinkey,  William,  private,  Oct.  29,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Jan.  24,  1864, 
-at  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Shinneman,  Adam,  private,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  Aug.  2, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Steedman,  George,  M.  D.,  private,  Dec.  7,  1861,  3  years. 

Telliga,  Jerome,  private,  Jan.  28,  1864,  3  years;  discharged  June  8,  1865, 
■on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Thompson,  George  W.,  private,  Jan.  9,  1862,  3  years;  captured  March  i, 
1865,  near  Black  Creek,  South  Carolina;  mus.  out  June  19,  1865,  at  Camp 
■Chase,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department;   veteran. 

Vanness,  Comfort  J,,  private,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years. 

Walters,  William,  private,  Oct.  23,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Young,  Reuben,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,3  years;  discharged  Aug.  11,  1862, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Company  G. — William  C.  Comstock,  captain,  Oct  7,  1861,  3  years;  ap- 
pointed Dec.  18,  1861;   resigned  Nov.  22,  1862. 

John  C.  Harmon,  captain,  Oct.  5,  1861,  3  years;  promoted  from  1st  lieut, 
■company  B,  Nov.  23,  1862;  mus.  out  Oct.  28,  1864,  on  expiration  of  term  of 
.service. 


126  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Joseph  Ice,  captain,  Oct.  7,  1861,  3  years;  promoted  from  2d  lieut.,  Co.  B,. 
Nov.  26,  1864;   mus.  out  with  company,  July  10,  1865. 

Robert  Matthews,  1st  lieut.,  Oct.  IC,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  Dec.  18,  1861;. 
promoted  to  captain,  company  B,  May  9,  1864, 

Mortimer  Belding,  ist  lieut.,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;  promoted  from  1st 
serg't,  company  E.,  Jan.  11,  1865;  mus.  out  with  company,  July  10,  1865;. 
veteran. 

Alexander  Boyd,  2d  Heut.,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  Dec.  18,  1861;, 
resigned  Aug.  I5v  1862. 

Lay  W.  Richardson,  2d  lieut.,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  serg't  from 
private,  Dec.  20,  1861;  ist  serg't,  July  14,  1862;  promoted  to  2d  lieut.  Aug. 
15,  1862;  to  1st  lieut.  May  9,  1864  but  not  mustered;  mus.  out  Jan.  3,  1865,. 
on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Henry  Rust,  ist  serg't,  Nov.  27,  1861,  3  years;  mustered  as  private;  ap- 
pointed 1st  serg't  Dec.  20,  1861;  discharged  July  17,  1862,  at  Grand  Junction, 
Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Chandler  I.  Richmond,  ist  serg't,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as  private;, 
appt.  serg't  Dec.  20,  1861;  1st  serg't  Jan.  5,  1863;  wounded  May  16,  1863, 
in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.,  died  July  ist,  1863,  at  Evansville,  Ind. 

John  D.  Travis,  ist  serg't,  Nov.  17,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corporal  Jan. — , 
1863;  1st.  serg't,  Sept.  — ,  1863;  promoted  to  captain,  company  I,  Jan.  11,. 
1865;   veteran. 

William  Glime,  1st  serg't,  Dec.  i,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corporal  Dec.  20,. 
1861;  serg't  July  28,  1862;  1st  serg't  Jan.  27,  1865,  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Pope  Gordon,  serg't,  Oct.  27,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corporal  Dec.  20,  1861, 
serg't,  April  I,  1863;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

William  B.  Smith,  serg't,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corporal  Dec.  24,, 
1862;  serg't  April  11,  1863;  wounded  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion 
Hills,  Miss.;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865;  veteran. 

Abram  E.  Neer,  serg't,  Dec.  3,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  April  i,  1863;. 
wounded  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;  appt.  serg't,  Nov. 
I,  1864;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Joshua  Shellhart,  serg't,  Nov.  12,  1861,  3  years  ;  appt.  corp.  Nov.  i,  1863  ^ 
serg't  Jan.  27,  1865  ;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

James  W.  Clark,  serg't,  Oct.  16,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  as  private;  appt 
serg't;  mus.  out  Oct.  29,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term 
of  service. 

James  M.  Haguerman,  serg't,  Nov.  6,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  20^ 
1 861  ;  serg't  May  i,  1862  ;  died  June  10,  1862,  at  Pittsburgh  Landing,  Tenn. 

Benjamin  Sincox,  serg't,  Oct.  15,  1861  ;  mus.  as  private;  appt.  serg't  Dec. 
20,  1861  ;  disch.  Nov.  11,  1862,  at  La  Grange,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate 
of  disability. 


Henry  County.  127 


Samuel  Miller,  corp.,   Nov.    22,  1861,  3   years;  appt.   corp.  July  7,  1864; 
TOUS.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Adam  Shafter,  Corp.,  Nov.    12,  1861,    3   years;   appt.    corp.  July  7,   1864; 
mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Riley  Shaffer,  corp.,  Nov.  ii,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.;  mus.  out  Dec.  9, 
1864,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

William  S.  Willeman,  corp.,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  July  7, 
1864;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Isaiah  ShuU,  corp.,  Nov.  i,  1861,  3  years  ;  appt.  corp.  Oct.  22,  1864;  mus. 
out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Elmer  Cohow,  corp.,  Jan.,  1862,  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Jan.  27,  1865;  mus. 
out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

George  T.  Shadford,  Corp.,  Oct.  14,  1861.  3  years;  appt.  corp.  Dec.  7, 
1861  ;  disch.  May  9,  1862,  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disa- 
bility. 

Arch,  Joseph,  private,  Nov.  15,  1861,3  years;  died  March  24,  1862,  at 
Savannah,  Tenn. 

Allman,  George,  private,  Nov.  3,  1861,  3  years;  died  June  20,  1862,  at 
Pittsburg  Landing,  Tenn. 

Arnold,  George  D.,  private,  Dec.  13,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  June  23,  1862, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Ayres,  Oscar,  private,  Nov.  7,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  5,  at  Savannah, 
Tenn. 

Bear,  Samuel,  private,  Oct.  10,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Bennit,  James  G.,  private,  March  10,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Baltozer,  John  H.,  private,  Dec.  24,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Bundy,  Isaac,  private,  Oct.  10,  1862,  3  years;  trans,  to  Vet.  Res.  Corps 
June  3,  1865;  mus.  out  Aug.  3,  1865,  at  Jackson,  Mich.,  by  O.  W.  D. 

Bunday,  Jacob,  private,  Oct.  10,  1863,  3  years ;  died  Nov.  22,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

Bundy,  Eli  M.,  private,  Oct.  9,  1861,  3  years;  died  July  16,  1862,  at  Bol- 
ivar, Tenn. 

Blackman,  Ransom  G.,  private,  Nov.  6,  1861,  3  years;  died  May  11,  1862, 
at  Cincinnati,  O. 

Beatty,  William  C,  private,  Nov.  8,  1861,  3  years;  died  April  16,  1862, 
in  hospital  at  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Clark,  Perry  W.,  private,  Oct.  12,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Cox,  John,  private,  Jan.  4,  1864,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company  July  10, 
1865. 


128  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Clay,  Samuel,  private,  Jan.  4,  1864,  3  years  ;   mus.  out  with  company  July 
10,  1865. 

Clay,  Jeremiah,  private,  Feb.  15,  1864,  3  years;   mus.  out.  with  company 
July  10.  1865. 

Crall,  John  H.,  private,   Dec.  22,    1863,  3  years;   died   Aug.  27,    1864,   at 
Marietta,  Ga. 

Comens,  John,  private,  Jan.  3,    1864,  3  years  ;  mus.  in  as  John  Curinims;; 
died  May  29,  1864,  at  his  home  in  Ohio. 

Coon,  Harmon,  private,  Nov.  3,  1861,  3  years;   disch.  by  civil  authority. 

Culbertson,  William,  private,  Nov.  7,  1861,  3  years. 

Crane,  Edward  I.,  private,  Nov.  11,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  March  22,  1862,. 
at  Crump's  Landing,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Curtis,  Orlando,  private,   Nov.  11,    1861,  3  years;   mustered  out  Nov.  11, 
1864,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Couts,  Peter,  private,  Dec.  6,  1861,  3   years;  disch.  Sept.    11,  1864,  at  At- 
lanta, Ga.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Connelly,  William,   private,  Dec.  4,  1861,  3  years;   died  Nov.  18,  1863,  at 
McPherson's  Hospital,  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Coe,  William  L.,  private,  Dec.  6,  1861,  3   years;  died   March  23,   1862,  at 
Savannah,  Tenn. 

Chamberlain,  John  E.,  private,  Jan.   7,  1864,  3  years;   drowned  in   Ohio 
River,  near  Louisville,  Ky. 

Des  Granges,  Daniel,  private,  Dec.  23,  1863,  3  years;   mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Diemer,  Frederick,  private,  Jan.  13,  1864,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Dillon,  Charles  R.,  private,  Dec.  20,  1861,  3   years;   disch.  June  26,  1862, 
at  Camp  Chase,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Dillon,  Carlisle,  private,  Dec.  20,    1861,    3    years;   died   Sept.  15,  1863,  at 
Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Esterline,  Henry  J.,  private,  Jan.  4,  1864,  3  years  ;   mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Eaton,  Frank,  private,  Jan.  i,  1862,    3   years;   mus.  out  June  27,  1865,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  by  order  of  War  Department. 

Eaton,  Azur,   private,    Oct.   25,    1861,   3    years;   disch.    July  24,  1865,  at 
Cincinnati,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Evers,  Joseph,  private,  Jan.  27,  1864,    3    years;   disch.    June  26,  1865,  at 
Cleveland,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Emery,  Robert  G.,  private,  Oct.  3,    1861,   3    years;  disch.  Dec.  17,  1862, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Ennis,  Jacob,  private,  Nov.  5,  1861,  3  years;   disch.  June  55,  1862,  at  Co- 
lumbus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 


Henry  County. 


129 


Fryed,  George  D.,  private,  Jan.  26,  1864,  3  years;  died  Aug.  19,  1864,  at 
Marietta,  Ga. 

Ferguson,  William,  private,  Nov.  16,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  15,  1862, 
in  hospital  at  Paducah,  Ky. 

Fulke,  Jacob,  private,  Nov.  25,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Aug.  9,  1863,  at 
Vicksburg,  Miss.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Forrester,  Luther,  private,  Dec.  4,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Aug.  2,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Gerver,  Jacob  R.,  private,  Jan.  4,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Greek,  Joseph,  private,  Dec.  25,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Giffbrd,  Charles,  private,  Jan.  25,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  May  21,  1865, 
at  Cleveland,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Gleason,  Nelson,  private,  Nov.  12,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  i,  1863,  in 
hospital  at  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Gorsuch,  Thomas,  private,  Oct.  22,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Nov.  7,  1862,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Gilbert,  William,  private,  Dec.  4,  1861,  3  years;  on  muster  in  roll,  no 
further  record  found. 

Gilbert,  Austin,  private,  Dec.  4,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  June  26,  1862,  at 
Camp  Chase,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Harbaugh,  John,  private,  Nov.  7,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Hammond,  John  M.,  private,  Dec.  23,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Honicl,  Otto,  private,  Jan.  13,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Hames,  Ephraim,  private,  Jan.  27,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
K,  July  10,  1865. 

Haight,  David,  private,  Jan.  21,  1862,  3  years;  disch.  Jan.  31,  1865,  at  Co- 
lumbus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Hutchinson,  James,  private,  Jan.  7,  1864,  3  years;  died  April  7,  1864,  at 
Vicksburg,  Miss. 

HambHn,  Anson,  private,  Nov.  8,  1861,  3  years. 

Hamblin,  Benjamin,  private,  Nov.  12,  1861,  2  years;  disch.  June  19,  1862, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Haller,  Benjamin,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years. 

Haguerman,  Nathaniel,  private,  Nov.  18,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  — ,  1864, 
by  civil  authority. 

Haguerman,  William,  private,  Nov.  9,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Dec.  19, 
1864,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

17 


I30  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Hager,  Christopher,  private,  Nov.  20,  1861,  3  years. 

Haguerman,  Abram,  private,  Nov.  11,  1861,  3  years. 

Jayne,  Ebenezer,  private,  Jan.  13,  1864,  3  years;  disch.  June  6,  1865,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Johnson,  Salander,  private,  Nov.  22,  1861,  3  years;  disch. 'July  12,  1862, 
at  Detroit,  Mich.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Jackson,  William  C,  private,  Nov.  11,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  3,  1862, 
at  hospital  in  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Kennedy,  James,  private,  March,  4,  1863,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Kinsey,  Moses,  private,  Jan.  4,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Kinsey,  Jacob,  private,  Dec.  10,  1861,  3  years  ;  on  muster  in  roll,  no  further 
record  found. 

Kunkel,  Benjamin  E.,  private,  Dec.  23,  1863,  3  years ;  killed  July  22,  1864, 
in  battle  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Kirkenberry,  John  M.,  private,  Nov.  14,  1861,  3  years;  on  muster  in  roll, 
no  further  record  found. 

Kewley,  William,  private,  Oct.  30,  1861,  3  years;  wounded  May  16,  1863, 
in  battle  of  Champion  Hills,  Miss.;   died  — , ,  at  Memphis,  Tenn. 

Lesh,  Charles  H.,  private,  Dec.  9,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Lewis,  Charles,  private,  Nov.  3,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  May  i,  1862,  at 
Benton  Barracks,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Leonard,  Albert,  private,  Nov.  10,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Jan.  13,  1863,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Lindlay,  Nathan,  private,  Oct.  24,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  7,  1862,  at 
Camp  Chase,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Moore,  William,  private,  Oct.  31,  1861,  3  years;  died  July  3,  1864,  at  At- 
lanta, Ga. 

Miller,  David,  private,  Nov.  23,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Nov.  8,  1863,  at  La 
Grange,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Miller,  Frederick,  private,  Nov.  12,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  8,  1862,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Miller,  Henry,  private,  Nov.  22,  1861,  3  years;  died  Nov.  20,  1862,  in 
Henry  county,  O. 

Miller,  George,  private,  Nov.  22,  1861,  3  years;  died  Sept.  15,  1863,  at 
Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Morris,  Solon,  private,  Dec.  11,  1861,  3  years;  died  Sept.  15,  1863,  at 
Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Norrick, 'Samuel,  private,  Dec.  4,  1861,  3  years;  died  Dec.  8,  1862,  at  St 
Louis,  Mo. 


Henry  County.  131 


Osmond,  John,  private,  Dec.  4,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Dec.  20,  1864,  at 
Camp  Dennison,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Pyle,  Ephraim,  private,  Jan.  20,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Porter,  Edmund  R.,  private,  Dec.  7,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  Edward  R. 
Porter  ;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865. 

Porter,  Joseph,  private,  Nov.  26,  1861,  3  years;  prom,  to  chaplain  6 1st  U. 
S.  Colored  Infantry  Aug.  27,  1863. 

Porter,  John  F.,  private,  Nov.  8,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Nov.  3,  1862,  at  Co- 
lumbus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Palmer,  James,  private,  Nov.  26,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  18,  1862,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Page,  James  D.,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  June  28,  1862,  at 
Camp  Chase,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Page,  Nathaniel,  private,  Oct.  19,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Oct.  29,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Rasley,  Solomon,  private,  Oct.  10,  1862,  3  years;  died  Jan.  31,  1865,  at 
Jeffersonville,  Ind. 

Remo,  John,  private,  Oct.  23,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as  John  Remmes  ; 
wounded  May  16,  1863,  in  battle  of  Champion  Hill,  Miss.;  mus.  out  with 
company  July  10,  1865  ;   veteran. 

Remo,  Frederick,  private,  Oct.  10,  1862,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Rosey,  Joseph,  private,  Oct.  25,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Richardson,  Myron,  private,  March  4,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Roub,  Michael,  private,  Dec.  30,  1863,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

Rhodes,  William,  private,  Jan.  27,  1864,  3  years;  died  Sept.  12,  1864,  at 
Marietta,  Ga. 

Rogers,  Lewis,  private,  Nov.  7,  1861,  3  years;  died  Oct.  8,  1862,  at  Boli- 
var, Tenn. 

Rogers,  John,  private,  Nov.  8,  1861,  3  years;  died  Oct.  S,  1863,  at  Vicks- 
burg.  Miss. 

Rogers,  Elmore,  private,  Nov.  28,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  Dec.  i,  1864, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Randall,  Leonard  A.,  private,  Nov.  9,  1861,  3  years;  on  muster  in  roll, 
never  reported  for  duty. 

Rosse,  Joseph,  private,  Oct.  25,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865;    veteran. 

Stoutsenberger,  Daniel  R.,  pri'....te,  Nov.  8,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  in  as 
David  R.  Stoltzenberger ;   mus.  out  with  company  July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 


132  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Shaffer,  Henry  B.,  private,  Jan.  3,  1864,  3  years  ;  mustered  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Shaffer,  Henry,  private,  March  4,  1863,  3  years;  mustered  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Stilwell,  William  H.,  private,  March  28,  1864,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Shelhart,  William,  private,  Dec.  31,  1863,  3  years;  disch.  May  3,  1865,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Shelhart,  Christian,  private,  Dec.  30,  1863,  3  years;  died  July  29,  1864,  at 
Marietta,  Ga.,  of  wounds  received  in  action. 

Shellhart,  Daniel,  private,  Jan.  4,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  May  25,  1865, 
at  McDougal  Hospital,  New  York  Harbor  by  order  of  war  department. 

Spencer,  Allen  H.,  private,  Jan.  4,  1863,  3  years;  disch.  Aug.  12,  1864,  at 
Cleveland,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Spencer,  Daniel,  private,  Jan.  18,  1864,  3  years;  trans,  to  Veteran  Re- 
serve Corps  April  6,  1885. 

Spencer,  William  H.,  private,  Nov.  14,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  June  26, 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Snider,  Jacob,  private,  Sept.  21,  1862,  3  years;  captured  Nov.  13,  1864, 
at  Kingston,  Ga. ;  disch.  June  26,  1865,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certifi- 
cate of  disability. 

Snider,  Thomas  C,  private,  Nov.  15,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Sept.  24,  1862, 
at  Cincinnati,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Sloan,  Joseph  B.,  private,  Oct.  14,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  16,  1863,  at 
Cincinnati,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Scott,  Caleb,  private,  Nov.  23,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Dec.  10,  1864,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Thorp,  James  R.,  private,  Nov.  10,  1861,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Thompson,  David,  private,  Jan.  25,  1864,  3  years;  disch.  Nov.  2,  1864,  at 
Cleveland,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Taylor,  Allen,  private,  Nov.  20,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  30,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Thomas,  Roger  W.,  private,  Nov.  19,  1861,  3  years;  discharged  June  23^ 
1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Tremain,  Andrew  I.,  private,  Nov.  16,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  July  12,  1862, 
at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Terrill,  Charles,  private,  Nov.  17,  1861,  3  years;  on  muster-in  roll;  never 
reported  for  duty. 

Utter,  Joseph,  private,  Jan.  21,  1864,  3  years;  died  May  21,  1864,  at  St 
Louis,  Mo. 

Vanarsdalen,  William,  private,  Jan.  18,  1864,  3  years;  died  June  10,  1864 
at  Madison,  Ind. 


Henry  County.  133 


Vanarsdalen,  Cornelius,  private,  Jan.  18,  1864,  3  years;  mustered  out  with 
company  July  10,  1865. 

Wyrick,  Michael,  private,  Feb.  15,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  June  26,  1865, 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Wyrick,  George  W.,  private,  Jan.  18,  1864,  3  years;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Wallace,  George  W.,  private,  Jan.  18,  1864,  3  years  ;  mus.  out  with  com- 
pany July  10,  1865. 

Wolverton,  John  A.,  private,  Nov.  19,  1861,  3  years;  disch.  Nov.  2,  1864,. 
at  Camp  Dennison,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Weaver,  Solomon,  private,  Nov.  31,  1861,  3  years;  died  Feb.  23,  1862,  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Weaver,  Frederick,  private,  Nov.  16,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  i,  1862, 
at  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Yoing,  William  H.,  private,  Nov.  11,  1861,  3  years;  died  March  25,  1862, 
at  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Yoha,  William  H.,  private,  Jan.  12,  1864,  3  years;  died  Aug.  4,  1864,  at 
Marietta,  Ga. 

Zook,  John,  private',  Jan.  13,  1864,  3  years;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  10,  1865. 

The  One  Hundredth  Regiment,  Infantry. 

To  the  formation  of  this  regiment  the  county  of  Henry  contributed  more 
than  one  full  company,  and  the  surplus  was  transferred  to  a  separate  company 
in  the  same  regiment.  Company  B  was  made  up  wholly  of  residents  of  this 
county,  and  it  is  in  recognition  of  their  services  in  the  regiment  that  this  re- 
cord is  made. 

The  One  Hundredth  regiment  was  organized  at  Toledo,  during  the  months 
of  June  and  July,  1862,  and  was  mustered  into  service  on  the  15  th  of  July  fol- 
lowing, by  Captain  Dodds,  U.  S.  Army.  On  the  8th  of  the  same  month,  the 
regiment  moved  to  Cincinnati,  for  the  defense  of  that  city.  On  the  9th  it  went 
into  position  on  Covington  Heights,  a  few  rods  in  front,  and  to  the  left  of  Fort 
Mitchell. 

The  regiment  marched  for  Lexington,  Ky.,  on  the  8th  of  October,  and  re- 
mained there,  undergoing  a  thorough  course  of  instruction,  until  about  the  ist 
of  December,  when  it  moved  to  Richmond.  It  was  engaged  in  work  on  the 
fortifications  until  the  26th  of  December,  when  it  moved  to  Danville,  and  on 
the  3d  of  January,  1863,  it  moved  to  Frankfort.  Toward  the  last  of  February  it 
marched  to  Lexington  to  intercept  a  rebel  raid,  and  from  that  point  it  marched 
to  Crab  Orchard,  Mount  Vernon,  Somerset,  and  to  various  other  points  where 
the  presence  of  the  enemy  rendered  it  necessary.  On  the  13th  of  August,  the 
regiment  went  into  camp  at  Danville,  preparatory  for  the  march  for  East  Ten- 


134  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

nessee.  Upon  arriving  at  Knoxville,  a  portion  of  the  regiment  was  sent  up  to 
the  Virginia  State  line,  to  guard  the  railroad.  The  detachment,  two  hundred 
and  forty  strong,  was  captured  by  the  enemy  on  the  4th  of  September,  and 
was  sent  to  Richmond,  Va.  The  regiment  participated  in  the  defense  at  Knox- 
ville, and  was  on  active  duty  during  its  stay  in  East  Tennessee.  Early  in  the 
spring  of  1864,  the  regiment  marched  in  the  Twenty- third  Army  Corps,  to 
join  General  Sherman,  then  at  Tunnell  Hill,  Ga.  It  moved  on  the  Atlanta 
campaign,  and  was  engaged  at  almost  every  battle  from  Rocky  Face  Ridge 
to  Atlanta.  On  the  6th  of  August  it  was  engaged  in  an  assault  on  the  rebel 
works  in  front  of  Atlanta,  and  lost  one  hundred  and  three  men  out  of  three 
hundred.  Thirty-six  men  were  killed  on  the  field,  and  eighty  more  died  of 
wounds  within  the  next  thirty  days.  The  colonel  was  disabled  for  life.  After 
the  evacuation  of  Atlanta,  the  regiment  joined  in  the  pursuit  of  Hood's  army, 
and  participated  in  the  battles  of  Franklin  and  Nashville.  It  moved  with  the 
Twenty-third  Corps  to  Wilmington,  N.  C,  and  was  there  actively  engaged. 
It  marched  into  the  interior,  and  moved  from  Goldsboro  to  Raleigh,  with  Sher- 
man's army.  It  next  moved  to  Greensboro,  and  from  there  to  Cleveland,  0  , 
where  it  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  on  the  1st  of  July,  1865,  having 
served  nearly  three  full  years  with  the  Union  army. 

The  One  Hundredth  lost  during  its  term  of  service  sixty-five  men  killed 
in  action,  and  one  hundred  and  forty-two  wounded ;  twenty-seven  died  of 
wounds ;  one  hundred  and  eight  died  of  disease ;  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  were  captured  by  the  enemy,  and  eighty-five  died  in  rebel  prisons.  The 
regiment  participated  in  the  battles  of  Lenox  Station,  Knoxville,  Rocky  Face 
Ridge,  Resaca,  Dallas,  Etowah  Creek,  Atlanta,  Columbus,  Franklin,  Nashville, 
Town  Creek  and  Wilmington. 

Field  and  Staff  Roster. 

John  C.  Groom,  colonel;   resigned  May  13,  1863. 

Patrick  Slevin,  colonel;  prom,  from  lieut-col. ;  honorably  discharged 
Nov.  30,   1864. 

Edwin  L.  Hayes,  colonel  ;   prom,  from  major  to  lieut-coL;  prom,  to  col. 

Franklin  Rundell,  lieut-col.;  prom,  from  major  ;   mus.  out  with  regiment. 

John  A.  Shannon,  major;  mus.  out  May  11,  1864. 

Henry  D.  Taylor,  major;   prom,  from  captain. 

George- A.  Collamore,  surgeon  ;   mus.  out  with  regiment. 

Leonard  B.  Griffing,  chaplain;  discharged  Aug.  9,  1864. 

Roll  of  Company  B. 

Henry  D.  Taylor,  captain ;  prom,  to  major. 

George  W.  Waterman,  first  lieut;  resigned  Jan.  8,  1863. 

George  D.  Forsyth,  second  lieut.;  prom,  to  first  lieut. 


Henry  County. 


135. 


Douglas  O.  Kelley,  first  serg't;  prom,  to  second  lieut.  Jan.  8,  1863. 

Absalom  Yager,  serg't;  prom,  to  first  serg't  Jan.  8,  1863. 

M.  V.  Marsh,  serg't ;  voluntarily  returned  to  ranks. 

Samuel  Foltz,  serg't. 

Philo  H.  Holly,  serg't. 

Corporals. — William  M.  Simpson,  promoted  to  sergeant,  January  8,  1863  ; 
A.  S.  Clark,  Henry  Shaffher,  John  A.  Haly,  Samuel  R.  Elerton,  voluntariljr 
returned  to  ranks;  Frederick  Stockman,  appointed  color  corporal;  George  W. 
Savage,  Laran  Emery. 

Musicians. — John  L.  Halter,  Joseph  Grinn. 

Wagoner.  —  Edward  Pearse. 

Privates.  —  Milton  Atkinson,  Montcalm  Armstrong,  John  Bauman,  Nicho- 
las Barnhart,  Philip  Bordner,  John  E.  Bates,  Conrad  Bower,  Alonzo  A.  Bab- 
cock,  discharged  Jan.  5,  1863  ;  Peter  Bump,  Henry  H.  Beaver,  Elisha  T.  Coon, 
appointed  ward-master,  Sept.  7,  1862  ;  Orrin  Crockett,  deserted  from  hospital 
at  Lexington,  Jan.  6,  1863  ;  James  Crockett,  Adam  Councilman,  Godfrey 
Councilman,  Stephen  B.  Coon,  died  at  Lexington,  Ky,,  Nov.  16,  1862;  Ed- 
ward H.  Dawson,  Joshua  Dornor,  Joseph  M.  Dornor,  Joseph  C.  Dornor,  Levi 
Dresback,  William  Dirr,  Azra  Freeman,  Newton  Freeman,  died  at  Lexington, 
Ky.,  March  15,  1863  ;  Henry  Friday,  John  J.  Falkinghor,  Frederick  Gherkin, 
Hezekiah  Guyer,  Walter  F".  Hunter,  died  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  Nov.  26,  1862; 
Daniel  Hess,  detailed  as  teamster  ;  Michael  Hockman,  died  at  Lexington,  Ky., 
Nov.  15,  1862;  Daniel  D.  Haly,  Daniel  D.  Harriett,  Wilson  Heaton,  died  at 
Lexington,  Ky.,  Nov.  9,  1862;  Gideon  W.  HoUopeter,  appointed  sergeant,  Jan. 
27,  1863  ;  Benjamin  F.  Haynes,  David  O.  Howard,  Lewis  Hitt,  Isaac  Howe, 
George  H.  Hollis,  detailed  as  teamster ;  Lewis  Hartley,  William  B.  Hutchins, 
deserted  Jan.  6,  1863,  from  Danville,  Ky.;  William  Jackson,  Edward  L.  Jaco- 
bus, William  Kaufman,  Lorenz  Kaufman,  John  B.  Lowry,  Albert  Lane,  Henry 
Marsh,  James  McClure,  David  McClure,  Alexander  Morgan,  August  Maier, 
William  H.  Moorhead,  Francis  M.  McKinnis,  James  C.  Murray,  William  Meyril,. 
Norman  C.  Rose,  John  Ricard,  John  H.  Rhodes,  Samuel  Redman,  Gllmore  Red- 
man, Joseph  T.  Redman,  James  Simmons,  Daniel  O.  Shepard,  Samuel  Stein- 
aker,  appointed  corporal ;  Henry  Stephens,  Hiram  Sisco,  George  W.  Starr,  Jo- 
seph Siford,  John  Siford,  Joseph  Shull,  Henry  Snyder,  John  Stickler,  deserted  ; 
Garrett  Salsbury,  Isaac  Shook,  joined  company  as  recruit,  Feb.  14,  1863 ;  Jacob 
Snow,  William  Thrapp,  James  Taylor,  George  Vogle,  Joseph  W.  Wells,  John, 
M.  Zuber. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- Fourth  Regiment. 

To  the  formation  of  this  regiment,  the  county  of  Henry  contributed  parts. 
of  two  companies,  D  and  G,  but  the  contingent  of  men  in  each  was  so  small 
that  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  either  company  was  a  Henry  county  contribu- 


136  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

tion.  The  regiment  was  recruited  from  the  northern  counties  of  Ohio,  with 
the  exception  of  Company  I,  which  came  from  Cincinnati.  The  regiment  ren- 
dezvoused at  Camp  Taylor,  and  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1863,  marched 
into  Cleveland,  seven  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  ready  to  take  the  cars  for  the 
field. 

When  the  regimental  organization  became  perfect,  it  was  commanded  as 
follows:  Colonel,  Oliver  H.  Payne;  lieut- col.,  James  Pickards;  major,  James 
B.  Hameson. 

After  leaving  for  the  field  the  regiment  made  its  first  camp  at  Elizabeth- 
town,  Ky.,  where  it  remained  until  March,  when  it  returned  to  Louisville,  and 
embarked  on  board  transports,  and  in  company  with  twenty  thousand  other 
troops,  proceeded  to  Nashville,  Tenn.,  where  it  arrived  on  the  loth.  From 
Nashville  it  went  to  Franklin  and  encamped,  remaining  there  until  June  2d, 
building  forts,  perfecting  its  drill,  and  getting  ready  for  active  field  service. 
On  the  5th  of  March  the  "  boys  "  had  a  sharp  skirmish  with  the  rebels  who 
were  in  the  vicinity. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- fourth,  with  three  other  infantry  regiments, 
a  battery  and  some  cavalry,  under  General  Colburn,  were  sent  on  a  reconnois- 
sance  down  the  Columbia  Pike.  For  a  time  they  drove  back  the  enemy,  until 
Thompson's  Ford  was  reached,  when  a  general  engagement  ensued.  The  ene- 
my were  much  stronger  and  better  posted  than  was  expected,  but  the  fight  was 
stubbornly  contested  for  some  time,  until  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth 
were  enabled  to  safely  guard  the  ammunition  train  and  take  it  from  the  field. 

On  the  2d  of  June  the  camp  at  Franklin  was  abandoned,  and  another 
pitched  at  Triune.  A  few  days  later  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  join  General 
W.  B.  Hazen's  brigade  at  Readyville.  Again,  after  a  reconnoissance  to  Elk 
River,  they  went  into  camp  at  Manchester.  Here  the  regiment  was  assigned 
to  the  Second  Brigade,  Second  Division  of  the  Twenty-first  Army  Corps,  with 
General  Palmer  as  division,  and  General  Crittenden  as  corps  commander. 

The  corps  then  in  August,  crossed  over  the  Cumberland  Mountains  in  time 
to  participate  in  the  battle  at  Chickamauga,  where  it  held  a  position  on  the  left. 
Although  this  was  the  first  severe  fight  in  which  the  regiment  took  part,  it 
nevertheless  held  its  ground  firmly,  and  stood  well  up  to  the  work,  and  only 
after  the  lines  were  broken  and  the  full  force  of  the  enemy's  charge  and  fire 
were  concentrated  upon  them,  did  the  regiment  fall  back.  During  the  Chick- 
amauga battle  the  regiment  lost  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  one  hundred 
and  forty  men.  They  then  retreated  to  Chattanooga,  and  went  into  camp  on 
the  22d  of  September.  While  here  the  army  was  reorganized,  and  tlie  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth  was  assigned  to  the  Second  Brigade,  Third  Divis- 
ion, of  the  Fourth  Army  Corps. 

It  next  participated  in  the  engagement  at  Raccoon  Mountain,  where  the 
enemy's  position  was  taken,  and  after  camping  there  a  few  days,  was  relieved, 
and  returned  to  camp  at  Chattanooga. 


Henry  County.  137 


The  regiment  next  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Mission  Ridge,  in  which  the 
men  performed  nobly,  fought  lively,  and  captured  seven  pieces  of  artillery,  two 
cassions,  eighty  stand  of  arms,  and  a  wagon-load  of  ammunition.  Its  loss  here 
was  twenty-three  killed,  four  wounded,  and  nineteen  missing. 

On  the  30th  of  November  the  regiment,  with  a  portion  of  the  army,  marched 
to  the  relief  of  KnOxville,  where  it  arrived  on  the  loth  of  December,  but  other 
re-enforcements  having  come  earlier,  the  siege  was  raised,  and  the  enemy 
retired  from  before  that  place.  After  remaining  here  a  few  days,  the  regiment 
went  into  camp  at  Clinch  Mountain.  From  here  they  were  driven  by  a  large 
force  of  Confederates. 

About  the  15  th  of  April,  1864,  under  an  order  from  the  war  department  to 
concentrate  the  army,  preparatory  to  the  spring  campaign,  the  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-fourth  moved  to  McDonald  Station,  about  thirty  miles  east  of 
Chattanooga,  where  it  was  thoroughly  clothed  and  equipped. 

After  a  tew  days  of  rest  the  regiment  marched  to  Tunnel  Hill  Station,  on 
the  railroad,  and  thence  to  Rocky  Face  Ridge.  At  this  point  the  enemy  was 
engaged,  making  a  strong  charge  against  his  works,  in  which  it  suffered  severely. 
Marching  and  fighting  continuously,  it  made  its  way  to  Dalton,  and  from 
there  to  Resaca,  Cassville  aud  New  Hope  Church.  Here,  again,  it  was  en- 
gaged, and  lost  many  brave  men.  The  regiment  then  participated  in  the  flank- 
ing movement  to  Jonesboro,  and  consequent  evacuation  of  Atlanta,  after  which 
came  a  much  needed  rest  of  thirty  days. 

It  then  followed  Hood's  army  to  Gaylesville  and  Athens,  Ala.  ;  thence  to 
Pulaski  and  Columbia,  passing  through  Franklin,  and  reaching  Nashville  in 
advance  of  the  main  forces,  and  went  into  camp  behind  the  entrenchments  of 
that  place.  In  the  battle  of  Nashville  it  took  an  active  part,  and  at  its  close, 
joined  in  the  pursuit  of  the  defeated  and  demoralized  rebel  army.  At  Hunts- 
ville  the  chase  was  given  up,  and  the  force  went  into  camp.  From  here  it  was 
ordered  to  Strawberry  Plains,  in  East  Tennessee.  Thence  back  through  Green- 
ville to  Nashville,  where,  on  the  9th  of  July,  1865,  the  regiment  was  mustered 
out  of  service.  It  was  then  sent  home,  and  was  paid  off  and  discharged  at 
Camp  Taylor,  near  Cleveland,  the  place  from  which  it  started  two  and  one- 
half  years  before. 

On  account  of  the  small  number  of  men  from  this  county  who  were  in 
companies  D  and  G,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- fourth  Regiment,  and 
the  great  difficulty  in  locating  them  accurately,  no  roster  is  given. 

One   Hundred  and   Sixty-third  Regiment — One   Hundred   Days 

Service. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Sixty-third  Infantry  Regiment  was  composed  of  the 
Forty-eighth  Regiment,  Ohio  National  Guard,  of  Richlandjcounty ,  the  Sev- 
enty-second  Battalion,   Ohio  National  Guard,  of  Henry  county,  the  Ninety-^ 

18 


138  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


sixth  battalion,  Ohio  National  Guard,  of  Ashland  county,  and  the  Ninety- 
ninth  Battalion,  Ohio  National  Guard,  of  Stark  county.  The  regiment  was 
mustered  into  the  United  States  service  at  Camp  Chase,  Ohio,  on  the  12th 
day  of  May,  1864,  and  on  the  13th  of  the  same  month  it  proceeded  to  Wash- 
ington City,  under  orders  from  General  Heintzelman,  commanding  the  depart- 
ment of  Ohio.  Upon  arrival  at  Washington  the  regiment  was  assigned  to  the 
First  Brigade,  First  Division,  Twenty-second  Army  Corps,  with  headquarters 
at  Fort  Reno,  District  of  Columbia.  The  regiment  remained  here  on  duty 
until  the  8th  of  June,  when  it  was  ordered  to  the  front,  and  proceeded  in 
transports  to  White  House,  Virginia,  and  thence  to  Bermuda  Hundred.  It 
reported  to  General  Butler,  at  Point  of  Rocks,  Va.,  on  the  12th  of  June,  and  on 
the  14th  took  part  (with  General  Turner's  division)  in  a  reconnoissance  on  the 
Petersburg  and  Richmond  Railroad.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  men  were 
engaged  in  a  severe  skirmish  on  the  15th,  and  were  highly  complimented  by 
the  brigade  commander,  who  said,  "  they  comported  themselves  like  veterans." 
On  the  i6th  the  regiment  proceeded  to  Wilson's  Landing,  and  from  that  point 
made  several  reconnoissances  to  the  west  side  of  the  James  River.  It  also 
assisted  in  building  a  large  portion  of  the  works  known  as  Fort  Pocahontas. 
On  the  29th  of  August  the  regiment  was  relieved  from  duty,  and  proceeded 
to  Columbus,  O.,  where  it  was  mustered  out  September  10,  1864.  The  Sev- 
enty-second Battalion,  Ohio  National  Guard,  of  Henry  county,  when  mustered 
into  service  became  Company  G,  about  eighty-five  strong. 

Field  and  Staff  Officers.  —  Hiram  Miller,  colonel;  John  Dempsey,  lieuten- 
ant-colonel; Aaron  S.  Campbell,  major ;  Alex.  Sutherland,  surgeon;  James  0. 
Carter,  ass't-surgeon  ;  David  C.  McMillen,  ass't  surgeon  ;  Andrew  M.  Burns, 
adjutant ;   Samuel  L.  Nash,  quartermaster  ;   Samuel  D.  Bates,  chaplain. 

Muster  Roll  of  Company  G.  —  Ransom  P.  Osborn,  captain;  Charles  W. 
Kalo,  first  lieut.;  Henry  E.  Cary,  second  lieut.;  Thomas  R.  Carroll,  John  Gard- 
ner, Wellington  D.  Golding,  Henry  Yeager  and  John  Waterman,  sergeants; 
Jabez  Dennis,  David  Foulk,  Cyrus  Gunn,  Hampton  Harrison,  Luke  Lemmest, 
Wallace  Blair,  Milton  E.  Heller  and  Thomas  Williams,  corporals;  John  Ball- 
ner,  drummer  ;  Jonas  Adams,  fifer. 

Privates.  —  Frederick  AUer,  John  Battenfield,  John  Battles,  Fenton  Jirooks, 
Daniel  Bascom,  Wheaton  P.  Barnes,  Jacob  Breikhiser,  Baxter  Burgess,  George 
Banks,  James  Corbin,  William  Campbell,  George  Davis,  William  Dota,  Benja- 
min F  Dennis,  Edward  Dodd,  Gififord  D.  Ellenwood,  Stillwell  Hess,  Henry 
Howard,  James  Henry,  Hiram  Gilson,  Rease  Gilson,  Lewis  A.  Groff,  Thomas 
Ireland,  Stephen  H.  Jacobs,  Charles  Kegler,  Morris  Killets,  William  Lowry, 
William  Lighthiser,  Miller  Long,  John  Leiter,  Samuel  Leiter,  Samuel  Margratt, 
Isaac  Masdeen,  Maxwell  F.  Mealey,  Philetus  Merriman,  Frank  Mason,  Elton 
Masten,  David  Moffett,  William  McComb,  Martin  Ohler,  John  Paul,  Lewis 
Pearce,  Volney  Powell,   George  Powell,  Winfield  Randall,  Joseph  N.   Ritter, 


Henry  County.  139 


George  W.  Raff,  Landoii  Raff,  Washington  Radle,  George  Smith  James  Shas- 
teen,  Hiram  S.  Shoemaker,  Robert  B.  Smead,  Joseph  M.  Spangler,  Asa  C. 
Senter,  Israel  Smith,  Achilles  Smith,  Romaine  Tyler,  Joseph  Travis,  George 
Valentine,  Isaac  Williams,  John  Yeager,  George  W.  Zellner,  Solomon  Zeddi- 
ker,  Nathaniel  Hartman,  discharged  ;  Charles  DeLong,  transferred  ;  Archibald 
Worthington,  deserted. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Eighty-Fourth  Infantry. 

This  was  one  of  the  regiments  raised  under  President  Lincoln's  last  call  for 
one  year  troops.  It  was  organized  in  February,  1865,  at  Camp  Chase.  To 
the  formation  of  the  regiment  Henry  County  contributed  one  full  company,  B. 
Immediately  after  muster  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  Nashville,  and  from 
thence  proceeded  to  Chattanooga;  thence  to  Bridgeport,  Alabama,  reaching 
the  latter  point  about  the  21st  of  March,  and  was  engaged  in  the  duty  of  guard- 
ing an  important  railroad  bridge  over  the  Tennessee  river.  It  also  acted  as 
guard  over  a  considerable  line  of  railroad  between  Bridgeport  and  Chattanooga 
and  frequently  came  in  contact  with  guerrillas  that  infested  the  region,  and 
squads  of  rebel  cavalry. 

On  the  25th  of  July  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  garrison  duty  at  Edgfield 
and  remained  at  that  place  until  mustered  out  of  service.  Returning  to  Camp 
Chase,  the  men  were  paid  off  and  discharged  on  the  27th  day  of  September, 
1865. 

In  the  One  Hundred  and  Eighty-fourth  was  much  excellent  material  — 
many  of  the  men  having  been  in  the  service  in  other  regiments — and  although 
while  in  this  command  they  were  in  no  general  engagement,  they,  nevertheless, 
rendered  important  service  in  the  country  to  which  they  were  assigned. 

In  Other  Commands. 

While  the  record  above  mentioned  purports  to,  and  does  contain  the  expe- 
riences and  vicissitudes  of  the  regiments  and  parts  of  regiments  from  Henry 
county,  still  there  were  other  commands  in  which  the  county  was  represented, 
but  with  so  small  a  number  of  men  as  to  make  an  extended  notice  of  them  un- 
necessary. Looking  over  the  records  of  the  county's  soldiery  it  is  found  that 
there  was  a  small  contingent  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  represent- 
ing the  county  in  Company  I.  On  the  field  and  staff  roster  is  found  the  name 
of  Dr.  Henry  McHenry,  who  was  the  regimental  surgeon.  In  all  there  were 
about  fifteen  men  from  this  county  that  belonged  to  the  regiment. 

Then,  again,  it  is  found  that  several,  not  more,  men  of  the  county  enUsted 
in  the  Ninth  Cavalry,  which  was  commanded  by  Colonel  William  D.  Hamil- 
ton. The  Eighth,  Ninth  and  Tenth  Regiments,  O.  V.  Cav.,  were  raised  late 
in  1862  by  Governor  Tod,  under  the  instructions  of  the  president. 

Other  regiments  that  had  a  few  representatives  of  Henry  County,  were  the 


I40  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Third  Cavalry,  the  Twenty-first  Infantry,  the  Eighty-eighth  Infantry,  the 
One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Infantry,  the  One  Hundred  and  Eighteenth,  the 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-eighth  Infantry,  and  perhaps  others  of  which  no 
record  can  be  accurately  obtained. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  BEXCH  AND  BAR. 

IT  was  many  years  alter  the  organization  of  Ohio  before  the  northwestern 
portion  of  the  State  had  either  Bench  or  Bar  ;  and  for  a  long  time  after  the 
territorial  government  had  ceased  the  only  courts  known  were  the  Indian  coun- 
cil and  the  court  martial,  while  the  bar  consisted  of  the  feathered  chief  and  the 
uniformed  commander. 

The  jurisprudence  of  the  State,  as  of  all  the  northwestern  territoiy  embraced 
in  the  Virginia  cession,  was  founded  on  the  common  law  of  England,  modified 
and  construed  by  the  several  charters  of  King  James  I  to  the  early  settlers  of 
Virginia,  and  by  the  ordinance  of  1787.  In  1793,  by  the  territorial  legisla- 
ture, a  statute  was  adopted  from  Virginia  declaring  "  that  the  common  law  of 
England  and  all  statutes  made  in  aid  of  the  common  law  prior  to  the  fourth 
year  of  James  I,  which  were  of  a  general  nature,  should  be  a  rule  of  decision 
until  repealed."'  By  the  second  section  of  the  act  of  February  22,  1805,  this 
act  was  repealed,  but  by  the  first  section  of  the  act  was  re-enacted  ;  it  was 
again  repealed  January  2,  1806.  So  it  may  safely  be  said  that  the  British 
statutes  never  had  any  effect  in  Ohio  save  as  adopted  by  the  Legislature,  [i 
Chase,  190,  512,  528].  The  English  common  law,  however,  so  far  as  reason- 
able in  itself,  suitable  to  the  condition  and  business  of  our  people,  and  consist- 
ent with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Federal  and  State  constitutions  and  stat- 
utes, ever  has  been  and  is  followed  by  our  courts  and  maybe  said  to  constitute 
a  part  of  the  common  law  of  Ohio.      [2  O.  S.  387. J 

After  the  organization  of  the  State  by  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of 
1802,  the  written  law  of  Ohio  may  be  said  to  have  commenced,  but  the  prac- 
tice was  far  from  uniform,  and  it  was  not  until  1845,  when  the  able  work  of 
Joseph  R.  Swan,  whose  name  needs  no  title  to  the  bar  of  Ohio,  Practice  and 
Precedents,  was  published,  that  uniformit)-  began  to  prevail  with  either  bench  or 
bar.  Previous  to  that  time,  paraphrasing  from  the  preface  of  that  able  work, 
most  of  the  members  of  the  bar  and  bench,  whose  opinions  moulded  our  judi- 
cial system,  had  pursued  their  legal  studies  in  other  States  of  the  Union,  and 
brought  with  them  a  high  respect  for  the  practice  and  decisions  of  the  courts 


Henry  County.  141 


where  they  were  educated.  Almost  all  the  States  of  the  Union  had  been  thus 
represented  at  our  bar  and  upon  our  bench,  and  had  produced  a  very  great 
diversity  of  law  in  different  parts  of  the  State.  In  truth,  a  local  common  law 
existed  to  some  extent  in  each  judicial  circuit.  In  one  the  English  common 
law  was  looked  to  as  the  only  pure  fountain  ;  in  another  the  common  law  of 
England  was  modified  by  the  laws  of  New  York;  in  another  the  common  law  of 
Massachusetts  ;  in  another  of  Connecticut ;  in  another  of  Penns3'lvania.  The 
statutes  of  the  State  indicated  the  same  heterogeneousness.  The  practice  act 
came  from  New  Jersey ;  the  attachment  law  from  Pennsylvania  ;  the  adminis- 
tration law  from  Massachusetts,  and  the  non-imprisonment  act  from  New  York. 
This  state  of  things  sometimes  gave  rise  to  divisions  of  opinions  in  the  court 
in  bank,  and  often  subjected  the  adjudications  to  severe  and  unjust  criticism. 

It  is  certainly  no  disparagement  to  the  many  able  jurists  who  aided  in  giv- 
ing to  Ohio  a  uniform  and  perfect  system  of  jurisprudence,  to  say  that  to  Judge 
Swan  is  the  bench  and  bar  of  Ohio  most  indebted  for  the  desirable  consumma- 
tion; and  his  work  at  once  became  the  law  of  practice  to  bench  and  bar  through- 
out the  State,  and  remained  so  until  the  enactment  of  the  code  of  civil  proced- 
ure in  1853,  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  1851. 

The  common  law  as  to  crimes,  and  the  mode  of  procedure  in  criminal  cases, 
"was  never  in  force  in  Ohio  —  all  this  was  the  matter  of  legislative  enactments, 
[i  O.  132,  2  O.  S.  387,  10  O.  S.  287.J 

The  history  of  the  various  revi-sions  and  codifications  of  the  statutory  law 
and  modes  of  procedure  within  Ohio  is  interesting,  and  is  so  concisely  and  ac- 
curately stated  in  the  preface  to  the  first  addition  of  the  revised  statutes  made 
by  the  codifying  commission,  appointed  under  the  act  of  March  27,  1875,  and 
published  in  1880,  that  we  copy  literally : 

"  The  first  revision  was  made  during  the  session  of  the  Legislature  held  at 
Chillicothe,  in  1804-5,  at  which  all  the  laws,  with  few  exceptions,  adopted  by 
tTie  governor  and  judges,  or  enacted  by  the  Legislature  under  the  territorial 
government  were  repealed.  That  revision  embraced  statutes  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  the  conveyance  of  property,  the  collection  of  the  revenue,  the 
organization  of  the  militia  and  the  punishment  of  crime,  and  other  statutes  pre- 
viously adopted  or  enacted  were  amended  and  re-enacted. 

"With  these  statutes  for  a  basis  other  legislatures  followed  the  example, 
and,  accordingly,  the  laws  were  revised  at  the  session  of  1809-18 10,  the  ses- 
sion of  1815-1816,  the  session  1823-1824  and  the  session  of  1830-1831,  each 
revision  being  an  improvement  on  that  which  preceded  it,  the  practice  and 
•other  remedial  statutes  gradually  becoming  more  liberal  and  the  penal  enact- 
ments more  humane. 

"In  183s  the  statute  relating  to  felonies  was  again  revised  and  further  pro- 
vision was  made  to  simplify  the  practice,  and  in.  1840,  an  act  relating  to  the 
settlement  of  the  estates  of  deceased   persons,  based  on  the  statute  of  Massa- 


142  History  of  Henry  and  Fulto,n  Counties. 

chusetts,  was  prepared  by  Joseph  R.  Swan  and  enacted  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly.    The  principal  part  of  it  has  remained  without  change  to  the  present  day.. 
At  the  same  session  the  statutes  in  relation  to  wills,  elections  and  other  sub- 
jects, were  revised. 

"Meanwhile  the  statutes  had  become  so  numerous  and  had  fallen  into  such 
confusion  that  a  systematic  republication  of  the  laws  in  force  had  become  a 
necessity.  Fortunately  the  work  was  undertaken  by  one  competent  for  the 
task,  and  it  is  only  just  to  say  that  with  the  material  before  him,  and  in  the  ab- 
sence of  all  power  to  change  it,  perhaps  no  other  man  would  have  been  able  to- 
produce  a  collection  of  our  statutes  so  admirable  in  all  that  pertains  to  the 
work  of  an  editor,  as  Swan's  Statutes  of  1841.  In  1854-5,  in  i860  and  in  1868, 
Judge  Swan  performed  the  same  task  of  collecting  and  arranging  the  statutes 
in  force,  the  notes  to  the  edition  of  i860  having  been  prepared  by  Leander  J. 
Critchfield,  and  the  notes  to  the  edition  of  1868  by  Milton  Sayler.  While  these 
editions  of  the  statutes  have  now  become  comparatively  useless,  they  are  none 
the  less  monuments  to  the  industry  and  ability  of  the  gentlemen  who  were  en- 
gaged in  their  preparation. 

"In  this  connection  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  notice  a  collection  of  the 
statutes  of  a  more  permanent  character.  In  1833— 1835  (subsequently  Chief 
Justice)  Chase  prepared  an  edition  of  the  statutes.  It  included  the  territorial 
laws,  whether  adopted  by  the  governor  and  judges,  or  enacted  by  the  territo- 
rial legislatures  and  the  statutes  down  to  and  including  those  of  1833.  This 
embraced  seven  volumes  of  territorial  laws  and  thirty  volumes  of  the  statutes  of 
the  State,  and  the  whole  was  republished  in  chronological  order  in  three  vol- 
umes. The  work  was  continued  on  substantially  the  same  plan  by  Maskell  E. 
Curwen,  who  republished  in  four  volumes,  the  general  laws  from  1834  to  i860, 
inclusive.  Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Curwen,  the  work  has  been  continued  by  J. 
R.  Sayler,  who  has  republished,  in  four  volumes,  the  general  laws  from  i86i  to 
1875,  inclusive. 

"It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  statutes  of  Chase,  Curwen  and  Sayler — all 
admirably  edited  —  are  a  republication  of  all  the  general  laws  adopted  or  en- 
acted under  the  territorial  and  State  governments  from  1788  to  1875,  inclu- 
sive, in  the  order  of  the  original  publication.  V/hile  only  a  very  small  num- 
ber of  the  statutes  which  these  volumes  contain  remains  in  force,  the  remarks- 
of  Judge  Chase  with  respect  to  them  in  his  first  volume  are  entirely  just. 
'Many  questions  of  right  and  remedy,'  said  he,  'depend  upon  the  provisions  of 
repealed  statutes.  In  reference  to  such  questions  the  examination  of  the  whole 
series  of  laws  affecting  them  is  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity.  In  addition  to- 
this,  a  knowledge  of  the  acts  repealed  is  often  essential  to  a  correct  understand- 
ing of  the  law  in  force.  No  lawyer,  nor  intelligent  legislator  ought  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  knowing  what  the.  law  is,  unless  he  also  knows  what  the  law  has- 
been." 


Henry  County.  143 


"  Recurring  to  the  subject  of  codification  it  is  evident  that  it  had  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  people  to  some  extent,  previous  to  the  adoption  of  the 
present  constitution.  Provision  was  made  in  that  instrument  for  a  commission  ; 
and  it  was  ordained  that  '  said  commissioners  shall  revise,  reform,  simplify  and 
abridge  the  practice,  pleadings,  forms,  and  proceedings  of  the  courts  of  record 
of  this  State  ;  and  as  far  as  practicable  and  expedient  shall  provide  for  the 
abolition  of  the  distinct  forms  of  actions  at  law  now  in  use,  and  for  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  by  a  uniform  mode  of  proceeding,  without  reference  to  any 
distinction  between  law  and  equity.' 

"  In  obedience  to  that  provision  an  act  was  passed  and  William  Kennon, 
William  S.  Groesbeck,  and  Daniel  O.  Morton  were  appointed  commissioners. 
They  confined  their  labors  to  the  subject  of  practice  in  civil  cases,  and  reported 
what  was  known  as  the  code  of  civil  procedure,  to  the  fiftieth  General  Assem- 
bly, and  that  body  on  March  11,  1853,  adopted  it.  .  .  Though 
somewhat  <;hanged  in  language-' and  arrangement,  the  principal  part  of  it  re- 
mains substantially  as  it  was  reported  by  those  commissioners. 

"  With  the  growth  of  the  State  in  population  and  wealth,  the  annual  vol- 
umes of  the  general  laws  increased  in  size  until  the  statutes  of  a  general  nature, 
in  force,  exceed  two  thousand  in  number.  The  subject  of  codification  then 
began  to  attract  attention  here  as  in  other  places.  In  1869  a  bill  prepared  by 
Senators  Charles  H.  Scribner,  Daniel  B.  Linn,  and  Homer  Everett,  codifying 
the  statutes  in  relation  to  municipal  corporations,  became  a  law,  as  did  also  a 
bill  embodying  a  code  of  criminal  procedure,  which  had  been  prepared  by  Sen- 
ator Frank  H.  Hurd.  The  subject  was  further  agitated  and  finally,  in  1874, 
Representative  George  W.  Boyce,  of  Hamilton  county,  introduced  a  bill  pro- 
viding for  such  codification.  Subsequently,  Senator  Lucian  C.  Jones,  of  Trum- 
bull, Trumbull  county,  introduced  a  bill  on  the  same  subject,  which,  on  March 
27,  1875,  became  a  law.  [72  v.  87].  The  following  are  its  leading  features: 
"  The  governor  was  required,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  to  appoint  three  competent  commissioners  to  revise  and  consolidate  the 
general  statutes  of  the  State,  and  he  was  authorized  to  fill  any  vacancy  in  the 
commission. 

"  In  performing  the  duty  the  commissioners  were  required  to  bring  together 
all  the  statutes  and  parts  of  statutes  relating  to  the  same  matter,  omitting  re- 
dundant and  obsolete  enactments,  and  such  as  had  no  influence  on  existing 
rights  or  remedies,  and  making  alterations  to  reconcile  contradictions,  supply 
omissions,  and  amend  imperfections  in  the  original  acts,  so  as  to  reduce  the 
geheral  statutes  into  as  concise  and  comprehensive  a  form  as  might  be  con- 
sistent with  clear  expression^of  the  will  of  the  General  Assembly,  rejecting  all 
equivocal  and  ambiguous  words  and  circuitous  and  tautological  phraseology. 

"  They  were  required  to  arrange  the  statutes  under  suitable  titles,  divisions, 
subdivisions,  chapters,  and  sections,  with  head  notes  briefly  expressive  of  the 


144  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

matter  contained  therein,  with  marginal  notes  of  the  contents  of  each  section, 
with  reference  to  the  original  act  from  which  it  was  compiled,  and  foot  notes  of 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  upon  the  same ;  and  they  were  required 
to  report  the  whole,  in  print,  to  the  general  assembly  for  its  adoption. 

"  On  the  day  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  Governor  Allen  appointed,  and  the 
Senate  unanimously  confirmed,  Michael  A.  Daugherty,  Luther  Day,  and  John 
W.  Okey  as  the  commissioners.  Commissions  were  issued  to  them  on  that 
day,  and  immediately  thereafter  they  entered  upon  their  duties.  Judge  Day 
continued  to  be  a  member  of  the  commission  until  February  i,  1876,  when  he 
resigned,  having  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  commission, 
and  John  S.  Brasee  was  appointed  by  Governor  Hayes  to  fill  the  vacancy, 
and  Judge  Okey  continued  to  be  a  member  of  the  commission  until  November 
9,  1877,  when  he  resigned,  having  been  elected  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  George  B.  Okey  was  appointed  by  Governor  Young  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
No  other  changes  were  made  in  the  commission." 

The  codified  or  revised  statutes  consist  of  four  parts.  The  first  part  (Polit- 
cal)  contains  the  enactments  which  are  organic,  being  the  frame-work  and  ma- 
chinery of  our  government ;  the  second  part  (Civil)  relates  to  person  and  prop- 
erty ;  the  third  part  (Remedial)  includes  everything  connected  with  civil  pro- 
cedure in  all  the  courts  ;  and  the  fourth  part  (Penal)  embraces  the  provisions 
relating  to  crimes,  criminal  procedure,  and  jails  and  the  penitentiary. 

Constitution  of  \%oz. — Under  the  Constitution  of  1802  the  judicial  power 
of  the  State,  both  as  to  matters  of  law  and  equity,  was  vested  in  a  Supreme 
Court,  in  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  each  county,  in  justices  of  the  peace, 
and  in  such  other  courts  as  the  Legislature  might  establish.  "  Such  other 
courts  "  were  never  established  in  this  section  of  the  State. 

The  Supreme  Court  consisted  of  three  judges — two  of  whom  formed  a 
quorum.  It  had  original  and  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  in  law  and  in  chan- 
cery, in  such  cases  as  the  Legislature  might  direct,  and  which  would  be  beyond 
the  province  of  this  chapter  to  enumerate.  The  Legislature  was  empowered 
to  add  another  judge  to  the  number  after  five  years,  and  in  that  event  the 
judges  were  authorized  to  divide  the  State  into  two  circuits  within  which  any 
two  could  hold  court. 

The  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  consisted  of  a  president  and  two  associate 
judges.  The  State  was  required  by  law  to  be  divided  into  three  circuits  with 
a  president  judge  for  each  circuit,  and  not  "  more  than  three  nor  less  than  two  " 
associate  judges  for  each  county.  Any  three  of  these  judges  constituted  a 
quorum  and  composed  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  had  common  law  and 
chancery  jurisdiction,  and  also  jurisdiction  of  all  probate  and  testamentary  mat- 
ters and  of  guardians  and  minors,  and  of  criminal  cases.  Clerks  were  appointed 
by  the  court  for  a  term  of  seven  years.  Power  was  conferred  on  the  Legisla- 
ture to  increase  the  number  of  circuits  and  of  the  president  judges  after  the 


Henry  County.  145 


expiration  of  five  years.  The  Supreme  Court  was  required  to  be  held  once  a 
year  in  each  county. 

All  judges  were  appointed  by  a  joint  ballot  of  both  houses  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  held  office  for  the  term  of  seven  years,  "  if  so  long  they  behaved 
well." 

Justices  of  the  peace  were  elected  in  each  township  and  held  office  for  three 
years.     Their  "  powers  and  duties"  were  "  regulated  and  defined  by  law." 

The  destruction  of  the  records  by  the  fire  of  1847,  renders  it  very  difficult 
to  give  a  detailed  or  concise  history  of  the  courts  held  in  the  county  or  the 
names  and  time  of  service  of  the  officers. 

Henry  county  was  formed  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  passed  1820  [3 
Chase,  2134].  By  act  of  February  2,  1824  [3  Chase,  2137],  the  county  was 
for  judicial  purposes  attached  to  Williams,  with  the  county  seat  at  Defiance, 
and  became  a  part  of  the  second  circuit,  [i  Curwen,  115. J  In  1834  the 
county  was  authorized  to  elect  county  officers,  but  it  was  not  until  1835  that  a 
perfect  organization  was  had,  and  in  that  year  the  first  court  was  held  in  Napo- 
leon, which  had  been  made  the  county  seat.  The  officers  of  that  first  court 
were:  David  Higgins,  president  judge;  David  J.  Cory,  Reuben  Waite,  and 
Pierce  Evans,  associate  judges;  J.  N.  Evans,  clerk;  E.  Husted,  sheriff,  and 
Frederick  Lord,  prosecuting  attorney. 

Judge  Higgins  was  succeeded  as  president  judge  in  1837  by  Ozias  Bowen, 
who  continued  to  hold  the  courts  of  the  county  until  the  Legislature  on  the 
l6th  of  February,  1839  [i  Curwen,  518],  created  the  thirteenth  judicial  cir- 
cuit, which  was  composed  of  Lucas,  Wood,  Henry,  Williams,  Paulding,  Put- 
nam, Van  Wert,  Allen,  Hardin,  and  HancOck — Defiance,  Auglaize,  and  Fulton 
had  not  then  yet  been  created.  Of  this  circuit  Emery  D.  Potter  was  elected 
first  president  judge  in  the  same  month  that  the  circuit  was  created,  and  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  courts  of  the  county  until  in  the  winter  of  1844,  when  he 
resigned  to  take  a  seat  in  Congress,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  in  October 
preceding. 

Judge  Potter  was  succeeded  by  Myron  H.  Tilden,  who  continued  in  office 
about  eighteen  months,  when  he  also  resigned. 

In  February,  1845  [2  Curwen,  1086],  the  sixteenth  circuit  was  formed  and 
the  thirteenth  reorganized  so  as  to  be  composed  of  the  counties  of  Henry, 
Wood,  Lucas,  Ottawa,  Sandusky,  Huron,  and  Erie.  Ebenezer  B.  Saddler,  of 
Sandusky  City,  was  elected  president  judge,  and  held  court  in  the  county  until 
February  22,  1847  [2  Curwen,  1374],  when  the  eighteenth  circuit  was  created, 
consisting  of  the  counties  of  Putnam,  Van  Wert,  Paulding,  Defiance,  Williams, 
and  Henry.  To  this  circuit  Fulton  county  was  attached  January  10,  1851  [2 
Curwen,  1593].  George  B.  Way,  of  Defiance,  was  elected  president  judge  at 
the  same  time  the  circuit  was  formed,  and  continued  to  hold  the  courts  of 
Common  Pleas  until  the  Constitution  of  1851  took  effect. 

19 


146  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  last  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  under  the  old  judicial  system, 
was  begun  and  held  in  Napoleon,  on  the  19th  day  of  November,  1851.  The 
president  judge  was  George  B.  Way,  the  associates,  Amos  Cole,  Samuel  B. 
Jones,  and  John  Knapp;  Hazel  Strong  was  clerk,  and  Daniel  Yarnel,  sheriff; 
the  prosecuting  attorney  was  Edward  Sheffield.  At  that  term,  which  lasted 
only  four  days,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  entered  on  the 
journal,  vol.  1,  p.  342  : 

"  Whereas,  By  the  organization  of  our  new  judicial  system  under  the 
new  Constitution,  our  worthy  and  esteemed  president  judge  of  this  judicial  cir- 
cuit, the  Hon.  George  B.  Way,  leaves  the  bench,  we  feel  it  not  only  a  high 
privilege  but  a  duty  to  express  our  opinion  and  appreciation  of  his  distinguished 
judicial  career;  therefore,  as  embodying  our  feelings,  we  adopt  the  following 
resolutions : 

"  Resolved,  That  we  look  with  regret  upon  the  retiracy  from  the  bench  of 
the  Hon.  George  B.  Way,  for,  while  occupying  that  high  position,  the  clear- 
ness of  his  judgments,  his  high  legal  abilities,  the  variety  of  his  attainments, 
the  amenity  of  his  manners,  has  shed  a  lustre  upon  his  high  station,  and  made 
the  practice  of  our  profession  before  him  not  only  a  pleasure  but  a  sort  of  im- 
provement ;  that  it  delights  us  to  approve  his  official  conduct  and  to  pay  spon- 
taneously this  tribute  to  his  judicial  worth. 

"  Resolved,  That,  if  in  our  practice  before  him,  we  may  have  said  or  done 
anything  that  has  pained  or  temporarily  wounded  his  sensibilities,  we  ask  that 
it  may  be  forgotten  and  forgiven. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  signed  by  the  members  of 
the  bar  present  and  presented  to  the  Hon.  George  B.  Way,  and  entered  upon 
the  minutes  of  the  court,  and  a  copy  furnished  to  each  of  the  Defiance  papers 
for  pubHcation." 

This  paper  was  signed  by  H.  F.  Wait,  William  Sheffield,  William  H.  Hall, 
H.  S.  Comminger,  J.  C.  Spink,  James  O.  Caldwell,  James  G.  Haly,  E.  Shef- 
field, and  William  H.  Moe. 

Of  these  early  president  judges  there  are  still  living  Emory  D.  Potter,  of  the 
city  of  Toledo,  and  Ebenezer  B.  Saddler,  of  Sandusky  City.  Myron  H.  Til- 
den,  after  his  resignation,  became  president  of  the  Cincinnati  law  school.  Ozias 
Bowen  was  afterwards  elected  one  of  the  supreme  judges  of  the  State,  retiring 
in  February,  1858. 

The  Early  Bar. — It  was  a  good  many  years  before  the  bar  had  a  "  local 
habitation"  in  Henry  county.  At  the  time  of  its  organization  Frederick  Lord, 
who  has  already  been  mentioned  as  prosecuting  attorney,  and  William  B. 
Berry,  who  succeeded  Lord  as  prosecutor,  were  the  only  attorneys  living  in 
the  county.  In  1840  James  G.  Haly  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  became  the 
third  prosecuting  attorney.  He  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  James  McKenzie, 
who,  after  serving  one  year,  resigned  and  took  editorial  charge  of  the  Venture^ 


Henry  County.  147 


a  Democratic  paper  started  at  Kalida,  then  the  county  seat  of  Putnam  county. 
Mr.  McKenzie  afterwards  became  one  of  the  judges  of  the  third  judicial  district 
under  the  new  constitution.  Mr.  Haly  was  appointed  and  filled  the  unexpired 
term.  Mr.  Haly  was  succeeded  by  Edward  Sheffield,  and  he  in  turn  by  Justin 
H.  Tyler.  Edward  Sheffield,  with  his  brother,  William,  settled  in  Napoleon 
about  the  year  1841,  both  being  members  of  the  bar.  Ebenezer  Lathrop,  dur- 
ing the  years  1841  and  1842,  was  a  practicing  attorney  resident  in  the  county. 
These  persons  constituted  the  resident  attorneys  under  the  old  constitution. 
Much,  however,  of  the  little  legal  business  then  in  the  county  was  conducted 
by  the 

Circuit  Riders. — There  was  a  class  of  lawyers,  eminent  at  least  locally,  who 
rode  from  county  to  county,  mostly  on  horse-back,  through  the  entire  circuit 
along  with  the  president  judge.  Among  the  most  prominent  of  these  practi- 
tioners may  be  mentioned  all  of  those  who  had  been  president  judges.  An- 
drew (better  known  as  Count),  Coffinberry,  John  C.  Spink. 

The  Constitution  of  185  i — The  judicial  system  of  the  State  of  Ohio  was 
considerably  changed  by  the  constitution  of  185 1,  and  is  defined  by  the  IV. 
Art.  of  that  instrument. 

The  courts  were  then  made  to  consist  of  a  Supreme  Court,  District  Courts, 
Courts  of  Common  Pleas,  Courts  of  Probate,  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  such 
■other  courts,  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court,  in  one  or  more  counties,  as  the 
General  Assembly  might  from  time  to  time  establish. 

The  Supreme  Court  is  composed  of  five  judges,  a  majority  of  whom  consti- 
tute a  quorum,  and  has  an  original  jurisdiction  in  q7W  warranto,  mandamus, 
habeas  corpus  and  procedendo,  with  such  appellate  jurisdiction  as  may  be  pro- 
vided by  law. 

The  District  Courts  were  composed  of  the  judges  of  the  Courts  of  Common 
Pleas  of  the  respective  districts  and  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
-any  three  of  whom  constituted  a  quorum,  and  it  was  seldom,  after  the  lapse  of 
a  few  years  that  a  supreme  judge  was  present,  as  it  was  held  [19  O.  S.,  587] 
that  the  presence  of  a  supreme  judge  was  not  necessary  to  give  validity  to 
the  court.  This  court  was  required  to  be  held  at  least  once  a  year  in  each 
county,  and  had  like  original  jurisdiction  with  the  Supreme  Court  and  such  ap- 
pellate jurisdiction  as  was  conferred  by  law. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas,  and  of  the  judges  thereof, 
is  also  to  be  fixed  by  law. 

A  Probate  Court,  which  is  made  a  Court  of  Record,  is  established  in  each 
county,  and  given  "jurisdiction  in  probate  and  testamentary  matters,  the  ap- 
pointment of  administrators  and  guardians,  the  settlement  of  the  accounts  of 
executors,  administrators  and  guardians,  and  such  jurisdiction  in  habeas  corpus, 
the  issuing  of  marriage  Hcenses,  and  for  the  sale  of  land  by  executors,  admin- 
istrators and  guardians,  and  such  other  jurisdiction,  in  any  county  or  counties" 
as  may  be  provided  by  law. 


148  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

All  judges  are  elected  by  the  electors,  the  supreme  judge  in  the  State  at 
large  ;  common  pleas  judges  in  the  several  sub-divisions  of  the  districts,  and 
probate  judges  in  the  county.  The  term  of  offices  of  the  probate  judges  is 
three  years,  of  all  other  judges  five  years.  The  first  election  was  in  October, 
185  I,  and  the  term  of  ofiice  commenced  on  the  first  Monday  of  February,  1852. 

Justices  of  the  peace  were,  as  under  the  old  constitution,  elected  in  the 
several  townships. 

The  State  was  divided  into  nine  common  pleas  districts,  with  power  in  the 
Legislature  to  sub-divide  the  district.  Henry  county  was  placed  in  the  third 
district,  and  by  act  of  the  Legislature,  February  18,  1852,  in  the  second  sub- 
division thereof      [3  Curwen,  1710]. 

John  M.  Palmer  was  the  first  judge  of  this  sub-division,  being  elected  in 
October,  1851,  and  assuming  office  in  the  following  February.  His  first  term 
of  court  in  Henry  county  was  commenced  on  the  24th  day  of  May,  1852. 

In  October,  1856,  Alexander  Sankey  Latty,  then  of  Paulding  county,  was 
elected  judge  of  the  sub- division.  He  was  four  times  elected  and  served  for 
twenty  years,  retiring  in  February,  1877.  During  most  of  his  first  term  his 
sub-division  consisted  of  the  eight  counties  already  mentioned,  and  necessitated 
twenty-four  terms  of  the  Common  Pleas,  with  the  district  courts  in  addition. 
May  I,  1862  [i  Sayler,  328],  the  rapidly  increasing  business  induced  the  Leg- 
islature to  so  remodel  the  districts  and  sub-divisions  as  to  make  the  third  sub- 
division of  the  third  district  consist  of  the  counties  of  Paulding,  Defiance,  Will- 
iams, Fulton,  Henry  and  Wood.  It  so  remained  until  February  21,  1868  [2 
Sayler,  1453],  when  Wood  was  transferred  to  the  fourth  sub-division. 

In  1876,,  Selwyn  N.  Owen,  of  Williams  county,  was  elected  judge,  and  held 
the  courts  of  Henry  county  until  June  7,  1879  [R.  S.,  Sec.  8020],  when  this 
district  was  so  changed  as  to  make  Paulding,  Defiance  and  Williams  constitute 
the  second  sub-division,  to  which  Judge  Owen  was  then  assigned  ;  Fulton, 
Henry  and  Putnam  composed  the  third  sub-division.  John  J.  Moore,  of  Put- 
nam county,  who  had  been  elected  in  the  second  sub-division,  of  which  Put- 
nam was  then  a  part,  became  the  judge  for  Henry  county.  Judge  Moore  was 
re-elected  in  1883,  but  resigned  in  February,  1885,  to  take  his  place  on  the 
circuit  bench,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  the  fall  before. 

After  the  resignation  of  Judge  Moore,  William  H.  Handy,  of  Fulton  county, 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Hoadly.  He  was  elected  the  fall  following,  and  is 
now  the  judge  of  the  sub- division,  which  still  consists  of  the  three  last  named 
counties. 

Circuit  Court. — On  the  30th  of  March,  1883  [O.  L.  vol.  80,  383],  the  Leg- 
islature submitted  to  the  electors  of  the  State  an  amendment  to  the  constitu- 
tion. This  amendment  was  ratified  at  the  October  election  of  that  year  and 
became,  and  now  is,  a  part  of  our  fundamental  law.  By  this  amendment  the 
judical  system  was  so  changed  as  to  abolish  the  District  Court  and  substitute 


Henry  County.  149 


the  Circuit  Court.  The  material  change  consists  in  the  latter  court  being  com- 
posed of  three  independent  judges  elected  in  the  circuit,  instead  of  the  interme- 
diate court  between  the  Common  Pleas  and  the  Supreme  being  held  by  the 
judges  who  held  the  Common  Pleas.  The  State  was  divided  into  seven  circuits 
and  Henry  county  placed  in  the  third,  of  which  Thomas  Beer,  of  Crawford 
county,  John  J.  Moore,  of  Putnam  county,  and  Henrj'  W.  Seney,  of  Hardin 
county,  are  the  judges. 

The  Probate  Court. — Harvey  Allen  was  the  first  probate  judge  for  the 
county.  He  was  elected  in  185  i  and  took  charge  of  the  office  in  February, 
1852.  He  served  two  terms  and  died  shortly  after  his  term  of  office  expired. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  S.  C.  Morrison,  elected  in  1857,  re-elected  in 
i860,  again  in  1863.  Mr.  Morrison  was  editor  of  the  Northwest,  had  been 
admitted  to  the  bar  but  never  practiced  law.  He  died  in  March,  1864,  when 
William  M.  Beckman  was  by  the  governor  appointed  to  the  vacancy.  In  the 
following  faU  John  M.  Haagwas  elected,  and  re-elected  in  1866.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  James  G.  Haly  in  1 869.  Mr.  Haly  served  for  four  terms,  and  was 
in  1 88 1  followed  by  David  Meekison,  who  is  at  present  on  his  second  term,, 
which  will  expire  in  February,  1888. 

Prosecuting  Attorneys. — We  have  already  given  the  names  of  the  prose- 
cuting attorneys  under  the  old  constitution  and  will,  in  like  manner  in  succes- 
sion, give  those  who  have  served  since  : 

Edward  Sheffield,  William  A.  Choate,  James  A.  Parker,  James  L.  Robert- 
son, David  Meekison,  Martin  Knupp,  Richard  W.  Cahill. 

Attorneys. — Among  the  attorneys  who  have  been  members  of  the  Henry 
county  bar  since  1851,  and  not  now  in  practice,  here  may  be  mentioned  William 
H.  Moe,  John  M.  McFadden,  Benjamin  E.  Sheldon,  Joseph  R.  Swigart,  John- 
son N.  High,  Wm.  H.  Hubbard,  F.  M.  RummeU,  A.  L.  Lessick,  and  C.  E. 
Selfridge,  removed  ;  Sanford  R.  McBane,  Hiram  H.  Poe,  James  L.  Robertson, 
James  A.  Parker,  William  and  Edward  Sheffield,  A.  R.  Scheble,  and  Romaine 
Tyler,  deceased  ;  Andrew  Crawford,  who  was  a  captain  in  the  14th  O.  V.  I., 
three  months  service,  was  shot  by  mistake  by  one  of  his  own  men  in  West  Vir- 
ginia ;  William  A.  Choate,  the  colonel  of  the  38th  O.  V.  I.,  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Jonesboro.  James  G.  Haly  and  Asa  H.  Tyler,  who  still  reside  here, 
have  retired  from  practice. 

The  Present  Bar. 

There  has  been  no  time  during  the  existence  of  the  Bar  in  Henry  county 
that  the  same  can  be  said  to  have  been  strong  in  point  of  members,  but  in 
point  of  intellectual  strength  and  ability  and  legal  attainments  on  the  part  of 
its  practitioners  there  never  has  been  a  bar  in  the  county  equal  to  the  present, 
and  it  is  these  practitioners  that  this  branch  of  the  present  chapter  is  intended 
to  be  devoted. 


I50  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

James  G.  Haly — Although  now  practically  retired  from  the  active  work  of 
his  profession,  Judge  Haly  still  remains  a  member  of  the  present  bar,  and  is,  in 
fact,  its  senior  member.  Mr.  Haly  was  born  in  Holmes  county,  Ohio,  on  the  6th 
of  December,  1816.  He  was  born  of  parents  in  quite  modest  circumstances, 
his  father  being  a  farmer  in  that  county.  James  received  a  common  school 
education,  but  on  account  of  the  need  of  his  service  on  the  farm  his  education 
was  quite  limited.  When  about  twenty  years  of  age  he  came  to  Napoleon, 
following  to  that  place  Alexander  Craig,  to  whom  he  was  well  known  and  with 
whom  he  afterward,  for  a  time,  lived.  While  in  Napoleon  he  attended  school 
and  received  a  fair  elementary  education,  after  which  he  read  law  under  the 
instruction  of  Curtis  Bates,  esq.,  of  Defiance.  After  a  course  of  study  Mr. 
Haly  was  admitted  to  practice  in  July,  1840,  and  soon  afterward  came  perma- 
nently to  Napoleon  and  engaged  in  practice.  At  the  second  regular  county 
election  he  was  chosen  to  fill  the  office  of  prosecuting  attorney,  and  served  four 
years  by  election  and  one  year  by  appointment.  He  then  resumed  the  prac- 
tice, but  was  soon  elected  to  the  position  of  justice  of  the  peace,  serving  in  that 
capacity  six  years.  In  1845  he  was  elected  county  auditor  and  held  that  office 
four  years. 

Still  later  Mr.  Haly  was  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  the  State  Legisla- 
ture, representing  the  counties  of  Henry  and  Putnam  at  the  session  of  that  body 
commencing  in  January,  1852.  This  was  the  first  session  under  the  new  con- 
stitution. During  the  years  1853— 4-5  he  held  the  position  of  collector  of  tolls 
at  the  junction  of  the  Wabash  and  Miami  Canals,  in  Paulding  county,  and  dur- 
ing his  incumbency  of  this  trust  Mr.  Haly  received,  by  way  of  collections,  and 
paid  over  to  the  State  treasurer,  the  gross  sum  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars. 

After  his  duties  at  the  junction  had  ceased  Mr.  Haly  returned  to  Napoleon 
and  his  profession,  and  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Edward  Sheffield,  which 
relation  was  maintained  until  the  fall  of  1861  when  our  subject  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany D,  Sixty-eighth  O.  V.  Inf ,  which  company  he  was  chiefly  instrumental 
in  raising  and  to  the  command  of  which  he  was  entitled,  but,  giving  the  com- 
mand to  others,  he  accepted  the  office  of  regimental  quartermaster  and  at  once 
proceeded  to  Columbus,  where  he  obtained  the  complete  equipments  of  the 
regiment  for  field  duty.  Mr.  Haly's  service  with  the  regiment  continued  for 
something  over  a  year,  when  failing  health^compelled  his  resignation  and  re- 
turn home.  He  then  resumed  the  practice  of  law  alone  for  a  time,  but  later, 
in  partnership  with  John  M.  Haag  and  William  Sheffield,  under  the  name  and 
style  of  Sheffield,  Haly  and  Haag.  Mr.  Haly  continued  in  the  successful  prac- 
tice of  the  law  until  the  year  1869,  at  which  time  he  was  elected  to  the  office 
of  probate  judge  of  the  county.  In  this  capacity  he  served  for  a  term  of  twelve 
years,  and  in  1881  was  succeeded  by  David  Meekison,  the  present  incumbent. 
From  that  time  Judge  Haly  has  been  retired  from  the  active  arduous  duties  of 
tlie  profession  and  devotes  his  attention  to  his  farming  interests. 


Henry  County. 


iSi 


Justin  H.  Tyler.     Inasmuch  as  the  Hfe,  social,   political  and  professional, 
of  Mr.  Tyler  is  made  the  subject  of  a  more  extended  sketch  elsewhere  in  the 
work,  it  will  be  necessary  to  produce   here  only  the  briefest  outline  of  his  ca- 
reer in  connection  with  his  profession.     Mr.  Tyler  was  born  in  Franklin  county. 
Mass,    November    15,    1815,   but    during   his   infancy   his    father    moved    to 
Oswego  county,  N.  Y.     At  this  place  Justin    received   an   education  at  the 
common   schools,   and  also  the    academy,   after  which    he   taught  school    in 
Oswego  county.     In  the  year    1839  Mr.  Tyler  came  to   Circleville,  O.,  where 
he  engaged  in  teaching,  and  during  the  same  time  read  law  under  the  direc- 
tion of  D.  Lord  Smith,  esq.,  a   practicing  attorney   of  that  place.     After   a 
course  of  study  of  about  two  years  Mr.  Tyler  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Mt. 
Vernon,  O.,  in  the  year   1841.     Three  years   later  he   went  to  Huron  county 
where  he  established  himseif  in    the  general   practice  of  the  law.     About  this 
time  he  visited  Napoleon  with  a  view  to  permanent  location,  but  did  not  come 
here   until    1852.     In  the  year    1854,  after  a   residence   in  this  county  of  but 
two  years,  Mr.  Tyler  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county  and  was 
re-elected  at  the  expiration  of  the  first  term.     From  that  time  to  the  present 
Justin  H.  Tyler  has  occupied  a  position  of  prominence  and  importance  in  the 
affairs  of  Henry  county.     In  1881  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature, 
representing  his  county  in  the  sixty-fifth  General  Assembly  of  the  State.     Al- 
though now  retired  from  active  practice,  and  devoting  his  attention  to  private 
interests,  Mr.  Tyler  is  still  frequently  in  attendance  at  court  when  cases  of  im- 
portance arise.     His  legal  business,  in  the  main,  has  been  given  into  the  hands 
of  his  son,  Julian  H.  Tyler,  and  his  partner,  Michael  Donnelly,  both  of  whom 
are  young  and  active  practitioners  at  Napoleon. 

Sinclair  M.  Hague.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Leesville,. 
0.,  July  6,  1834.  During  youth  he  acquired  only  a  common  school  educa 
tion,  but  became  sufficiently  proficient  to  enable  him  to  teach  school,  which  he 
commenced  in  1851.  In  the  year  1855  he  went  to  New  Philadelphia,  this 
State,  and  entered  the  law  office  of  Hon.  G.  W.  Mcllvaine  as  a  student  at  law, 
and  two  years  later,  September  24,  1854,  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  During 
his  two  years  of  study  Mr.  Hague  supported  himself  by  performing  clerical 
work  in  the  public  offices  of  the  county.  In  April,  1858,  he  opened  an  office 
in  New  Philadelphia  for  the  practice  of  the  law  and  here  he  remained  until  the 
month  of  December,  1859,  when  he  came  to  Henry  county,  where  he  has  since 
resided  and  engaged  in  a  successful  practice,  except  during  the  first  four  months 
of  his  residence  in  the  county,  which  time  was  employed  in  teaching  school  at 
Florida.  Mr.  Hague  has  always  enjoyed  a  fair  share  of  the  professional  busi- 
ness in  the  county  ;  a  man  of  quiet,  unassuming  manners,  popular  in  the  com- 
munity and  having  no  desire  for  political  preferment.  He  has  outlived  a  ma- 
jority of  those  who  constituted  the  Henry  county  bar  in  i860,  which  then  con- 
sisted of  Justin  H.  Tyler,  James  G.  Haly,  Edward  Sheffield,  Sanford  R.  Mc- 


152  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Bane,  William  A.  Choate,  Thomas  S.  C.  Morrison  and  H.  H.  Poe,  all  of  whom, 
except  Mr.  Tyler  and  Judge  Haly,  have  been  dead  for  many  years. 

John  M.  Haag.  The  life  of  John  Marion  Haag  is  elsewhere  made  the  sub- 
ject of  a  special  sketch,  but  any  reference  to  the  bar  of  the  county  and  its  mag- 
istrates and  practitioners,  without  some  allusion  to  Judge  Haag  would  be  in- 
deed incomplete.  Judge  Haag  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born  at  Mifflins- 
burg,  Union  county,  on  the  i6th  day  of  August,  1836,  but  during  his  early 
•childhood  the  family  moved  to  York  county,  and  soon  thereafter  to  Lancaster 
county,  Penn.  In  the  last  named  county  Mr.  Haag  continued  to  reside  until 
arriving  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  when  he  left  home,  crossed  the  moun- 
tains and  entered  the  office  of  the  Free  Press  at  Millersburg,  O.,  where  he 
learned  the  printer's  trade,  but  subsequently  took  a  position  on  the  editorial 
staff  of  that  paper.  After  about  a  year  he  went  to  New  Philadelphia,  Tuscar- 
awas county,  whither  his  parents  had  removed,  and  here  his  time. was  passed 
in  the  office  of  the  Ohio  Democrat  and  in  part  in  reading  law  in  the  office  of 
Belden  &  Haag.  Other  than  this  he  received  legal  instruction  from  Judge 
Mcllvaine,  late  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State. 

In  1859,  Mr.  Haag  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  commenced  practice  at 
Canal  Dover,  Tuscarawas  County.  Three  years  later,  1862,  he  came  to  Na- 
poleon and  formed  a  law  partnership  with  S.  R.  McBane,  under  the  name  of 
McBane  &  Haag.  This  partnership  continued  until  1863,  when  the  senior 
partner  died,  after  which  he  became  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Sheffield, 
Haly  &  Haag,  but  which  firm  was  soon  thereafter  dissolved  by  Mr.  Sheffield's 
accepting  a  government  appointment.  Mr.  Haag  then  purchased  and  edited 
the  Northwest,  a  leading  Democratic  newspaper  of  this  section  of  the  State. 
In  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  1864,  Mr.  Haag  was  elected  probate  judge  of 
Henry  County,  after  which  he  retired  from  active  law  practice  and  gave  his 
attention  to  his  judicial  duties,  still  retaining,  however,  his  editorial  connection 
with  the  Northwest.  In  1866  he  was  re-elected  for  another  term  of  office  as 
probate  judge.  At  the  expiration  of  his  second  term  he  sold  his  interest  ill 
the  paper  and  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law  in  partnership  with  I.  L.  Rob- 
ertson. 

In  the  fall  of  1871  Judge  Haag  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature,  and 
at  the  expiration  of  his  first  term,  was  re-elected  for  a  second  term.  Dur- 
ing his  second  term  in  the  Legislature,  Judge  Haag  was  made  chairman 
of  the  judiciary  committee.  Returning  from  the  Legislature,  he  has  since  de- 
voted himself  to  professional  work,  engaging  no  further  in  political  life  than 
naturally  became  a  man  of  his  prominence  and  experience.  In  1880  he 
formed  a  law  partnership  with  James  P.  Ragan,  a  young  and  rising  lawyer  of 
the  county.  This  relation  has  since  continued  and  the  firm  is  now  looked  up- 
on as  one  of  the  leading  law  firms  of  Henry  county. 

David  Meekison.     The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Dundee,  Scotland, 


Henry  County.  153 


on  the  14th  day  of  November,  1849.  When  David  was  but  five  years  old  his 
parents  came  to  this  country  and  located  in  the  Genessee  Valley,  in  New  York 
State.  Here  the  family  resided  until  1853,  when  the  father,  attracted  by  the 
offer  of  cheap  lands  in  the  Maumee  Valley,  came  to  this  place,  and  two  years 
later,  brought  his  family  here.  Young  Meekison  attended  the  common  school 
at  Napoleon  for  a  time,  and  in  1865  entered  the  office  of  the  Northwest,  a  news- 
paper published  by  Judge  Haag,  where  he  remained  about  one  year,  learning 
the  printer's  trade.  He  was  then  away  from  Napoleon  for  four  years,  three  years . 
of  which  he  served  in  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States,  two  years  at  De- 
troit and  one  year  in  the  South,  after  which  he  returned  home.  In  1871  he 
entered  the  office  of  Justin  H.  Tyler,  esq.,  for  a  course  of  law  study,  and  after 
two  years  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  then  engaged  in  practice  as  a  partner 
with  Mr.  Tyler,  which  relation  was  continued  about  a  year,  when  Mr.  Meeki- 
son received  an  appointment  from  Judge  Latty,  as  prosecuting  attorney  of  the 
county,  in  order  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  that  office.  At  the  next  election  Mr. 
Meekison  was  elected  to  the  same  position,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  first 
term  was  re-elected  for  a  second,  serving  in  all,  in  that  capacity,  five  years. 
After  the  expiration  of  his  second  term  as  public  prosecutor  of  the  county,  Mr. 
Meekison  resumed  practice,  and  so  continued  until  the  year  1881,  when  he 
was  elected  to  the  office  of  probate  judge  of  Henry  county,  and,  at  the  expi- 
ration of  his  first  term,  was  re-elected  for  another.  Judge  Meekison  is  known 
as  a  careful,  shrewd  lawyer,  having  a  good  understanding  of  the  law,  and 
strong  before  the  court  and  jury.  In  1886  Judge  Meekison  established  a 
banking  house  in  Napoleon,  in  which  he  is  doing  a  safe  and  successful  business. 
His  time  is  now  divided  between  the  duties  of  his  office  as  probate  judge,  and 
his  banking  business,  the  regular  law  practice  having  been  allowed  to  decline. 

Martin  Knufp  was  born  at  Tiffin,  Seneca  county,  Ohio,  August  4,  1841. 
He  received  a  common  school  education,  and  afterward  attended  Heidelburg 
College  at  Tiffin  for  about  two  years,  but  did  not  graduate  from  that  institution. 
He  read  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  James  Pillars,  of  Tiffin,  and,  after  two  years, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Bryan,  in  September,  1863.  From  that  time  until 
1867  he  practiced  at  Tiffin,  and  then  went  to  Ottawa,  Putnam  county,  where 
he  remained  in  practice  until  1876,  when  he  came  to  Deshler,  this  county,  but 
two  years  later,  1878,  he  came  to  the  county  seat,  having  been  elected  to  the 
office  of  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county.  This  office  Mr.  Knupp  held  two 
terms,  commencing  in  January,  1879,  ^^'^  continuing  four  years.  In  August, 
1884,  the  law  partnership  of  Stephenson  &  Knupp  was  formed. 

Walter  Stephenson,  the  senior  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Stephenson  & 
Knupp,  was  born  near  Greenville,  Darke  county,  O.,  on  the  19th  day  of  No- 
vember, 1843.  Up  to  the  age  of  about  eighteen  years  he  lived  on  a  farm, 
receiving  in  the  mean  time  a  common  school  education.  Then  for  three  years 
lie  attended  Wittenburg  College,  but  did  not  graduate  therefrom.  In  the 
20 


154  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

summer  of  1864  Mr.  Stephenson  enlisted  in  Company  D,  One  Hundred  and 
Fifty-second  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  for  the  four  months  service,  holding  a 
commission  as  second  lieutenant.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  enlistment 
Mr.  Stephenson  returned  to  Ohio  and  engaged  in  teaching  school,  and  reading 
law  at  Greenville  with  Judge  McKenry,  and  was  so  employed  until  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1868,  when  he  entered  the  University  of  Michigan,  at  Ann 
Arbor,  and  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  March,  1870.  In  May  following 
he  came  to  Napoleon  and  opened  an  office  for  the  general  practice  of  the  law. 
During  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with  S.  M.  Hague, 
esq.,  which  firm  relation  continued  until  1874,  and  then  ceased.  For  ten 
years  following  Mr.  Stephenson  practiced  without  a  partner,  but,  in  1884,  the 
present  firm  of  Stephenson  &  Knupp  was  formed,  which  firm  has  ever  since 
ranked  among  the  leaders  at  the  Henry  county  bar. 

Richard  Wallace  Cakill,  the  present  prosecuting  attorney  of  Henry  county, 
was  born  at  De  Kalb,  Crawford  county,  this  State,  on  the  22d  day  of  Aprils 
1853.  He  was  educated  at  Wittenburg  College,  and  graduated  therefrom  after 
a  regular  four  years  course  of  study,  on  the  28th  day  of  June,  1878.  Prior  to 
his  collegiate  course  Mr.  Cahill  had  taken  a  preparatory  course  of  study  at  the 
University  at  Wooster.  After  graduating  from  college  he  read  law  one  year  in 
the  office  of  Griffin  &  Williamson,  at  Norwalk,  and  came  to  Napoleon  in  No- 
vember, 1879.  After  another  year  of  study  at  the  latter  place,  in  the  office 
of  S.  M.  Hague,  esq.,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  October  8,  1880.  In  1881 
the  law  partnership  of  Haly  &  Cahill  was  formed,  and  so  continued  until  Jan- 
uary I,  1883,  at  which  time  Mr.  Cahill  retired  to  assume  the  duties  of  the  office 
of  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county,  a  position  he  has  since  held. 

James  Patrick  Ragan,  the  junior  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Haag  &  Ra- 
gan,  was  born  at  Gilead  (now  Grand  Rapids),  Wood  county,  O.,  on  the  17th 
of  March,  1852.  When  James  was  but  three  years  old  his  father's  family 
moved  to  Damascus  township,  in  this  county.  Young  Ragan  attended  the 
school  at  Grand  Rapids,  taking  an  academic  course,  and  was  graduated  in  the 
year  1871.  Prior  to  this  time  of  graduating  he  began  teaching  school,  and 
taught  in  all  twenty-one  terms.  For  one  year  he  was  principal  of  the  White- 
house  school,  and  for  the  same  length  of  time  filled  the  same  position  in  the 
school  at  Milton  Center.  In  May,  1875,  Mr.  Ragan  commenced  a  course 
of  law  study  in  the  office  of  Justin  H.  Tyler,^esq.,  of  Napoleon,  and  was  admit- 
ted to  practice  in  March,  1879.  The  law  partnership  of  Haag  &  Ragan  was 
formed  in  March,  1880,  and  has  since  continued. 

James  Donovan,  the  clerk  of  the  courts  of  Henry  county,  was  born  in  the 
township  of  Washington,  this  county,  on  the  8th  day  of  July,  1855.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  commenced  teaching  school  in  Washington  township,  and 
afterward  continued  his  pedagogical  course  at  the  Texas  and  Colton  schools. 
He  was  educated  at  Lebanon,  O.,  where  he  pursued  an  academic  course  of 


Henry  County.  155 


study  for  four  years.  In  1877  Mr.  Donovan  commenced  a  course  of  law  study 
in  the  office  of  J.  H.  Tyler,  esq.,  and  in  October,  1880,  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice. For  the  year  next  following  he  practiced  in  Laclede  county,  Mo.,  but 
returned  to  this  county  in  1881.  In  1882  he  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace, 
serving  in  that  capacity  two  and  one-half  years.  In  February,  1885,  his  term 
of  office  as  clerk  of  the  courts  commenced,  he  having  been  elected  to  that 
position  during  the  fall  of  1884. 

John  V.  Cuff.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Fulton  county,  O., 
August  25,  185  I.  He  received  an  education  at  the  district  and  high  schools, 
after  which,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  he  entered  the  profession  of  teacher, 
and  taught  his  first  term  in  Hillsdale  county,  Mich.  He  was  a  successful 
teacher  for  sixteen  years,  after  which  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  During  the 
last  few  years  he  has  figured  prominently  in  politics  ;  was  defeated  as  a  candi- 
date for  county  auditor  of  Fulton  county  in  1880,  and  during  the  same  year 
removed  with  his  family  to  Henry  county,  locating  at  Liberty  Center,  where 
he  has  since  resided.  In  1883  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  Ohio,  and  re-elected  in  1885. 

Michael  Donnelly  was  born  in  Washington  township,  this  county,  on  the 
18th  day  of  August,  1856.  He  was  educated  at  the  common  schools  of  the 
county,  after  which  he  took  a  scientific  course  of  study  at  the  Normal  School  at 
Lebanon,  O.,  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  in  1878.  In  the  month 
of  August,  following,  he  commenced  a  course  of  law  study,  under  the  instruc- 
tion and  direction  of  Justin  H.  Tyler,  esq.,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
month  of  December,  1880.  He  remained  in  Mr.  Tyler's  office  until  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  when,  in  April,  a  partnership  was  formed  with  his  late  instructor, 
which  continued  up  to  November,  1886,  at  which  time  Mr.  Tyler  retired,  yield- 
ing his  practice  to  his  son,  then  recently  admitted.  The  firm  thereupon  became 
Donnelly  &  Tyler,  and  has  so  since  continued. 

William  W.  Campbell  was  born  in  Windsor  county,  Vt,  April  2,  1853. 
He  received  a  good  common  school  education  in  his  native  county,  and  after- 
wards entered  Goddard  Seminary,  a  preparatory  school,  at  Barre,  Vt.  From 
here  he  entered  Tufift's  College,  at  Bedford,  Mass.,  in  1874,  but  left  during  his 
senior  year.  He  then  read  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Massachusetts, 
in  1879.  In  the  year  1881  Mr.  Canipbell  came  to  Napoleon  and  commenced 
practice,  and,  two  years  later,  1883,  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Hiram  Van 
Campen,  which  firm  still  exists.  In  connection  with  their  general  law  practice, 
this  firm  have  established  an  abstract  office. 

Hiram  Van  Campen,  the  junior  partner  of  the  law  firm  of  Campbell  & 
Van  Campen,  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  born  at  New  Bedford,  on  the  1 0th 
day  of  February,  1859.  Having  received  a  common  school  education,  and 
taking  a  preparatory  course,  he  entered  Tufft's  College,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in   1880.     He  then  came  to  Findlay,  O.,  where  he  remained  two 


iS6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

years,  teaching  and  reading  law  with  Colonel  Bope  and  Henry  Brown,  after 
which  he  went  to  Toledo  and  read  about  one  year  with  Haines  &  Potter.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  October,  1882,  but  continued  some  months  after- 
ward in  the  office  of  his  instructors.  Mr.  Van  Campen  came  to  Napoleon  in 
July,  1883,  and  formed  a  law  partnership  with  William  W.  Campbell,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Campbell  &  Van  Campen. 

Julian  H.  Tyler,  the  junior  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Donnelly  &  Tyler, 
and  the  youngest  member  of  the  legal  fraternity  of  Henry  county,  was  born  at 
Napoleon,  January  2,  1862.  He  was  educated  at  the  Union  school,  of  this 
place,  after  which  he  entered  the  University  of  Michigan,  at  Ann  Arbor,  for  a 
regular  classical  course,  and  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  in  1874. 
He  read  law,  for  a  time,  in  the  office  of  his  father,  Hon.  Justin  H.  Tyler,  at 
Napoleon,  and  later,  with  John  N.  Jewett,  of  Chicago,  111.,  at  which  city  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  March,  1886.  He  then  returned  to  Ohio  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  this  State,  after  an  examination  at  Columbus,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1886.  Returning  to  Napoleon  he  formed  a  law  partnership  in  November, 
1886,  with  Michael  Donnelly,  succeeding  to  the  practice  of  his  father,  Justin  H. 
Tyler. 

Earnest  N.  Warden  was  born  February  9,  1859.  ^^  graduated  from  Ober- 
lin  in  1880,  and  read  law  with  Albert  Lawrence,  of  Cleveland.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  May,  1883,  and  after  a  brief  time  in  practice  at  Norwalk, 
O.,  came  to  Deshler,  this  county,  where  he  is  now  established. 

There  are  a  few  other  attorneys  in  practice  in  the  county,  of  whom  no 
sketch  has  been  obtained,  although  requested  of  them.  Of  these  James  M. 
Patterson  is  at  Deshler,  in  Bartlow  township,  while  the  other,  E.  L.  Hartman, 
practices  at  Holgate,  in  Pleasant  township. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  HENRY  COUNTY  PRESS. 

EDUCATION  is  the  great  civilizer,  and  printing  is  the  greatest  auxiliary. 
Were  it  not  for  the  aid  furnished  by  the  press  the  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple would  still  be  groping  in  the  darkness  of  the  middle  ages,  and  knowledge 
would  still  remain  confined  within  the  limits  of  the  cloister. 

It  is  surprising,  when  searching  our  libraries,  to  discover  how  little  has 
been  written  of  the  "Art  preservative  of  all  Arts,"  and  the  educator  of  all  edu- 
cators. While  printing  has  been  the  chronicler  of  all  arts,  professions  and 
learning,  it  has  recorded  so  little  of  its  own   history  and  progress  as  to  leave 


Henry  County.  157 


even  the  story  of  its  first  invention  and  application  wrapped  in  mystery  and 
doubt.  We  only  know  that  from  the  old  Ramage  press  which  Faust  and 
Franklin  used,  capable  of  producing  a  hundred  impressions  per  hour,  we  have 
now  the  ponderous  machine  which  turns  out  one  thousand  copies  per  minute. 

In  glancing  over  the  pages  of  history,  we  discover  the  gradual  develop- 
ments in  the  arts  and  sciences.  We  notice  that  they  go  hand  in  hand — one 
discovery  points  to  another,  one  improvement  in  the  arts  leads  to  others  con- 
tinually, and  the  results  of  the  last  few  centuries  show  that  observations  of  no 
apparent  use  lead  to  the  most  important  discoveries  and  developments.  The 
falling  of  an  apple  led  Newton  to  unfold  the  theory  of  gravitation  and  its  rela- 
tions to  the  solar  system ;  the  discovery  of  the  polarity  of  the  loadstone  lead 
to  the  construction  of  the  mariner's  compass ;  the  observation  of  the  muscular 
contraction  of  a  frog  lead  to  the  numerous  applications  of  galvanic  electricity  ; 
the  observation  of  the  expansive  force  of  steam  lead  to  the  construction  and 
application  of  the  steam  engine  ;  the  observation  of  the  influence  of  light  on 
the  chloride  of  silver  lead  to  the  art  of  photography ;  the  observations  of  the 
communication  of  sound  by  the  connected  rails  of  a  railroad  lead  to  the  inven- 
tion of  the  telephone ;  the  impressions  taken  from  letters  cut  in  the  smooth 
bark  of  the  beech  tree  lead  to  the  art  of  printing — the  art  which  transmits  to 
posterity  a  record  of  all  which  is  valuable  to  the  world. 

Thus  is  progress  discernible  in  every  successive  generation  of  man.  Grad- 
ually has  he  advanced  from  a  state  of  rude  barbarism  and  total  ignorance  to  a 
degree  of  perfection  which  gives  him  almost  absolute  dominion  over  all  el- 
ements, and  in  the  pride  of  glorious  and  enlightened  manhood  he  can  exclaim 
with  Cowper : 

' '  I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey, 

My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute  ; 
From  the  center  all  round  to  the  sea 
I  am  lord  of  the  fowl  and  the  brute  !" 

So  long  as  mind  shall  occupy  its  seat,  so  long  will  progress  be  the  watch- 
word of  man,  and  onward  and  upward  will  be  his  march  to  an  endless  and  lim- 
itless ascent — where  all  the  hidden  and  occult  secrets  of  creation  will  unfold 
their  mysteries  to  his  comprehension  and  crown  him  master  of  them  all. 

The  printing  office  has  well  been  called  the  "  Poor  Boy's  College,"  and  has 
proven  a  better  school  to  many;  has  graduated  more  intellect  and  turned  it 
into  useful,  practical  channels;  awakened  more  active,  devoted  thought,  than 
any  alma  mater  on  the  earth.  Many  a  dunce  has  passed  through  the  univer- 
sities with  no  tangible  proof  of  fitness  other  than  his  insensible  piece  of  parch- 
ment— himself  more  sheepish,  if  possible,  than  his  "sheep-skin."  There  is 
something  in  the  very  atmosphere  of  a  printing  office  calculated  to  awaken  the 
mind  to  activity  and  inspire  a  thirst  for  knowledge.  Franklin,  Stanhope,  Ber- 
anger,  Thiers,  Greeley,  Taylor,  and  a  host  of  other  names  illustrious  in  the 
world  of  letters  and  science  have  been  gems  in  the  diadem  of  typography  and 
owe  their  success  to  the  influence  of  a  printing  office. 


iS8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  newspaper  has  become  one  of  the  chief  indexes  of  the  intelligence,  civ- 
ihzation  and  progress  of  the  community  in  which  it  is  published,  and  its  files 
are  the  foot-prints  of  the  advancement  and  refinement  of  the  period  of  its 
publication  ;  and  the  printing  office  is  now  deemed  as  essential  as  the  school- 
house  or  church.  It  has  taken  the  place  of  the  rostrum  and  the  professor's 
chair,  and  become  the  great  teacher.  No  party,  organization,  enterprise  or 
•calling  is  considered  perfect  without  its  "organ"  —  the  newspaper — as  a 
mouth  piece. 

Tradition,  we  have  no  record,  says  that  in  1845  there  was  a  sickly  paper, 
Whig  in  politics,  printed  in  Napoleon  by  one  Martin  Shrank.  It  was  about 
the  size  of  the  Newsletter,  the  first  paper  printed  in  America,  i.  e.,  the  size  of  a 
sheet  of  letter  paper.     It  was  named  The  Journal,  and  died  "a  bornin'." 

On  the  8th  day  of  September,  1852,  the  newspaper,  in  fact,  uttered  its  natal 
cry  in  Henry  county.  It  was  born  in  Napoleon  and  was  christened  the  North- 
west. It  entered  life  with  "  high  hopes  for  a  low  heaven,"  praying  God  to 
"grant  it  patience."  Alpheas  M.  Hollabaugh  was  the  venturesome  knight 
who  acknowledged  its  paternity  and  assumed  its  support.  It  was  an  unassum- 
ing folio  of  five  columns,  and  as  a  visible  means  of  support  contained  less  than 
one  column  of  advertisements  and  a  circulation  resembling  the  shadows  in  the 
gloamings.  Sickly  as  the  infant  was,  it  grew  in  strength,  and  the  first  volume 
was  enlarged  to  a  six  column  folio.  It  remained  under  the  parental  control  of 
Mr.  Hollabaugh  until  April  19,  1854,  when  he  disposed  of  his  offspring  to 
Thomas  S.  C.  Morrison,  who  saluted  its  readers  on  the  26th  day  of  the  same 
month,  with  an  increased  circulation  and  nine  columns  of  advertising  patronage. 

Mr.  Morrison  continued  in  the  editorial  management  and  ownership  of  the 
paper  until  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  31st  day  of  March,  1864.  After 
the  death  of  Mr.  Morrison  the  publication  of  the  paper  and  its  editorial  man- 
agement was 'conducted  by  John  M.  Haag  until  the  4th  of  May  of  the  same 
year,  when  a  temporary  suspension  was  had.  On  the  28th  of  the  same  month 
the  office  was  sold  at  administratdr's  sale,  and  purchased  by  Mr.  Haag,  who 
resumed  the  publication  of  the  paper  on  the  i6th  day  of  June,  1864,  and  on 
the  24th  of  August,  1865,  enlarged  it  to  a  seven  column  folio. 

On  November  16,  1865,  the  business  management  passed  into  the  hands 
•of  Messrs.  Adams  and  Pomeroy,  Mr.  Haag  remaining  in  editorial  control.  Mr. 
Adams  retired  December  28,  1865,  when  a  co-partnership  was  formed  between 
John  M.  Haag  and  Samuel  Pomeroy,  under  the  firm  name  of  Haag  &  Pome- 
roy, by  whom  the  paper  was  pubHshed  until  the  26th  day  of  July,  1866,  when 
Rensselaer  Hudson,  who  purchased  the  interest  of  Mr.  Pomeroy,  associated  him- 
self with  Mr.  Haag,  and  the  publication  was  continued  by|Haag  &  Hudson  until 
May  16,  1867,  at  which  time  Mr.  Hudson  retired  and  Mr.  Haag  again  became 
the  sole  proprietor  and  editor,  and  so  continued  until  March  25,  1869,  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  E.  W.  Trift.     On  the  22d  of  April,  1869,  the  paper  passed 


Henry  County.  le^g. 


into  the  hands  of  Coughlin  &  Hubbard,  the  latter,  WilliamH.,  became  the 
editor.  On  the  8th  of  May  of  that  year  the  paper  was  enlarged  and  converted 
into  a  five  column  quarto.  June  i,  1871,  the  paper  was  again  enlarged  and 
became  a  six  column  quarto,  and  so  remained  and  was  so  conducted  until  the 
death  of  Mr.  Hubbard,  which  occurred  May  11,  1872. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Hubbard  the  paper  passed  into  the  management  of 
Thomas  Coughlin,  who  had  been  associated  with  Mr.  Hubbard,  and  his  brother 
Michael,  by  whom  it  was  conducted  until  the  5th  of  December,  1872,  when 
the  office  was  sold  to  Messrs.  Orwig  &  Wisler.  Mr.  Wisler  retired  in  1875,  at 
which  time  the  senior  partner,  Luther  L.  Orwig,  became  sole  editor  and  pro- 
prietor and  so  remains. 

The  Northwest  has  well  earned  its  present  position  —  one  of  the  leading 
country  journals  in  the  State,  and  an  accredited  mouthpiece  of  its  party.  It 
has  had  its  trials  and  tribulations  and  passed  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
childhood  and  manhood.  It  has  had  measles,  whooping  cough  and  the  scarlet 
fever.  On  March  25,  1859,  it  first  passed  through  that  destructive  element  to 
which  sinners  are  finally  consigned,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  next  day  every- 
thing consumable  was  found  converted  into  ashes.  The  metal  of  the  old  Smith 
press,  upon  which  the  paper  was  printed,  was  picked  up  and  drayed  to  the 
foundry,  where  it  was  cast  into  a  cannon  and  became  a  campaign  and  Fourth  of 
July  thunderer.  After  having  killed  and  mutilated  five  or  six  men,  it  exploded 
at  a  political  meeting  held  at  Chroninger's  school-house,  in  Liberty  township, 
in  the  fall  of  1872,  fortunately  causing  no  serious  injury.  The  office  was  again 
destroyed  by  the  fire  of  1869,  and  a  complete  new  outfit  was  required.  These 
fiery  ordeals  proved  a  benefit  to  the  office,  and  it  always  came  forth  much  im- 
proved. Mr.  Haag  introduced  the  first  "  jobber  " — a  small  "  Alligator  "  press, 
and  soon  followed  with  a  full  sized  "  Gordon." 

After  the  fire  of  1869  Messrs.  Coughlin  &  Hubbard  brought  on  a  Potter 
cylinder  and  much  improved  the  office,  both  for  news  and  job  printing.  But 
to  Mr.  Orwig  is  due  the  credit  of  planting  in  Napoleon  one  of  the  best  appointed 
printing  offices  in  the  State.  He  has  added  steam  power  and  stereotyping,  and 
is  prepared  to  compete  in  fine  job  work  with  any  office  outside  of  the  big  cities. 

Evanescent  Papers. — The  Democratic  party  being  in  the  majority  in  the 
county,  it  was  difficult  for  the  opposition,  with  the  sparse  population,  to  main- 
tain a  paper;  it,  however,  had  the  pluck  to  make  effort  after  effort  until  it  finally 
succeeded.  The  Star  was  started  as  a  Whig  paper,  in  1854,  and  was  published 
by  George  Weimer.  It  glimmered  for  a  year  or  so  when  it  disappeared  from 
the  firmament. 

In  1865  one  L.  H.  Bigelow,  then  a  druggist  in  Napoleon,  started  a  Repub- 
lican paper  called  the  Republican.  It  was  printed  in  Toledo  and  had  an  exist- 
ence of  only  a  few  months,  being  in  fact  nothing  but  a  campaign  paper.  It 
was  not  until  the  loth  of  September,  1865,  that  a  Republican  organ  was  estab- 


i6o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

lished.  At  that  date  the  publication  of  the  Signal  was  commenced  by  George 
W.  Redway.  It  was  a  seven  column  quarto  and  started  out  with  about  650 
subscribers.  After  publishing  it  eight  weeks  Mr.  Redway  sold  the  office  to  J. 
S.  Fouke  and  D.  B.  Ainger,  who  continued  its  publication  with  varying  suc- 
<:ess  until  January,  1 870,  when  J.  S.  Fouke  sold  his  interest  to  D.  B.  Ainger, 
who  became  sole  proprietor  and  editor.  In  1872  Mr.  Ainger  enlarged  the  pa- 
per to  nine  columns,  and  its  circulation  ran  up  to  about  900  copies.  About 
October  i,  1873,  Mr.  Fouke,  who  had  been  foreman  of  the  office  for  the  two 
previous  years,  bought  the  office  of  Mr.  Ainger,  paying  him  $3,500  for  the 
same.  Mr.  Fouke  continued  its  publication  for  eleven  years,  when  he  sold 
the  concern  to  H.  M.  Wisler,  who  published  it  sixteen  months,  when  he  resold 
it  to  Mr.  Fouke.  The  latter  retained  the  office  only  seven  months,  when  he 
sold  it  to  J.  P.  Belknap,  its  present  proprietor.  It  cost  Mr.  Redway  about 
$1,500  for  the  material  and  expenses  in  establishing  the  Signal. 

Mr.  Fouke  assisted  Mr.  Redway  in  getting  out  the  two  first  numbers  of  the 
Signal  and  of  the  twenty-two  years  of  its  existence  he  was  connected  with  it 
as  editor  and  proprietor  sixteen  years  and  about  two  years  as  foreman.  Mr. 
Redway  is  now,  and  for  a  number  of  years  has  been,  a  department  clerk  in 
Washington.  Mr.  Ainger  is  at  present  editor  and  proprieter  of  the  Charlotte 
(Mich.)  Republican,  and  is  also  adjutant-general  of  Michigan.  Mr.  Wisler 
lias  removed  to  Kansas,  and  Mr.  Fouke  still  remains  in  Napoleon.  The  Signal 
office  is,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Northwest,  as  well  equipped  as  any 
in  the  county.  The  columns  of  the  paper  contain  the  latest  local  and  general 
news,  while  its  editorial  department  faithfully  and  ably  guards  the  interests  of 
the  Republican  party  in  the  county,  the  organ  of  which  party  the  paper  is,  and 
for  many  years  has  been.  The  Signal  is  established  on  a  safe  paying  basis, 
and  is  considered  as  one  of  the  leading  papers  of  the  northwestern  territory  of 
the  State. 

The  Deshler  Flag.  The  initial  number  of  the  Flag  made  its  appearance 
in  October,  1876,  under  the  proprietorship  of  J.  P.  Lockhart.  After  about  six 
months  the  office  and  paper  were  sold  to  W.  H.  Mitchell.  The  latter  contin- 
ned  its  publication  and  sole  editorial  management  until  the  month  of  June, 
1885,  when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  George  W.  Wilkinson,  by  whom  it  was 
<:onducted  about  one  year,  when  he  retired  and  bought  the  Weekly  Beacon,  of 
North  Baltimore,  of  which  paper  he  is  still  editor  and  proprietor.  L.  S.  Smith 
next  succeeded  to  the  proprietorship  of  the  Flag  and  remained  one  year,  after 
which  he  accepted  a  position  on  the  Canton  Advance,  a  paper  published  in  the 
interest  of  the  Prohibition  party. 

In  June,  1887,  M.  G.  Marron,  of  Wood  county,  leased  the  paper,  changed 
its  tone  from  neutrality  to  independence,  and  still  fills  its  editorial  chair.  The 
Flag  is  a  five-column  quarto,  enjoys  a  liberal  advertising  patronage  and  fair 
circulation.     During  the  eleven  years  of  its   existence  it  has  been  a  five,  six 


Henry  County.  i6i 


and  seven  column  folio  and  a  five,  six  and  seven  column  quarto.  From  the 
Flag  office,  which  is  remarkably  well  equipped,  several  papers  have  been 
started,  notably  the  Wood  county  Herald,  the  Hicksville  Independent,  the 
Payne  Star,  the  Tiffin  Daily  Courier  and  others.  The  last  two  are  not  now 
in  existence. 

The  Holgate  Times.  This  is  the  name  of  a  five-column  quarto  with  patent 
sides,  published  in  the  incorporated  village  of  Holgate,  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad  with  the  "Clover  Leaf"  route,  in  the  township  of 
Pleasant.  The  paper  was  established  in  1881  by  William  J.  Johnson,  and  pub- 
lished by  him  for  about  three  years,  when  it  was  purchased  by  William  Kauf- 
man and  William  E.  Decker  and  by  them  published  about  six  months,  when 
Mr.  Decker  became  the  sole  proprietor  and  editor.  He  still  continues  so. 
The  Times  has  a  circulation  of  about  five  hundred  and  enjoys  a  healthy  adver- 
tising patronage. 

The  Liberty  Press  is  a  six  column  folio,  published  at  Liberty  Center,  in 
Liberty  township.  It  was  established  and  its  publication  commenced  by  Rev. 
J.  L.  Bushbridge,  Nov.  17,  1881.  It  was  by  him  sold  August  31,  1882,  and 
passing  into  the  hands  of  N.  W.  Emery,  who,  in  May,  1886,  was  succeeded  by 
J.  H.  Russell.  A  few  numbers  were  issued  by  Mr.  Russell  under  the  name  of 
"  Trissotin."  The  paper  was  then  suspended  for  several  weeks,  when  its  pub- 
lication was  resumed  by  J.  H.  Smith  and  D.  S.  Mires,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Smith  &  Mires,  and  restored  to  its  maiden  name  of  Liberty  Press,  and  is  still 
published  by  them.     It  is  neutral  in  politics  and  religion. 

The  German  Press.  The  first  German  paper  published  in  the  county  was 
the  Democratise  her  Wegweiser.  It  was  established  by  J.  M.  Haag,  then  of  the 
Northwest,  m  1867,  was  a  six  column  folio.  Democratic  in  politics,  and  was  edited 
by  Dr.  John  M.  Evers.  Its  publication  was  continued  about  one  year,  when 
Mr.  Evers  purchased  the  office  and  removed  it  to  Toledo. 

Der  Henry  County  Demokrat  was  started  June  26,  1885,  by  C.  W.  Bente  & 
Co.  (M.  R.  Voll  &  F.  Howe,  of  Wauseon),  C.  W.  Bente,  editor.  About  Oc- 
tober I  Henry  Holterman  bought  out  the  company  and  printed  the  inside  in 
Napoleon,  which  had  previously  been  printed  in  Wauseon  altogether.  The 
circulation  at  that  time  was  about  450,  and  did  not  increase  much  until  May 
14,  when  Mr.  Holterman  also  bought  out  C.  W.  Bente  and  engaged  C.  F. 
Clement  as  editor.  From  this  time  on  Mr.  Holterman,  who  had  formerly  been 
treasurer  of  the  county,  also  gave  more  attention  to  the  paper  and  it  com- 
menced to  boom.  On  June  24,  1886,  Mr.  Holterman  also  bought  out  the 
Fulton  and  Williams  county  Gazette,  consolidating  the  three  papers,  there- 
by adding  greatly  to  the  already  large  circulation.  On  Jan.  i,  1887,  C.  F.- 
Clement bought  one-half  interest. 
21 


j62  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION. 

IT  is  a  common  remark  that  Henry  county  possesses  as  strong  an  array  of 
medical  practitioners,  as  any  of  the  northwestern  counties  of  the  State,  that 
holds  no  greater  population  than  does  this  county.  This,  it  is  said,  has  charac- 
terized the  county  for  many  years.  And  it  seems,  too,  that  there  has  been 
a  noticeable  freedom  from  that  branch  of  the  profession  that  infests  nearly 
every  community,  pretending  and  assuming  a  knowledge  of  the  healing 
art,  without  possessing  a  single  honest  qualification  therefor.  This  class  in 
Henry  county  is  noticeable  for  its  absence.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  com- 
mendable desire  on  the  part  of  each  of  the  past  and  present  physicians  of  the 
■county,  to  fit  themselves  at  the  best  and  most  thorough  medical  institutions  of 
the  country,  and  in  looking  over  the  brief  sketches  of  practitioners  of  the;  county, 
in  this  chapter,  it  will  be  found  that  nearly  every  one  of  them  has  taken  a 
■course  of  medical  study  at  some  well-established  college  for  the  instruction  of 
physicians  and  surgeons. 

Of  the  pioneer  physicians  of  the  county,  there  is  but  a  single  record,  the 
duplicate  for  the  year  1837,  the  only  valuable  document  that  was  saved  from 
the  disastrous  fire  of  1847,  by  which  the  court-house  was  entirely  destroyed. 
It  is  found  that,  in  that  year,  the  practicing  physicians  of  the  county  were 
William  D.  Barry,  Harris  Howey,  Lorenzo  L.  Patrick  and  Jonathan  F.  Evans ; 
at  least,  they  were  the  only  persons  at  that  time  assessed  as  physicians. 

Dr.  William  D.  Barry  was,  undoubtedly,  the  first  and  pioneer  physician  in 
the  vicinity  of  Napoleon,  and  he  is  well  remembered  by  the  old  residents.  Af- 
ter having  practiced  medicine  for  a  time  he  engaged  in  the  legal  profession,  and 
became  quite  a  personage  in  the  community,  holding  various  positions  of  trust. 
He  left  here  many  years  ago  and  went  to  Illinois,  where,  it  is  understood,  he 
still  lives. 

Dr.  Harris  Howey  came  to  this  locality  from  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
was  in  practice  for  some  years.  While  a  resident  of  Napoleon,  he  married  a 
daughter  of  General  Leonard.  In  later  years  he  emigrated  west.  Dr.  Gibbs 
came  to  the  place  at  an  early  day,  and  remained  here  until  the  time  of  his 
death. 

The  name  of  Dr.  Lorenzo  L.  Patrick,  recalls  one  of  the  early  families  of  the 
Maumee  Valley.  He  was  practicing  here  as  early  as  1836,  and  continued  for 
many  years  after.  He  was  prominent  in  all  of  the  affairs  of  the  town  and 
county,  and  did  much  toward  building  up  and  improving  the  county  seat.  He 
was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  the  movement  looking  to  the  incorporation  of 
Napoleon,  and  acted  as  the  agent  of  the  petitioners  for  that  purpose  in  the 
year  1853. 


Henry  County.  163 


Dr.  Jonathan  F.  Evans,  who  is  also  mentioned  in  the  old  duplicate  of  1837, 
resided  in  Richland  township,  one  of  three  townships  that  were  set  off  to  the 
erection  of  Defiance  county,  and  by  that  act  he  thenceforth  became  a  resident 
of  the  newly  created  county.  He  had  a  large  practice  in  the  county,  and  be- 
came extensively  acquainted,  frequently  being  called  to  the  county  seat  in  line 
of  professional  duty.  At  one  time  he  held  the  office  of  county  commissioner 
of  Henry  county. 

Dr.  Bamber  came  to  Napoleon  about,  or  soon  after,  the  year  1840.  He  is 
remembered  as  a  good  physician,  and  enjoyed  a  considerable  practice,  although 
he  left  and  went  to  New  York  State. 

Among  the  other  physicians,  more  recent  comers  to  the  county,  some  of 
whom  are  still  living  here,  although  not  now  actively  engaged  in  practice,  may 
be  mentioned  the  names  of  Dr.  D.  M.  McCann,  Dr.  Asa  H.  Tyler,  Dr.  O.  H. 
Tyler,  Dr.  Henry  McHenry,  Dr.  Gibbons  Parry,  and  perhaps  others  whose 
names  have  been  forgotten.  Dr.  Asa  H.  Tyler  still  lives  in  the  county,  on  a 
farm  not  far  from  Napoleon.  Dr.  Gibbons  Parry  resides  in  Flat  Rock  town- 
ship, not  far  from  the  village  of  Florida. 

Present  Physicians  of  the  County.  —  As  a  matter  of  course  there  are  more 
physicians  residing  at  the  county  seat  than  in  any  other  of  the  county's  vil- 
lages. At  Napoleon  there  are  at  the  present  time  nine  persons  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  and  surgery,  while  the  village  contains  a  population  of 
less  than  four  thousand  souls.  Those  so  engaged  are  Drs.  Eugene  B.  Harri- 
son, John  M.  Shoemaker,  Hazael  B.  Powell,  John  Bloomfield,  Alfred  E.  H. 
Maerker,  James  Haly,  Morrison  J.  Marvin,  Thomas  C.  Hunter  and  Mrs.  Hulda 
H.  Sheffield. 

Eugene  B.  Harrison  was  born  at  Dover,  England,  on  the  21st  day  of  May, 
1831.  When  he  was  less  than  a  year  old  his  parents  emigrated  to  America.. 
Eugene  read  medicine  with  his  father,  who  was  a  physician  of  Licking  county, 
this  State,  and  subsequently  with  Dr.  M.  McCann,  then  a  resident  of  Martins- 
burg,  Knox  county,  this  State.  Dr.  Harrison  took  a  course  of  medical  lectures 
and  study  at  the  Ohio  Medical  College,  at  Cincinnati,  and  commenced  practice 
about  the  year  1853.  In  1855  he  came  to  Napoleon,  where  he  has  since 
resided,  and  been  engaged  actively  in  professional  duty,  except  for  a  brief 
period  of  time  spent  in  the  west.  In  addition  to  his  lecture  course  at  Cincin- 
nati, Dr.  Harrison  attended  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1857.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Medi- 
cal Society,  the  Ohio  State  Medical  Society,  the  Northwestern  Ohio  Medical 
Society,  and  the  local  Medical  Society  of  Henry  county. 

John  M.  Shoemaker  was  born  in  Columbiana  county,  O,,  February  11,, 
1834.  He  read  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr.  R.  J.  Hagerty,  of  Mount  Blanch- 
ard,  O.,  and  attended  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan,, 
at  Ann  Arbor,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  the  year  1859.      He  practiced. 


164  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

for  a  short  time  at  Mount  Blanchard  and  at  Van  Buren,  O.,  and  came  to  Na- 
poleon in  1 86 1.  In  1864  he  entered  the  army  as  assistant-surgeon  of  the 
Seventy-first  Infantry,  but  was  detailed  as  acting  surgeon  of  the  First  Illinois 
Light  Artillery,  which  latter  position  he  resigned  in  March,  1865.  He  then 
returned  to  Napoleon  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Dr.  Shoe- 
maker is  a  member  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  the  Ohio  State  Medi- 
cal Society,  the  Northwestern  Ohio  Medical  Society,  the  Toledo  Medical  Soci- 
ety, and  was  formerly  a  member  of  the  Indiana  Medical  Society,  and  the 
Northeastern  Medical  Society,  both  of  the  State  of  Indiana.  In  the  year  1863 
Dr.  Shoemaker  was  appointed,  and  has  since  held  the  position  of  examining 
suj-geon  for  pensions. 

Hazael  Benjamin  Powell  was  born  in  Napoleon  on  the  24th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1837.  He  read  medicine  under  the  instruction  of  Dr.  Henry  McHenry, 
for  about  five  years,  devoting  such  time  thereto  as  could  be  spared  from  his 
duties  as  clerk  in  his  father's  store.  He  attended  the  medical  department  of 
the  University  of  Michigan  during  the  winters  of  the  years  1857  and  1858. 
He  afterward  attended  the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  at  Philadelphia,  and  was 
graduated  from  that  institution  in  the  spring  of  1861.  He  then  commenced 
practice  at  Napoleon  in  partnership  with  Dr.  McHenry,  and  so  continued  until 
August,  1861,  when  he  enlisted  as  private  in  Company  B,  Thirty-eighth  In- 
fantry. The  knowledge  of  his  professional  ability  coming  to  the  commanding 
officers,  he  was  detailed  to  surgical  duty  in  the  hospitals  at  various  places.  He 
became  a  veteran  at  the  expiration  of  his  enlistment  term,  and  was  subse- 
quently advanced  to  the  rank  of  surgeon-in-chief  of  the  Third  Brigade,  Third 
Division,  Fourteenth  Army  Corps.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  mustered 
out  of  service  and  returned  to  his  practice  at  Napoleon,  where  he  has  since  con- 
tinued. 

John  Bloomfield  was  born  at  Akron,  O.,  January  i,  1842.  At  the  age 
age  of  sixteen  years  he  came  to  Damascus,  in  this  county,  where  he  engaged 
as  clerk  in  a  store.  In  November,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Company  D,  Sixty- 
eighth  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  with  that  regiment  throughout  the  war. 
On  returning  to  this  county  he  purchased  a  farm  in  Harrison  township  where 
he  resided  until  the  fall  of  1873,  when  he  removed  to  Napoleon.  The  next 
year  he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Hazael  B.  Powell, 
and  continued  for  a  period  of  three  and  one-half  years.  He  attended  the  Med- 
ical College  of  Ohio,  at  Cincinnati,  and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  the  spring 
of  1879,  since  which  time  he  has  been  engaged  in  practice  at  Napoleon. 

James  Haly  was  born  at  Napoleon  on  the  25th  day  of  July,  1851.  He 
commenced  the  study  of  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr.  E.  B.  Harrison,  and 
afterward  attended  lectures  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  also,  at  the 
Jefferson  Medical  College  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  graduating  from  the  latter  in- 
stitution in  the  spring  of  1862.  From  that  until  the  present  time  Dr.  Haly  has 
been  a  resident  practitioner  at  Napoleon. 


Henry  County.  165 


Alfred  E.  H.  Maerker  was  born  at  Posen,  Germany,  on  the  25th  day  of 
May,  1857.  -^^  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  came  to  this  country,  locating  at 
Niles,  Mich.,  but  remained  there  only  two  years  when  he  came  to  Napo- 
leon. He  read  medicine  with  Dr.  E.  B.  Harrison,  and  afterward  took  a  med- 
ical college  course  at  Cleveland,  O.,  graduating  in  1882.  From  that  date 
until  the  present  he  has  practiced  at  Napoleon. 

Morrison  J.  Marvin,  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in  Hancock  county  on 
August  4,  1844.  His  early  life  was  spent  on  a  farm.  In  1862  he  enlisted  in 
Company  E,  Tenth  Ohio  Cavalry,  and  served  two  years,  when  he  was  wounded 
and  placed  in  a  hospital,  and  remained  there  until  discharged  from  the  service. 
He  read  medicine  at  Findlay,  O.,  and  attended  the  Cleveland  Medical  Col- 
lege, from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1870. 

Hulda  Harrington  Sheffield,  widow  of  the  late  William  Sheffield,  and  the 
only  active  resident  practitioner  in  the  field  of  homeopathy,  wa^  born  in  Erie 
county,  O.,  and  began  the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  Allen,  of  Defiance, 
some  thirty  years  ago,  not  then,  however,  with  an  intention  of  practicing  that 
branch  of  the  profession.  She  subsequently  continued  her  studies  with  Dr. 
Thomas  C.  Hunter,  of  Napoleon,  after  which  she  attended  the  Homeopathic 
Medical  College  at  Cleveland,  and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  the  spring  of 
1877.  Since  then  Mrs.  Sheffield  has  resided  at  Napoleon  and  practiced  through- 
out the  county. 

Of  the  physicians  of  the  county,  outside  the  county  seat,  very  little  infor- 
mation is  at  hand,  although  each  has  been  requested  to  furnish  data,  and  ample 
time  granted  therefor.  Of  such  as  have  answered  the  request  a  record  will  be 
found  in  these  pages,  but  those  who  have  not  responded  must  content  them- 
selves with  a  mention  of  their  names  and  location  of  residence. 

The  village  of  Holgate,  in  Pleasant  township,  has  four  resident  physicians  : 
Dr.  J.  Townsend,  Dr.  J.  M.  Stout,  Dr.  J.  C.  Becker  and  Dr.  J.  D.  Archer. 

Dr.  Townsend  was  born  in  Cattaraugus  county,  N.  Y.,  August  25,  1833, 
and  emigrated  to  Ohio  with  his  parents  in  1844.  He  commenced  the  practice 
of  medicine  at  Freeport,  Wood  county,  in  1855,  but  moved  to  Maysville,  Ind., 
in  1856.  Ten  years  later  he  returned  to  Ohio  and  located  at  Edgerton,  in 
Williams  county,  where  he  practiced  until  1874,  when  he  came  to  Holgate,  this 
-county. 

J.  Dall  Archer  was  born  October  30,  1858,  in  Wood  county.  He  read 
medicine  with  Dr.  W.  F.  Thomas,  of  North  Baltimore,  for  three  years,  when 
•he  entered  the  Starling  Medical  College.  After  receiving  the  first  degree  he 
went  to  Dundee,  Mich.,  for  practice,  and  remained  there  until  the  year  1885, 
when  he  came  to  Holgate. 

The  prosperous  village  of  Deshler,  Bartlow  township,  has  three  resident 
physicians :  Dr.  T.  M.  Garrett,  Dr.  J.  C.  Donaway,  and  Dr.  Slaughter. 

Hamler,  in  the  south  part  of  the  county,  has  two  physicians.  Dr.  Elmer 
■Cowdrick,  and  Dr.  C.  M,  Townsend. 


1 66  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Liberty  Center,  the  central  and  tradiilg  point  of  Liberty  township,  has  three 
resident  members  of  the  medical  profession  :  Dr.  E.  T.  Martin,  Dr.  D.  E.  Haag,. 
and  Dr.  Viers. 

Daniel  E.  Haag,  the  twin  brother  to  Hon.  John  M.  Haag,  of  Napoleon,^ 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania.  He  read  medicine  with  Dr.  Bull,  of  New  Phila- 
delphia, O.  He  first  practiced  in  partnership  with  Prof  Pomeroy,  and  after- 
ward moved  to  Mt.  Eaton.  He  came  to  Henry  county  in  the  spring  of  1863, 
practicing  for  a  time  at  Texas,  but  soon  found  a  better  field  for  professional 
labor  at  Liberty  Center. 

The  enterprising  village  of  Florida,  in  Flat  Rock  township,  is  the  residence 
of  four  of  the  county's  physicians,  although  all  are  not  at  present  professionally 
engaged.  The  M.D.'s  at  this  place  are  Dr.  Gibbons  Parry,  Dr.  George  Parry,. 
Dr.  A.  M.  Pherson,  and  Dr.  S.  E.  Miller.  The  last  named.  Dr.  Miller,  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Chicago  Medical  College. 

John  W.  Sharp,  of  McClure,  was  born  at  Simcoe,  Ontario,  Can.,  on  the 
15th  day  of  June,  1858.  He  graduated  from  the  Toronto  University  in  1874, 
after  which  he  entered  Trinity  Medical  College,  and  was  graduated  therefrom 
in  March,  1879.  He  then  spent  a  year  at  the  different  hospitals,  and  located 
for  practice  at  Ridgeville,  this  county,  in  April,  1880.  In  October  of  the  same 
year  he  moved  to  McClure  where  he  now  resides. 

At  other  points  within  the  county  are  located  practicing  physicians  as  fol- 
lows :  At  Malinta,  Dr.  E.  B.  Mauk;  at  Colton,  Dr.  A.  J.  Munn;  at  Ridgeville,. 
Dr.  Shaffer. 

The  county,  in  former  years,  possessed  a  Medical  Society,  strong  in  point 
of  numbers  and  productive  of  much  good  to  the  profession  in  general ;  but 
owing  to  some  cause,  not  susceptible  of  explanation,  it  has  been  allowed  to 
decline  and  meetings  are  rarely  held. 


CHAPTER  XVL 

HISTORY  OF  THE   INCORPORATED  VILLAGE   OF   NAPOLEON  — THE   SEAT  OF' 
JUSTICE  OF  HENRY  COUNTY. 

WHEN  the  commissioners,  appointed  by  the  Legislature,  to  fix  the  seat  of 
justice  for  the  county  of  Henry,  determined  to,  and  by  their  act,  did 
locate  the  same  at  the  town  of  Napoleon,  that  place  then  had  an  existence,  but 
hardly  more.  There  were  a  few  log  houses  scattered  about  that  gave  the  place 
something  of  the  appearance  of  a  cross-roads  settlement,  with  nothing  to  at- 
tract notice  from  the  traveler  except   the  natural  beauty  of  its  location.     Of 


Henry  County.  167 


the  possibilities  of  a  future,  such  reasoning  was  hardly  indulged  in  before  the 
county  seat  was  fixed.  Still  Messrs.  Phillips,  Leavell  &  Cory,  the  proprietors 
of  the  town,  may  have  entertained  the  idea  of  future  growth,  but  the  idea  was 
but  crude  and  undeveloped. 

According  to  their  original  plan  the  town  was  laid  out,  or  intended  to  be 
laid  out,  some  distance  further  down  the  river,  and  on  lower  ground,  at  a  point 
that,  in  after  years,  attained  the  characteristic  and  dignified  name  of  "  Goose- 
town,"  but  a  rise  of  the  waters  of  the  historic  Maumee  flooded  this  district, 
making  it  imprudent  to  attempt  a  settlement,  much  less  the  building  up  of  a 
town  at  that  point ;  wherefore  the  proprietors  moved  the  town  to  the  higher 
and  more  desirable  lands  it,  with  its  enlargements,  now  occupies. 

The  proprietors,  who  were  Horatio  G.  Phillips,  Benjamin  Leavell  and  El- 
nathan  Cory,  had  a  large  amount  of  land  along  the  river,  not  a  solid  tract  lying 
in  one  body,  but  many  sections  at  various  places  throughout  the  county,  and 
even  in  the  county  west  of  this.  They  called  this  place  "  Napoleon,"  why,  is 
a  question  not  to  be  demonstrated  or  solved  at  this  time.  Nevertheless  they 
named  it  so,  and  so  it  has  since  remained  to  this  day,  and  undoubtedly  will 
continue  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  an  effort  was  made  some  years  ago  to 
have  it  changed  to  represent  something  more  American. 

Napoleon  became  the  county  seat  in  the  year  1835,  ^^'^  from  that  date  its 
history  has  been  made,  although  that  history,  perhaps,  belongs  to  the  township 
of  Napoleon,  from  which  it  was  separated  about  a  score  or  more  of  years  later. 

Many  important  events  occurred,  each  of  which  contributed  to  build  up 
improve  and  enlarge  the  town,  and  make  it  the  neat,  attractive  and  well-or- 
dered village  that  it  now  is.  The  first  of  these  events  was  the  location  of  the 
county  seat ;  and  while  this  was  undoubtedly  the  most  important  occurrence, 
and  gave  a  good  start  to  the  town,  it  was  followed  soon  after  by  the  surveying 
of  the  Miami  and  Erie  Canal,  the  letting  of  contracts  for  which,  in  this  vicinity, 
was  done  in  the  year  1837. 

But  before  this  time  the  town  had  a  few  substantial  residents  ;  substantial 
because  they  were  thfifty,  go-ahead,  energetic,  industrious  and  honest  people, 
who  worked  hard  for  the  town  and  its  welfare;  and  inasmuch  as  the  names  of 
most  of  them  can  be  recalled,  it  is  fitting  that  some  recollections  of  them  be 
noted  here.  They  were  George  Stout,  "  Gen."  Henry  Leonard,  John  Glass, 
John  Mann,  Alexander  Craig,  John  Powell,  Hazel  Strong,  James  Magill,  James 
B.  Steedman,  and  perhaps  a  few  others  whose  names  cannot  now  be  recalled. 
The  first  log  house  in  the  town  was  built  either  by  Mr.  Andrews  or  Huston. 
Hazel  Strong  worked  on  this  house,  and  in  speaking  of  the  event  he  said  that 
at  their  "feast"  (for  what  was  a  raising  without  a  feast?)  they  had  biscuit  made 
of  wheat  flour  and  "  shortened  "  with  "  coon  fat."  Wheat  flour  in  those  days 
was  considered  a  luxury  rarely  indulged  in,  in  fact  it  was  a  commodity  seldom 
to  be  had. 


1 68  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

George  Stout  will  be  remembered  as  the  tavern-keeper  of  the  town,  in- 
whose  house  the  first  term  of  court  was  held ;  and  he,  too,  at  the  request  of  the 
county  commissioners,  built  a  log  addition  to  his  hostelry  to  be  used  for  the 
purpose  of  a  court-house.  Terms  of  court  were  then  great  events,  and  their 
infrequency  (two  terms  annually,  and  holding  only  two  days),  gave  them  ad- 
ditional importance,  and  were  generally  concluded  with  a  genuine  old-time 
country  dance.  Mine  host  Stout  was  quite  a  celebrity  in  the  town,  and  gen- 
erally master  of  ceremonies  on  all  great  occasions.  He  was,  withal,  a  good  and 
worthy  citizen.  He  raised  a  large  family,  but  they  have  all  gone  from  the 
town,  and  the  name  has  now  but  few,  if  any,  living  representatives  in  the 
county. 

Henry  Leonard,  or  as  he  was  commonly  knowp,  "  General"  Leonard,  like 
his  fellow-townsman,  Stout,  was  a  tavern-keeper,  whose  log  house  stood  at  the 
corner  now  occupied  by  John  Higgins's  store  buildings,  between  the  canal  and 
the  river.  The  town  was  then  down  near  this  "corners,"  and  the  extending 
toward  the  north  was  the  work  of  after  years.  General  Leonard  was  a  prom- 
inent personage  in  early  days ;  a  good  citizen  and  neighbor,  and  whose  tavern 
was  a  resort  for  all  the  worthies  of  the  neighborhood.  He  died  many  years 
ago,  leaving  a  family,  but  they  are  here  no  more. 

John  Glass  had  a  more  pretentious  home  than  most  of  his  neighbors,  being 
a  frame  structure,  not  large,  but  having  sufficient  room  for  the  necessities  of 
his  family.  He  was  a  man  of  all  work,  a  butcher,  stone-mason,  chimney 
builder,  and  in  fact  turned  his  hand  to  any  kind  of  employment,  and  did  every- 
thing well.  He  was  one  of  the  first  county  officers,  having  been  elected  treas- 
urer to  succeed  Israel  Waite.  John  Glass  was  a  good,  hard-working  citizen, 
and  an  efficient  public  servant.  He  died  many  years  ago  leaving  a  family,  the 
descendants  of  whom  still  reside  in  the  county,  and  are  among  its  highly 
respected  people. 

John  Mann  was  another  of  the  pioneers  of  the  town.  He  was  a  blacksmith 
and  gunsmith  by  trade,  but  could  turn  his  hand  to  almost  any  kind  of  repair 
work.  His  shop  stood  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  east  of  Judge  Craig's  tavern. 
Around  this  shop,  nearly  every  day,  was  from  a  half  a  dozen  to  ten  Indians 
waiting  to  have  their  guns  "fixed  up."  It  seemed  as  if  the  gun  of  the  average 
Indian  was  always  getting  out  of  repair,  and  the  services  of  John  Mann  were  in 
constant  demand  among  them.  John  was  popular  among  these  natives  and  the 
whites  as  well,  and  a  very  useful  person  in  the  settlement.  He  had  a  good 
military  record,  having  served  at  Fort  Meigs  under  General  Harrison,  and 
elsewhere  during  the  war,  but  his  chief  occupation  in  the  army  was  that  of 
gunsmith.     Both  he  and  his  wife  died  here.     They  were  respected  residents. 

Alexander  Craig,  or,  as  he  was  afterward  titled,  "Judge"  Craig,  came  here- 
during  the  year  1835.  He  built  a  tavern  east  of  General  Leonard's.  The 
building  had  a  frame  front,  with  a  log  kitchen  in  the  rear.     It  was  one  of  the 


Henry  County.  169 


more  pretentious  houses  of  the  town,  and  on  this  account,  and  the  further  fact 
that  its  landlord  was  a  very  genial  person,  it  became  a  popular  resort.  The 
frame  part  of  this  old  pioneer  building  is  still  standing.  Craig  was  a  tailor  by- 
trade,  but  did  not  follow  the  business  in  this  locality.  He  was  elected  sheriff 
of  the  county  in  1837,  and  served  four  years;  was  afterward  appointed  asso- 
ciate judge  of  the  county,  and  held  that  office  seven  years.  From  this  he 
received  the  title  of  "judge,"  by  which  he  was  known  down  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  a  few  years  ago.  After  his  service  as  associate  judge  had  ceased  he  was. 
elected  recorder  of  the  county  and  held  the  office  six  years.  When  the  town' 
had  increased  in  population  Judge  Craig  built  another  public  house  further  up' 
the  hill,  toward  the  court-house.  By  honesty,  industry  and  economy  Judge- 
Craig  became  possessed  of  a  fair  competency.  His  family  was  not  large,  but 
they  were  very  highly  respected. people. 

John  Powell  came  to  the  town  in  the  year  1835,  from  Huron  county,  this; 
State.  He  was  the  merchant  of  the  town,  and  had  a  store  and  dwelling  oppo- 
site Judge  Craig's  tavern,  and  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  Mr.  Powell  was  one 
of  the  most  enterprising  men  of  the  town,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  its 
aff'airs,  and  that  of  the  county  as  well.  He  held  the  office  of  county  auditor, 
and  afterward  associate  judge  ;  the  latter  he  held  seven  years.  In  after  years 
he  rrioved  out  of  town  and  on  a  farm,  where  he  died  about  a  year  ago.  He 
had  quite  a  family  who  grew  up  highly  respected  in  the  community.  Dr. 
Powell,  a  leading  physician  of  Napoleon,  is  a  son  of  the  pioneer,  John  Powell. 

Hazel  Strong,  a  Vermont  "  Yankee,"  from  the  vicinity  of  Rutland,  came, 
with  his  young  wife,  to  this  county  about  the  year  1834.  He  located  on  a 
tract  of  land  outside  the  town,  about  three  miles  east,  where  he  cleared  and 
improved  a  fine  farm  ;  later  he  moved  into  town  and  built  a  residence.  From 
the  very  first  Hazel  Strong  occupied  a  position  of  prominence  among  the  peo- 
ple of  the  county,  and  was  soon  called  into  its  administrative  department.  He 
was  the  first  auditor  of'  the  county,  and  afterwards  was  appointed  clerk  of  the 
courts  in  place  of  J.  M.  Evans,  resigned.  The  latter  position  he  held  nearly 
fifteen  years.  His  penmanship  was  good,  and  in  mathematics  he  was  well 
versed.  As  a  surveyor  he  was  exceedingly  well  occupied,  and  there  is  no  part 
of  the  county  in  which  he  was  not,  at  some  time,  called  to  run  lines.  Every 
trust  reposed  in  him  was  well  executed,  and  he  proved  competent  in  every- 
thing he  undertook  to  accomplish.  He  helped  build  the  first  log-house  in  the- 
town.  Hazel  Strong  died  a  few  years  ago,  leaving  a  wife,  who  is  still  living,, 
although  now  past  her  eightieth  year  of  life. 

James  Magill  was  a  brother-in-law  to  John  Powell,  and  came  to  the  town 
at  or  about  the  same  time.  He  built  a  residence  and  lived  here,  although  his 
occupation  was  farming.  He  is  remembered  as  a  man  straightforward  and 
honest  in  his  business  transactions,  and  possessing  the  respect  of  the  people 
generally.  He  died  about  twenty  years  ago.  Edward  B.  Magill  is  a  son,  and., 
22 


I70  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


the  widow  of  Colonel  William  A.  Choate  a  daughter,  of  the  late  pioneer,  James 
Magill. 

Every  one  of  the  older  residents  of  the  town  and  vicinity  well  remember 
James  B.  Steedman,  better  known  in  after  years  as  General  Steedman,  who  came 
here  during  the  infant  days  of  the  county  in  connection  with  the  construction 
of  the  canal,  in  which  work  he  was  a  contractor.  General  Steedman  knew 
everybody,  and  everybody  knew  Steedman.  If  once  a  person  met  him  it  would 
always  be  remembered.  He  was  a  good  business  man,  made  money  and  many 
friends,  and  had  the  faculty  of  retaining  the  latter,  but  the  former  invariably 
slipped  away  from  him.  He  married  Sarah  Miranda  Stiles,  niece  of  General 
Leonard.  The  ceremony  was  performed  in  the  parlor  of  Leonard's  log  tavern. 
While  a  resident  of  this  county  General  Steedman  was  elected  to  the  Legisla- 
tnre,  the  district  comprising  eight  counties.  This  was  in  1841.  After  he  left 
the  town  the  general  used  frequently  to  come  back  and  renew  his  old  ac- 
quaintance. Although  now  some  years  dead,  his  memory  is  still  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  the  people.  He  made  an  excellent  war  record,  and  an  elegant  mon- 
ument at  Toledo  keeps  alive  his  memory  and  services  as  a  citizen  and  soldier. 

Frederick  Lord.'^a  "  Down-easter"  from  the  State  of  Maine,  is  another  per- 
son entitled  to  recognition  among  the  pioneer  residents  of  the  town  and  county. 
Mr.  Lord  was  an  attorney  by  profession,  and,  so  being,  was  appointed  prose- 
cuting attorney  for  the  county  in  1835,  and  afterward  elected  to  the  same  posi- 
tion. Still  later  he  was  elected  county  surveyor.  He  was  a  highly  educated 
person,  and  filled  an  important  position  among  the  people  of  the  new  county 
when  good  judgment  and  ability  were  required.  After  many  years  of  resi- 
dence here,  Mr.  Lord  went  to  Michigan,  and  is  said  to  be  still  living,  although 
of  advanced  years. 

William  D.  Barry  came  from  New  York  State  and  practiced  medicine  for 
a  time.  He  then  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  practice  at  the  courts.  He 
was  subsequently  chosen  to  fill  the  office  of  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county, 
succeeding,  in  the  incumbency  of  that  office,  Frederick  Lord.  From  here  Mr. 
Barry  went  to  Illinois,  and  is  thought  to  be  still  living. 

These,  then,  were  they  who  laid  the  foundation  in  social,  business,  and  pro- 
fessional life,  for  the  town  of  Napoleon ;  and  of  and  concerning  them  there  is 
no  word  of  criticism  and  no  word  of  reproof  There  may  have  been  others 
whose  names  are,  by  error,  omitted.  The  town  was  then  small,  and  had  but 
few  needs,  but  such  things  as  were  required  seem  to  have  been  performed  and 
done  well. 

From  this  time,  about  1837,  "^^  residents  were  constantly  coming  to  the 
place,  and  its  pioneer  work,  in  a  measure,  became  lost  in  the  general  progress 
of  the  town.  From  the  tax  duplicate  for  the  year  1847,  twelve  years  or  there- 
abouts after  the  settlement  commenced,  the  following  names  are  taken  show- 
ing land,  or  lot  owners,  but  not  necessarily  residents.     They  were  as  follows: 


Henry  County.  171 


Amos   Andrews,    John   Amour, Brigham,    Samuel  Bowers,  Benjamin 

Coffin,  John  Crist,  James  Cain,  David  I.  Cory,  Alexander  Craig,  David  Cross, 
A.  Daughinbaugh,  I.  N.  Evans,  David  Edwards,  Forman  Evans,  Daniel  Eng- 
lish, John  Glasgon,  John  Glass,  Hezekiah  Hubbell,  Frederick  Koom,  Solomon 
Render,  James  S.  Irwin,  George  R.  Lewis,  Henry  Leonard,  Frederick  Lord, 
E.  Lathrop,  John  Mann,  McHaughey  and  heirs,  Powell  &  Magill,  Philips  & 
Cory,  Abel  Rawson,  R.  W.  Shawn,  George  Stout,  Hazel  Strong,  John  Tay Ion 
John  Warnox.  These  were  taxpayers  on  town  lots.  Following  this  list  ap- 
pears others  who  were  residents  and  were  assessed  as  having  chattels  or  tax- 
able professions.  They  were  :  Alexander  Craig,  three  horses,  two  cows  ;  Will- 
iam Dodd,  one  horse  ;  Samuel  Dawson,  one  horse  ;  John  Glass,  one  cow ; 
James  G.  Haly,  law  practice,  $200;  Henry  Leonard,  two  horses,  four  cows; 
E.  Lathrop,  law  practice,  $200  ;  Jacob  Mann,  two  cows  ;  James  Magill,  seven 
cattle  ;  John  Powell,  two  horses,  five  cattle  ;  Andrew  Peam,  three  cattle  ;  L. 
L.  Patrick,  medical  practice,  $200 ;  Lucy  Patrick,  one  cow  ;  John  Rafferty, 
two  cattle ;  Hazel  Strong,  one  horse,  two  cattle  ;  George  Stout,  one  cow  ; 
William  Sheffield,  lawyer,  $200 ;  Jacob  Shott,  one  cow ;  Benjamin  P.  Smith, 
lawyer,  $200 ;   Michael  Sherman,  three  horses,  one  cow. 

Original  Plat  of  the  Town. — It  has  been  mentioned  in  this  chapter  that 
the  proprietors  of  the  land,  or  large  tracts  of  land,  Horatio  G.  Phillips,  Ben- 
jamin Leavell  and  Elnathan  Cory,  laid  out  the  same  about  the  time  the  first 
settlements  were  commenced  therein.  This  was  in  the  year  1834,  with  the  fol- 
lowing description,  notes  and  references  made  on  the  original  draft ; 

"  Each  street  is  five  rods  wide,  and  each  alley  is  one  rod  wide ;  each  lot  is 
five  rods  in  front,  and  ten  rods  back.  Twelve  feet  is  reserved  along  the  streets 
in  front  of  each  lot  for  sidewalks.  The  streets  intersecting  the  Maumee,  run 
north  thirty  degrees  west,  and  are  crossed  at  right  angles  by  streets  running 
north,  sixty  degrees  east.  In  the  center  of  Main  Cross  street,  and  on  the  north 
line  of  Front  street,  and  between  lots  numbers  24  and  25,  is  placed  a  stone 
with  a  cross  cut  upon  the  same,  the  center  of  which  cross  is  precisely  in  the 
center  of  the  stone  aforesaid;  and  ten  rods  north,  in  the  center  of  Main  Cross 
street,  is  a  second  stone,  with  a  like  cross  upon  it. 

"  In  the  center  of  Front  street,  and  directly  in  the  east  line  of  Monroe  street, 
is  a  third  stone  ;  and  also  ten  rods  east,  in  the  center  of  Front  street,  is  a  fourth 
stone,  both  of  which  contain  a  cross,  the  center  of  which  is  the  precise  center 
of  said  Front  street.  (Signed)  H.  G.  Phillips,  B.  Leavell,  El'n  Cory.  Wit- 
nesses present,  William  Leonard,  A.  Brancher."  The  certificate  of  the  sur- 
veyor in  charge  of  the  work  was  as  follows :  "  I,  Miller  Arrowsmith,  deputy- 
surveyor  of  the  county  aforesaid,  hereby  certify  the  within  to  be  a  correct  plat 
of  the  town  of  Napoleon,  as  surveyed  and  platted  by  me,  at  the  instance  of  the 
proprietors,  to- wit:  Horatio  G.  Phillips,  Benjamin  Leavell  and  Elnathan  Cory. 
"Given  under  my  hand  officially  this  loth  day  of  October,  in  the  year  A. 
D.  1834.  Signed,  MiLLER  Arrowsmith." 


1/2  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

This  certificate  was  dulj^  acknowledged  before  William  Leonard,  justice  of 
the  peace,  on  the  15  th  of  October,  of  the  same  year. 

From  the  original  draft  it  seems  that  Perry  street,  now  the  central  thor- 
oughfare of  the  village,  then  formed  the  west  line,  there  being  no  lots  platted 
on  the  west  of  it,  and  the  whole  town  lying  on  the  east.  The  north  and  south 
streets,  naming  them  from  the  west,  were  Perry,  Monroe,  Main  Cross,  Jeffer- 
son and  Wayne,  with  intermediate  alleys.  The  east  and  west  streets,  naming 
them  from  the  river  toward  the  north,  were,  Front,  Main,  Washington  and  Clin- 
ton, with  intervening  alleys.  Each  block  contained  eight  town  lots,  and  these 
were  divided  into  four  smaller  blocks  of  two  lots  each  by  the  intersecting  alleys 
in  the  center  of  each  main  block.  The  plat  of  the  town  contained  twelve  blocks 
bounded  by  streets,  each  having  eight  lots,  while  on  the  south  side  of  Front 
street,  and  between  it  and  the  river,  was  a  row  of  twelve  lots,  facing  north  on 
Front  street.  The  whole  number  of  lots  in  the  town  was  one  hundred  and 
twelve. 

The  first  settlements  made  were  in  the  vicinity  of  the  intersection,  or  place 
of  meeting,  of  Perry  and  Front  streets,  and  it  was  in  that  locality  that  lived 
the  persons  of  whom  record  is  made  in  the  early  portion  of  this  chapter. 

Under  this  arrangement  and  disposition  of  the  lots  of  the  town,  it  was  built 
upon,  and  continued  to  grow  and  enlarge  for  a  period  of  nearly  twenty  years. 
But  there  was  not,  as  yet,  any  act  or  proceeding  that  made  Napoleon  a  town 
or  village,  except  as  a  part  of  the  township  of  Napoleon.  The  town  had  no 
independent  or  separate  organization,  and  was,  in  its  government,  attached  to 
and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  officers  of  the  township.  The  lots  were 
rapidly  taken,  some  for  speculation,  and  others  for  regular  building  purposes, 
in  making  residences  and  places  of  business,  manufacture  and  trade;  and,  as 
there  was  nothing  to  keep  it  within  the  limits  of  the  plat  made  by  the  proprie- 
tors, it  of  course  grew  and  extended  beyond  that  limit,  so  that  at  this  present 
time,  the  place  retains  nothing  of  its  original  conformation,  except  as  to  that 
portion  originally  platted,  and  its  former  area  is  but  a  small  fractional  part  of 
"the  village  within  its  present  boimdaries. 

Incorporation  of  the  Village.  —  Soon  after  the  year  1850,  the  residents  of 
the  town  began  to  feel  the  necessity  of  a  corporate  organization  separate  and 
apart  from  the  township,  of  which  it  had  hitherto  formed  a  part.  The  place 
had  assumed  proportions,  and  had  acquired  a  population  sufficient  to  war- 
rant such  procedure.  The  subject  was  agitated  and  discussed,  but  it  was  not 
until  the  early  part  of  the  year  1853,  that  any  decided  action  was  taken  look- 
ing to  the  end  sought.  • 

In  the  mean  time  a  feature  of  the  case  had  developed  that  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  it  was  desired  by  many  of  the  petition- 
ers that  the  name  should  be  changed  from  Napoleon  to  some  other  more  ex- 
pressive of  "^things  American."     The  first  step  in  the  matter  was  the  presen- 


^g'tyE.^Wilhimi  iEr;  f-K 


n 


n. 


Henry  County.  173 


tation  of  a  petition  to  the  commissioners  of  the  county,  which  petition  was  as 
follows : 

"To  the  commissioners  of  Henry  county.  The  undersigned,  legal  voters 
of  the  town  of  Napoleon,  respectfully  ask  your  honorable  body  to  incorporate 
the  following  territory,  to  wit:  Northeast  fractional  quarter,  containing  116.93 
acres;  northeast  fractional  south  half,  82.24;  east  half  northwest  quarter,  80 
acres;  west  fractional  south  half,  75.44;  west  half,  northwest  quarter,  80;  con- 
taining four  hundred  and  thirty-four  and  sixty-one  hundredths  acres,  and  be- 
ing all  in  section  thirteen,  in  township  number  five,  north  of  range  number  six 
€a.st,  (sec.  13,  T.  5,  R.  6,  E.).  Said  territory  to  be  incorporated  into  a  village, 
and  to  be  called  'Henry';  for  a  more  particular  description  of  which  territory, 
and  the  relative  position  thereof,  you  are  referred  to  the  accompanying  plat, 
showing  that  portion  of  section  thirteen  north  of  the  Maumee  River  proposed 
to  be  included  in  said  limits  of  incorporation.  We  also  state  that  Dr.  Lorenzo 
Patrick  is  fully  authorized  to  act  in  behalf  of  the  petitioners  in  prosecuting  this 
petition.  Napoleon,  O.,  Feb.  28,  1853.  (Signed)  W.  J.  Jackson,  L.  L.  Pat- 
rick, Wm.  C.  Brownell,  W.  H.  Moe,  George  Stebbins,  John  Glass,  John  Pow- 
ell, Enoch  L.  Mann,  J.  P.  Rowen,  Isaac  Lightcap,  John  McCartney,  Paul  P. 
Doud,  Thomas  Yarnell,  A.  Craig,  D.  M.  McCann,  Alph.  M.  Hollabaugh,  Wil- 
liom  Dodd  (out  of  the  limit),  W.  H.  Mallory,  Harrison  V.  Conway,  James  O. 
Caldwell,  Henry  N.  Low,  Josiah  Pearce,  J.  W.  Stewart,  James  Armstrong, 
Thomas  Barrett,  G.  C.  Eastman,  Adam  Howk,  Israel  Strole  (not  a  resident),  J. 
H.  Tyler,  Jer.  Glass,  A.  H.  Tyler,  S.  R.  McBane,  Isaac  Van  Horn,  H.  D.  Tay- 
lor, George  McCann." 

This  petition  to  the  commissioners  was  followed  by  another,  to  wit:  "We, 
the'undersigned,  citizens  and  taxpayers  of  the  town  of  Napoleon,  in  said  county, 
and  vicinity,  pray  that  your  honorable  body  will,  upon  the  incorporation  of 
said  town,  change  the  name  thereof,  and,  in  the  stead  of  'Napoleon,'  name  the 
same  'Henry.'  (Signed)  Edward  Sheffield,  James  G.  Haly,  William  Dodd, 
George  W.  McCann,  S.  R.  McBane,  H.  McHenry,  David  Hartman,  G.  Grim, 
Jeremiah  Glass,  A.  H.  Tyler,  H.  Allen,  H.  D.  Taylor,  William  Halter,  C.  R. 
McWilHam,  D.  Yarnell,  J.  P.  Rowan,  James  Armstrong,  W.  A.  Tressler,  G.  C. 
Eastman,  Thomas  Yarnell,  Jesse  Frost." 

This  proposition,  so  far  as  related  to  the  changing  of  the  name  of  the  cor- 
poration, met  with  a  decided  opposition,  led  by  Augustin  Pilliod,  a  French- 
man, and  then  a  prominent  resident  of  the  town,  who  preferred  the  name  of 
Napoleon.  There  appears  to  be  no  preserved  record  of  a  remonstrance  being 
presented  against  the  petition,  but  there  was,  nevertheless,  a  strong  opposition 
which  ultimately  prevailed,  as  will  appear  hereafter.  The  question  came  before 
the  commissioners  for  hearing  and  action  on  June  7,  1853,  at  which  time  the 
^'ollowing  order  was  made: 

"This  being  the  day  appointed  for  the  hearing  of  the  petition  and  proposi- 


174  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

tion  to  incorporate  said  territory,  Loronzo  L.  Patrick,  agent  named  in  the  said 
petition  to  act  for  the  petitioners,  personally  appeared  and  asked  leave  to- 
amend  and  change  said  petition  by  striking  out  the  name  'Napoleon,'  pro- 
posed for  said  town  when  incorporated,  and  inserting  the  name  'Henry'  in 
lieu  thereof,  which  was  granted  by  the  commissioners,  whereupon  said  appli- 
cation was  heard  upon  the  petition  herein  filed,  the  affidavits,  etc.,  and  the 
commissioners  being  satisfied  that  more  than  fifty  qualified  voters  actually 
reside  within  the  limits  described  in  the  petition,  and  that  said  petition  has 
been  signed  by  a  majority  of  them;  that  said  limits  have  been  accurately 
described,  and  an  accurate  map  and  plats  thereof  made  and  filed  in  said 
petition,  and  that  the  name  proposed  by  said  petition  as  amended,  for  said 
incorporated  village,  is  proper  and  sufficient  to  distinguish  it  from  others  of 
the  like  kind  in  the  State;  and  it  being  deemed  right  and  proper  in  the 
judgment  and  discretion  of  the  commissioners  that  the  prayer  of  said  petition 
be  granted.  It  is  therefore  ordered  that  said  territory  described  in  said  plat, 
attached  to  said  petition,  be  incorporated  and  organized  as  a  village,  under 
the  name  of  '  Henry,'  as  named  and  described  in  said  petition.  June  7,. 
1853.  (Signed)  D.  Harley,  Charles  Hornung,  Matthew  Reid,  Commission- 
ers of  Henry  county,  O." 

Having  been  defeated  in  their  endeavors  to  retain  the  name  of  Napoleon 
for  the  village,  the  friends  and  supporters  of  it  were  by  no  means  wholly  dis- 
couraged or  disposed  to  let  the  fight  drop.  They  renewed  their  opposition 
more  earnestly,  and,  it  is  thought,  gained  some  strength.  The  loth  day  of  Oc- 
tober, 1853,  was  the  date  fixed  for  the  election  of  mayor  and  councilmen  for 
the  new  incorporated  village,  and  here  the  friends  of  "Napoleon"  made  such  a 
demonstration  that  the  election  could  not  proceed. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Northwest,  the  newspaper  of  the  town,  had  dropped 
"Napoleon"  from  its  head-line  and  substituted  "  Henry."  No  records  appear 
to  exist  concerning  the  events  of  the  day  of  election  and  such  information  as 
can  be  accurately  derived  is  taken  from  the  editorial  columns  of  the  Northwest. 
It  seems  that  the  friends  of  Napoleon  were  out  in  force,  and  when  an  attempt  was 
made  to  choose  officers  to  conduct  the  election  they  by  some  means  managed 
to  defeat  it.  After  balloting  several  times,  but  without  securing  a  board,  the 
meeting  was  adjourned  for  one  year.  This  was  a  decisive  victory  for  the  op- 
ponents to  the  petition  over  those  who  desired  to  change  the  name  of  the  town,- 
and  from  this  time  all  effort,  both  as  to  changing  the  name,  the  incorporation 
of  the  village  and  the  election  of  village  officers  as  well,  was  stopped.  The 
next  issue  of  the  Northwest  found  the  old  name  of  "Napoleon"  restored,  and 
after  a  few  days  of  discussion  the  excitement  passed  away  and  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  county  seat  was  delayed  for  ten  years. 

The  next  attempt  to  effect  the  incorporation  of  the  county  seat  was  made 
in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1863,  based  upon  a  petition  signed  by  nearly  one- 


Henry  County.  175 


hundred  and  fifty  persons,  residents  and  taxpayers,  residing  within  the  limits  of 
the  territory  affected.     The  petition,  which  contained  a  description  of  the  lands 
proposed  to  be  incorporated,  was  as  follows  : 
"To  the  Honorable,  the  Commissioners  of  Henry  county,  Ohio  : 

"  Your  petitioners  respectfully  represent  to  your  honorable  body  that  they 
are  inhabitants  of  a  part  of  the  said  county  of  Henry,  not  embraced  within  the 
limits  of  any  city  or  incorporated  village;  that  they  desire  to  be  organized  into 
an  incorporated  village,  under  the  name  and  style  of  the  '  incorporated  village 
of  Napoleon  ;'  that  they  desire  to  have  the  following  described  territory  em- 
braced in  such  incorporated  village,  to  wit :  Parts  of  sections  thirteen  (13)  and 
fourteen  (14)  in  township  number  five  (5),  north  of  range  number  six  (6),  east, 
and  bounded  and  described  as  follows :  Commencing  at  the  northwest  corner 
•of  the  east  half  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  number  fourteen  (14);  thence 
east  to  the  township  line  ;  thence  south  to  the  Maumee  River ;  thence  south- 
westerly along  said  river  to  the  west  line  of  the  east  side  of  the  north  part  of 
the  northeast  fractional  quarter,  section  number  twenty- three  (23)  of  said  town- 
ship and  range ;  thence  north  along  said  line  to  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
east  half  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  section  number  fourteen  (14)  of  said  town- 
ship and  range,  and  thence  north  along  the  west  line  of  the  east  half  of  the 
southeast  and  northeast  quarter  of  said  section  number  fourteen  (14)  to  the 
place  of  beginning.  Your  petitioners  appoint  and  authorize  S.  M.  Hague  to 
act  in  their  behalf  in  the  prosecution  of  the  petition  ;  they  also  ask  that  your 
honorable  body  will  appoint  a  time  and  place  for  the  hearing  of  this  petition, 
the  said  time  not  to  be  less  than  sixty  days  from  the  date  hereof  Napoleon, 
March  2,  1863." 

The  question  came  before  the  commissioners  for  a  hearing  and  final  deter- 
mination on  the  2d  day  of  June,  1863,  whereupon  the  following  order  was 
made : 

"  Ordered,  that  the  incorporated  village  named  and  described  in  the  within 

petition  be  organized. 

"George  Crawford,  \ 
"Levi  Spangler,  >  Commissioners. 

"John  Powell,  ) 

"  Napoleon,  Henry  county,  Ohio." 

It  was,  therefore,  on  the  2d  day  of  June,  1863,  that  the  county  seat  became 
•an  incorporated  village,  separate  from  the  township  of  Napoleon,  of  which  it 
had  formerly  formed  a  part.  Its  oiganization  was  complete  and  thorough  ; 
authorized  to  elect  its  own  officers  and  administer  its  own  affairs,  which  it  has 
■done  from  that  until  the  present  time. 

This  act  of  incorporation  was  unquestionably  the  most  beneficial  to  the 
.residents  of  the  county  seat  that  could  have  been  performed.      It  not  only  gave 


1/6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Napoleon  a  distinct  organization,  but  gave  it,  moreover,  the  dignified  title  of 
"  village."  By  the  organization  its  officers  and  people  could  make  such  ex- 
penditures for  public  improvements  as  were  deemed  advisable,  without  being 
subject  to  the  adverse  opinion  of  the  residents  of  the  township,  outside  the 
town,  who,  not  being  directly  benefited  by  such  improvements,  were  exceed- 
ingly inclined  to  oppose  them  on  account  of  a  slight  increase  in  taxation. 

The  village  of  Napoleon  has  frequently,  by  the  action  of  its  municipal  au- 
thorities with  the  approval  of  other  powers,  been  enlarged,  so  far  as  its  corpor- 
ate limits  are  concerned,  so  that  at  the  present  time  it  covers  a  much  larger 
area  than  was  included  by  the  proceeding  of  1863.  These  several  extensions, 
a  detail  of  each  of  which  is  not  necessary  in  this  chapter,  have  included  a  Jarge 
tract  of  land  with  its  occupying  buildings,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Maumee 
River.  This  enlargement  brought  to  the  village  a  considerable  population, 
and  some  few  unimportant  business  interests.  This  locality  south  of  the  river 
is  known  as  South  Napoleon. 

Napoleon  proper  occupies  a  pleasant  location  on  the  river,  from  which,  to  the 
center  of  the  business  portion  of  the  village,  is  a  gradual  ascent.  At  a  point  not 
far  from  the  court-house  the  greatest  elevation  of  the  place  is  reached  ;  and 
from  this  point  there  seems  to  be  a  gradual  depression  of  the  surface  in  each 
direction  as  the  village  limits  are  approached.  This  favorable  situation  affords 
excellent  natural  drainage,  notwithstanding  which  trunk  and  lateral  sewers  are 
frequent  for  the  better  carrying  off  of  surface  water  and  sewage. 

The  principal  business  street  (Perry)  has  been  substantially  paved  with  stone, 
giving  the  locality  a  decidedly  metropolitan  appearance,  and  creating  much 
favorable  comment  from  visitors.  The  general  substantial  and  attractive  ap- 
pearance of  the  business  blocks,  and  the  goodly  number  of  them  too,  has  much 
to  do  with  favorable  impression  that  is  already  gained  for  the  place,  and  it  is  a 
questionable  fact  whether  there  can  be  found  in  Northwestern  Ohio,  a  place 
having  no  greater  population  than  this  that  can  present  a  better  or  cleaner  busi- 
ness center.  Where,  at  the  time  of  the  incorporation  of  the  village  in  1863, 
there  was  not  a  single  three-story  brick  business  block,  there  now  stands  dozens 
of  them.  The  first  of  them  was  the  "  Heller  Block,"  built  in  the  year  1865. 
Since  that  time  there  has  been  a  general  tendency  to  erect  substantial  and 
attractive  brick  buildings,  and  this  has  been  done  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
objectionable  "  frame  row  "  is  the  exception,  not  the  rule.  There  are,  to  be 
sure,  many  frame  business  houses,  but  they  are  not  found  continuous,  and  such 
as  are  still  standing  are  generally  kept  well  painted  and  neat  in  exterior  ap- 
pearance. In  the  year  1863  there  was  hardly  a  dozen  stores  in  the  entire 
town,  and  but  very  few  manufactories  of  any  kind  ;  it  is  proper,  therefore,  that 
a  mention  should  be  made  of  the  various  business  houses  in  the  locality  that 
now  as  well  as  then  was  known  as  the  center  of  trade. 


Henry  County.  177 


Mercantile  and  Other  Business  Interests. 

In  making  the  following  record  classification  has  been  found  impossible, 
owing  to  the  mixed  character  of  the  stock  generally  carried  by  merchants,  and 
for  that  reason,  they  are  arranged  with  reference  to  their  street  location  in  con- 
secutive order,  beginning  with  the  west  side  of  Perry  street,  from  north  to 
south,  and  showing  such  facts  as  may  be  of  interest  regarding  the  business 
conducted  at  each  place. 

F.  C.  Fisk  &  Co.,  grocery  and  provision  store,  glass  and  queen's  ware  ; 
established  by  Clewell  &  Fisk  in  1880;  succeeded  by  F.  C.  Fisk,  and  in  1887, 
John  Thiesen  became  a  partner,  and  is  one  of  the  present  firm. 

C.  H.  Suydam,  boots  and  shoes,  also  manufacturing  and  repairing  same ; 
established  in  April,  1885,  as  successor  to  R.  W.  Suydam. 

R.  Hudson,  harness  store  and  manufactory,  horse  and  carriage  goods ;  L. 
H.  Diehl,  manager;  established  1883. 

Eggers  &  Son,  restaurant  and  saloon  ;   established  1886. 

J.  C.  Saur  &  Co.,  bankers  (the  firm  being  J.  C.  Saur  and  F.  O.  Blair)  ; 
commenced  business  April  i,  1886,  as  successors  to  Heller  &  Saur,  bankers. 
While  this  firm  can  hardly  be  considered  as  having  succeeded  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Napoleon,  their  business  is  the  outgrowth  of  that  commenced 
by  the  corporation  named.  The  First  National  Bank  was  incorporated  in 
1872,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000,  which  was  afterwards  increased  to  $100,- 
000.  The  first  officers  were,  E.  S.  Blair,  president;  J.  W.  Miller,  vice-presi- 
dent, and  A.  D.  Tourtillott,  cashier.  On  July  i,  1877,  E.  S.  Blair  succeeded 
the  banking  corporation,  and  was,  in  turn,  succeeded  by  Heller  &  Saur. 

Frease  Brothers  (D.  W.,  J.  H.  and  W.  S.  Frease  constituting  the  firm) ; 
jewelers,  also  dealers  in  boots  and  shoes;  established  in  1879. 

A.  J.VanDerBroek,  merchant  tailor,  clothing  and  furnishing  goods ;  estab- 
lished in  1869,  by  Van  Der  Broek  &  Co.,  and  succeeded  in  1887  by  A.  J.  Van 
Der  Broek. 

D.  &  J.  Wilson,  dealers  in  dry  goods,  boots  and  shoes,  hats  and  caps,  and 
carpets  ;  established  in  1866,  succeeding  in  business  the  firm  of  Roach  &  Wil- 
son, pioneers  in  the  business  at  Napoleon. 

Gustav  Kohler,  groceries,  provisions,  crockery  and  saloon ;  established  in 
1879  in  copartnership  with  William  Spengler;  the  latter  retired  in  1880,  since 
which  the  business  has  been  conducted  solely  by  Mr.  Kohler. 

Isa  Leist,  drugs,  books  and  stationery;  established  in  the  year  1882. 

H.  C.  Groschner,  general  hardware,  stores,  carriages,  wagons  and  plows ; 
the  hardware  branch  of  this  business  was  estabHshed  about  1862,  by  Henry 
Kahlo,  who  was  succeeded  by  the  firm  of  Imber  &  Gillis,  and  they  in  turn  by 
Groschner  &  Heller,  and  subsequently  the  firm  became  Groschner  &  Redder- 
son.  In  1887  the  present  proprietor  became  sole  owner  and  has  since  man- 
aged the  business.  ^^ 


178  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

'  Saur  &  Balsley,  drugs,  books  and  stationery  ;  established  April  i,  1865,  bjr 
J.  C.  Saur,  who  in  May,  1887,  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Balsley. 

Shoemaker  Brothers  (Milton  J.,  Frank  C.  and  Charles  W.  Shoemaker  con- 
stituting the  firm).  This  business,  general  dry  goods,  notions,  boots  and  shoes, 
hats  and  caps,  clothing  and  carpets,  was  established  by  Scott  &  Heller,  on 
March  4,  1861,  but  in  May  following  Mr.  Scott  sold  his  interest  to  his  partner, 
who  managed  it  alone  until  1866,  when  W.  L.  Heller  became  a  partner,  under 
the  firm  style  of  S.  M.  &  W.  L.  Heller;  in  1871  W.  L.  Heller  sold  to  Colonel 
S.  A.  Hissong,  when  the  firm  became  Heller  &  Hissong;  in  1873  Colonel  His- 
song  sold  to  M.  E.  Heller,  and  the  firm  then  became  S.  M.  &  M.  E.  Heller. 
This  firm  continued  until  i886,  when  Shoemaker  Brothers  succeeded  to  the 
business. 

D.  J.  Humphrey,  dealer  in  drugs  and  medicines,  books,  stationery,  paints, 
oils,  wall  paper,  and  picture  and  other  frames ;  Mr.  Humphrey  was  the  pio- 
neer of  the  drug  business  in  Napoleon,  having  started  in  1859,  on  Washington- 
street.  About  the  year  1872,  he  established  at  his  present  location,  corner  of 
Perry  and  Washington  streets. 

Henry  Meyer,  merchant  tailoring,  clothing,  hats  and  caps,  and  gents'  fur- 
nishings ;  established  in  partnership  with  George  Hahn,  in  1 870,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Hahn  &  Meyer,  and  continued  until  1886,  when  Henry  Meyer  suc- 
ceeded the  firm. 

H.  A.  Meyerholtz  &  Brother  (H.  A.  &  H.  F.  Meyerholtz  composing  the 
firm) ;  established  in  1866;  dealers  in  groceries,  provisions,  crockery  and  glass- 
ware.    This  firm  are  also  proprietors  of  the  Napoleon  Tile  and  Brick  Works, 

Rensselaer  Hudson  &  Co.  (W.  P.  Hudson  being  the  Co.);  jewelry,  watches,, 
clocks,  musical  instruments  and  repairing ;  the  business,  except  musical  instru- 
ments, was  established  by  G.  W.  Pardee,  in  1855,  but  some  years  later  R> 
Hudson  became  a  partner,  and  in  about  the  year  1870  sole  owner;  still  later 
W.  P.  Hudson,  son  of  R.  Hudson,  became  a  partner. 

Multon  &  Fate,  saloon. 

Ulrich  &  Co.  (A.  J.  Ulrich  and  E.  F.  Weinland)  ;  general  hardware,  stoves- 
and  agricultural  implements  ;  established  1886. 

J.  B.  Couch,  general  dry  goods,  boots  and  shoes ;  Mr.  Couch  started  in^ 
business  in  Napoleon  in  1873,  in  partnership  firm  of  Imber  &  Couch,  and  in 
1876  sold  to  his  partner.  In  1878  he  again  commenced  and  has  since  contin- 
ued as  sole  proprietor. 

S.  M.  Honeck,  merchant  tailoring,  furnishing  goods,  and  hats  and  caps ;. 
established  in  1879  under  firm  of  Honeck  &  Grosscup,  but  after  five  months 
the  firm  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Honeck,  who  has  since  conducted  the  business. 

H.  E.  Cary,  established  i860,  but  for  four  months  during  the  war  the  pro- 
prietor was  in  the  service,  and  the  business  left  to  a  clerk's  management ;  in 
1873  T.  R.  Carroll  purchased  an  interest  but  retired  in  1880.  Stock,  grocery 
and  queen's  ware. 


Henry  County. 


179 


S.  F.  Shower,  established  1862;  harness  store,  horse  goods,  manufacturing 
and  repairing.  The  proprietor  has  twice  taken  a  partner,  but  for  a  very  short 
time. 

Charles  Polkea,  saloon  and  restaurant. 

M.  Reiser,  boots,  shoes  and  rubber  goods  ;  established  1886.  The  pro- 
prietor has  been  engaged  in  business  in  Napoleon  for  many  years,  but  in  other 
branches. 

S.  L.   Curtis,  established  in  business  as  dealer  in  furs,  pelts  and  hides  in 

1862  ;  about  1865  or  '66  had  Henry  Tressler  as  partner  for  about  six  months. 
Recently  Mr.  Curtis  has  established  an  extensive  variety  store.  As  a  dealer 
in  furs  he  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  region. 

John  Keil,  saloon  and  lunch  room;  established  1887. 

William  Hoffman,  saloon  and  lunch  room  ;  established  1887. 

The  business  interests  on  the  east  side  of  Perry  street  are  as  follows : 

Conrad  Bitzer,  furniture  and  undertaking  ;  Bitzer  Block,  corner  of  Perry 
and  Chnton  streets;  established  in  1873  ;  three  story  brick  block  built  in  1875. 

George  Hahn,  merchant  tailoring,  clothing,  and  furnishing  goods. 

David  Halter,  bakery,  confectionery,  and  shelf  groceries  ;  business  estab- 
lished about  1878  by  Harmon  Heber,  who  was  succeeded  in  July,  1887,  by 
the  present  proprietor. 

John  Diemer,  meat  market;   established  in  Napoleon  in   1859;    prior  to 

1863  he  had  a  partner,  but  since  that  time  has  conducted  business  alone. 
William  Newman,  saloon  and  pool-room  ;   established  1871. 

William  Spengler,  groceries,  provisions,  and  saloon;  established  in  1879, 
with  Gustav  Kohler,  but  sold  to  his  partner  in  1883,  and  started  similar  bus- 
iness at  the  last  named  date. 

Anthony  Hahn,  tobaccos,  cigars,  and  saloon. 

David  Meekison,  banker;  established  March,  t886,  at  the  same  location 
formerly  occupied  by  the  banking  firm^of  Sheffield  &  Norton  ;  but  in  no  manner 
can  Mr.  Meekison  be  said  to  have  succeeded  to  the  business  of  the  former  firm 
•other  than  that  his  place  of  business  is  at  the  same  location. 

J.  M.  Myers,  tobacco,  cigars,  and  confections;  established  1887. 

Jacob  Sens,  saloon  ;   established  1882. 

John  Hahn,  saloon  ;  established  about  1870. 

Oliver  Higgins,  jeweler  and  watch  repairer  ;  successor,  in  1884,  to  the  bus- 
iness that  was  established  in  1883  by  Higgins  &  Brother. 

The  following  are  the  leading  business  interests  on  the  north  side  of  Wash- 
ington street : 

Halter  &  Gidley,  marble  and  granite  dealers,  manufacturers  of  monuments ; 
established  1875,  as  successors  to  R.  W.  Hartman. 

S.  Bernstein,  clothing  and  furnishing  goods ;  established  1 878. 

W.  G.  Coover,  general  hardware;  established  1868,  by  Groschner  &  Hell- 


i8o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

er,  and  in  1871  sold  to  Groschner ;  in  1871  Hellers  &  Coover  was  established 
and  continued  to  1879,  when  W.  L.  Heller,  the  senior  partner,  sold  to  his  son, 
R.  B.  Heller,  whereupon  the  firm  became  Heller  &  Coover;  in  March,  1886, 
Mn  Coover  succeeded  to  the  entire  business. 

R.  B.  Shasteen,  grocery,  provisions,  and  queensware ;  established  1884^ 
succeeding  the  firm  of  Shasteen  Brothers. 

Davison  Sisters  (C.  L.  and  H.  D.  Davison),  millinery  and  dressmaking; 
established  1886. 

A.  Bradley,   general  grocery,  crockery,  and  glassware  ;    established   1874. 

George  Baum,  harness  manufacturing  and  repairing,  horse  goods  and  sup- 
plies ;  established  1878. 

Pohlman  Brothers  (C.  F  and  H.  F.  Pohlman),  meat  market;  established 
1881. 

Rohrs  &  Suhr  (George  H.  Rohrs  and  Thomas  H.  Suhr),  dry  goods,  notions, 
hats  and  caps,  boots  and  shoes,  carpets  ;  established  1884,  succeeding  the  older 
firm  of  Rohrs  &  Vocke,  which  latter  firm  was  established  about  1879. 

J.  W.  Tietjen,  tobacco,  cigars,  and  saloon;  established  1870. 

S.  E.  French,  art  gallery  and  studio. 

Miss  A.  M.  Weaver,  millinery;  established  1883. 

F.  W.  Rohrs,  saloon  and  pool  room. 

George  Curdes,  bakery  aud  confectionery;  established  1880. 

On  the  south  side  of  Washington  street  is  found  these  business  houses : 

Frederick  Schroeder,  furniture  dealer  and  manufacturer;  established  1884, 
as  successor  to  Musser  &  Wilson. 

A.  B.  Scribner,  general  hardware  and  agricultural  implements  ;  established 
1880  (formerly  proprietor  of  foundry  and  machine  shops). 

Redderson  &  Westhoven,  meat  market ;  established  May  21,  1877,  as  suc- 
cessors to  William  Redderson. 

W.  P.  Stockman,  grocery,  provisions,  and  crockery;  established  1877. 

Norden  &  Bruns,  dry  goods,  boots  and  shoes,  hats  and  caps,  furnishing 
goods;    established    1884,  succeeding  Henry  Norden,  who  was  established  in 

1879- 

The  following  are  business  interests  not  classified  as  above : 

Hotels.  The  village  has  two  well  appointed  hotels  —  the  "  Miller  House," 
a  first-class  hostelry,  situate  at  the  corner  of  Perry  and  Clinton  streets,  and  the 
"  Capitol,"  located  near  the  Wabash  depot ;  the  former  under  the  proprietor- 
ship of  Wallace  Blair,  and  the  latter  managed  by  Harry ^Webb. 

General  Insurance  Agents.  C.  E.  Reynolds  (also  real  estate  dealer),  estab- 
lished i860;   H.  H.  French,  1878;  S.  F.  Long.  1886. 

Liverymen.  Russell  Jones,  established  1859,  formerly  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness;  Charles  Van  Hyning,  established  1876;  J.  B.  Foster,  established  1879; 
ira  Hayes. 


Henry  County.  i8i 


Dentists.  Ezra  W.  Talbott,  established  1865  ;  A.  S.  Condit,  established 
1878;  William  J.  Pierepont,  established  1884. 

Manufacturing  Interests. 

Napoleon  Flouring  Mill.  This  industry  was  commenced  during  the  year 
1856,  by  Augustin  Pilliod,  but  it  was  not  until  some  time  later  that  the  build- 
ing was  completed  and  in  running  order.  Power  was  obtained  from  the  canal 
and  carried  thence  through  the  mill  and  discharged  into  the  river.  It  was  of 
the  class  commonly  known  as  a  "stone  mill,"  having  two  run  of  stone — one  for 
wheat  and  the  other  for  buckwheat  and  feed,  or  chop.  In  the  year  1 864  the 
property  was  purchased  by  John  H.  Vocke,  who  rebuilt  and  otherwise  improved 
it  by  enlarging  its  capacity.  It  was  operated  by  his  sons,  Harmon  H.,  Clementr 
Bernard,  and  John.  They  continued  its  management  until  1882,  when  Ber- 
nard and  Clement  both  died,  after  which  its  operation  was  continued  by  Har- 
mon H.  and  John  Vocke  to  the  present  time.  In  1885  the  mill  underwent 
radical  changes,  and  "  roller  process  "  machinery  was  placed  therein  ;  there 
was  also  added  two  run  of  stone  for  producing  chop  and  buckwheat  flour. 
The  size  of  the  building  is  48  by  100  feet,  four  stories  high.  It  has  a  capacity 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  barrels  of  flour  per  day.  It  is  located  on 
Front  street,  west  of  Perry  street. 

Vocke's  Distillery.  The  distillery  building  is  located  on  the  north  side  of 
and  near  the  canal,  east  of  Perry  street.  It  was  built  in  the  year  1866,  by 
John  H.  Vocke,  and  run  for  a  number  of  years  as  a  "  high  wine  distillery,"  by 
the  sons  of  the  owner.  In  1878  it  was  changed  to  an  "  alcohol  and  spirit  " 
distillery.  The  manufacture  of  distilled  spirits  at  this  place  was  stopped  in 
1883,  since  which  time  the  building  has  been  idle.  It  had  a  capacity  for  pro- 
ducing daily  from  thirty-five  to  forty  barrels  of  spirits,  using  therefor  about 
five  hundred  bushels  of  grain. 

Roller's  Flouring  Mill.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  manufacturing 
industries  of  Napoleon,  and  bears  no  resemblance  whatever  to  the  original 
building  of  which  the  present  substantial  structure  is  the  outgrowth.  The  mill 
on  this  site  was  built  in  the  year  1850,  by  John  Ritter,  he  taking  power  from 
the  canal,  and,  by  means  of  a  conduit,  conveying  the  same  through  the  mill 
and  discharging  the  waste,  or  utilized  water,  into  the  Maumee,  on  the  bank  of 
which  the  mill  was  erected.  Originally  the  mill  had  but  two  run  of  stone. 
Mr.  Ritter  owned  and  operated  it  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  1871,  after  which 
it  passed,  by  purchase,  into  the  ownership  of  Josiah  Kohler.  The  latter  at 
once  substantially  rebuilt  the  mill,  and  increased  its  capacity  by  adding  two 
run  of  stone,  making  a  total  of  four.  In  this  manner  it  was  operated  until 
1885,  when  the  owner  again  made  material  improvements  by  changing  its 
machinery  from  stone  to  the  more  modern  "  roller  process,"  placing  therein, 
fourteen  sets  of  rollers,  thus  giving  the  mill  a  total  producing  capacity  of  one 


1 82  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

hundred  barrels  of  flour  daily.  Mr.  Kohler  continued  in  sole  management 
until  February,  1887,  at  which  time  Jacob  B.  Augenstein  became  a  part  owner. 
The  mill  in  size  is  42  by  50  feet,  four  stories  in  height,  with  a  large  addition 
on  the  south  side. 

In  connection  with  their  business  the  proprietors  have  a  large  storage  ele 
vator  near   the  Wabash  depot,  which  was  built  in  the  year    1876  and  has  a 
-storage  capacity  for  thirty  thousand  bushels  of  grain. 

Napoleon  Woolen  Mill.  The  only  manufacturing  enterprise  of  this  kind 
•in  Napoleon  is  that  which  was  established  by  Jacob  Augenstein  in  the  year 
1863.  The  building  stands  on  Front  street,  west  of  Perry  and  between  the 
canal  and  the  Maumee  River.  After  having  operated  the  mill  for  about  a 
year  the  proprietor  and  founder  took  two  partners,  H.  B.  Lantzenheizer  and 
Samuel  Bigger,  which  partnership  continued  in  successful  business  operation 
until  the  year  1873,  when  Mr.  Lantzenheizer  retired,  J.  B.  Augenstein  taking 
his  place  in  the  firm.  In  1883  the  senior  partner  gave  his  sons,  Charles  and  A. 
Augenstein,  an  interest  in  the  business.  Two  years  later,  1885,  J.  B.  Augen- 
stein sold  his  interest  to  A.  E.  Augenstein.  In  the  spring  of  1887  A.  Augen- 
stein died,  his  interest,  however,  remaining  in  the  firm  and  owned  by  his  estate. 
The  present  members  of  the  firm  are  Jacob  Augenstein,  Charles  F.  Augenstein, 
-Samuel  Bigger,  Allison  E.  Augenstein  and  Acquilla  Augenstein,  the  interest 
of  the  latter  being  now  in  an  estate. 

The  firm  manufacture  woolen  goods,  mainly  flannel  shirtings;  also  yarn 
-and  other  commodities.     They  employ  about  twenty-five  persons. 

Saygers's  Saw-mill.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  industries  on  the  river  in 
this  vicinity,  having  been  established  in  the  year  1843,  by  John  Powell  and 
Hazel  Strong,  both  pioneers  of  the  town,  of  whom  mention  has  been  made 
in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter.  The  mill  built  by  them  at  this  place  is 
said  to  have  been  the  first  on  this  "level"  of  the  canal,  and  from  tlte  canal  the 
motive  power  was  obtained.  From  the  time  of  its  erection  in  1843  until  it 
-came  to  the  present  owner,  its  several  changes  have  been  about  as  follows: 
Powell  &  Strong  sold  to  Welsted  &  Halter,  and  the  latter  to  Richards  &  Em- 
ery; Richards  sold  his  interest  to  William  Martell,  and  Martell  to  George 
Sipler.  It  then  went  on  forced  sale  back  to  Mr.  Martell,  the  title  to  the  whole 
property  vesting  in  him.  In  1877  he  sold  to  Saygers  &  Imber,  but  the  Imber 
interest  was  afterward  transferred  to  his  partner,  Andrew  Jackson  Saygers,  who 
is  still  its  owner.  This  is  but  an  ordinary  water-power  saw-mill,  its  chief  prom- 
inence attaching  on  account  of  its  early  construction.  The  mill  stands  on 
the  river  bank  south  of  Front  street,  being  the  farthest  west  of  any  of  the  man- 
ufactories which  abound  in  this  neighborhood.  Very  near  it  and  almost  form- 
ing a  part  of  it,  is  the  Napoleon  Boat  Oar  Factory,  concerning  which  a  more 
■detailed  mention  will  elsewhere  be  found. 

The  Napoleon  Brewery.     This,  the  only  industry  of  its  kind  within  the  vil- 


Henry  County.  183 


lage,  was  started  in  the  year  1862  by  one  Kopp,  and  although  the  present 
brewery  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  original,  founded  as  above  stated,  it  bears  so 
little  resemblance  to  Kopp's  brewery  as  to  be  scarcely  recognized  as  once  hav- 
ing formed  a  part  thereof.  Its  dimensions  have  been  frequently  enlarged  to 
meet  the  increased  demand  of  its  production.  After  managing  it  for  about 
five  years  Mr.  Kopp  sold  it  to  John  Herbolsheimer,  and  he,  after  conducting  it 
until  1885,  sold  to  the  present  owner  and  proprietor,  Ferdinand  Roessing. 
Under  his  ownership  the  most  frequent  enlargements  have  been  made,  nearly 
every  year  marking  some  improvements,  so  that,  at  the  present  time  it  has  a 
capacity  for  producing  twenty-four  hundred  barrels  of  lager  beer  annually. 
From  here  every  dealer  in  this  commodity  in  the  village  is  supplied  and  quan- 
tities are  shipped  to  other  points.  The  works  occupy  three  lots  situate  at  the 
corner  of  Perry  and  Front  streets.  The  building  is  a  large,  three-story,  brick 
structure,  well  arranged  for  the  business  conducted. 

Bruner's  Hoop  Factory.  Although  the  manufacture  of  barrel  hoops  is  but 
a  comparatively  recent  industry  in  Napoleon,  it  is  rapidly  assuming  a  fair  pro- 
portion among  the  interests  of  the  place.  It  was  started  here  in  the  year  1885, 
by  A.  Bruner,  he  leasing  the  building  formerly  occupied  as  the  Napoleon  Ag- 
ricultural Works.  The  affairs  and  business  of  the  latter  were  managed  by  an 
incorporated  company,  of  which  Harmon  H.  Vocke  was  president;  A.  H.  Ty- 
ler, secretary ;  J.  D.  Norton,  treasurer,  and  H.  H.  Vocke,  Joseph  A.  Stout,  H. 
E.  Cary,  J.  D.  Morey  and  Charles  Reiter,  were  directors.  The  company  was 
organized  about  the  year  1 874.  The  object  of  the  company  was  to  manufacture 
grain  reapers,  but  during  the  first  two  years  it  was  operated  only  as  a  machine 
shop.  It  was  then  rented  to  one  Turnbull,  who  continued  its  operation  as  a 
machine  shop  and  works  for  about  five  years,  when  the  building  and  plant  was 
sold,  Harmon  H.  Vocke  &  Brothers  becoming  the  owners.  This  firm  made 
radical  changes  and  operated  it  as  a  stave  factory,  under  the  firm  name  of  Vocke 
Brothers  &  Wheeler.  It  was  so  conducted  until  the  fall  of  the  year  1885, 
when  Mr.  Bruner  leased  the  plant  and  established  the  present  business  of  hoop 
manufacture,  which  can  be  said  to  be  about  the  only  successful  and  profitable 
production  connected  with  the  life  of  the  building.  The  works  are  situate  near 
the  line  of  the  Wabash  railroad,  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  town. 

Thiesen  &  Hildred's  Planing-mills.  The  name  applied  to  this  important 
branch  of  Napoleon's  industries  is  adopted  simply  for  convenience,  and  is  but 
poorly  expressive  of  the  character  or  extent  of  business  done  by  the  firm.  To 
be  sure,  they  have  an  extensive  planing-mill,  but  in  addition  to  that  feature  of 
the  business,  they  are  manufacturers  of  doors,  sash,  blinds,  mouldings,  and  deal- 
ers in  lumber,  lath,  shingles,  lime,  cement  and  plastering  hair  The  works 
are  situate  on  the  south  side  of  Front  street,  and  west  of  Perry  street,  in  the 
center  of  the  extensive  manufacturing  area  of  the  village;  the  firm  also  have- 
an  extensive  lumber  yard  on  the  north  side  of  the  canal,  some  distance  from,- 


184  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  factory,  and  one  of  less  extent  near  that  building.  The  plant  was  founded 
in  the  year  1864,  by  John  Thiesen  and  William  Shepard,  by  whom  the  first 
business  was  done.  After  about  a  year  Shepard  sold  his  interest  to  Levi 
Wells,  the  latter  replacing  the  former  in  the  firm,  which  then  became  Thiesen 
&  Wells.  Some  years  later  Wells  sold  to  Frederick  AUer,  and  the  firm  name 
was  changed  to  Thiesen  &  AUer.  Again,  after  a  lapse  of  about  seven  years, 
the  senior  partner  sold  his  interest  to  Daniel  Richards,  and  at  the  same  time 
Mr.  Hildred  went  into  the  firm  which  became  Aller,  Richards  &  Co.,  Mr.  Hil- 
dred  being  the.  company.  In  1877,  September  i,  Mr.  Thiesen  bought  in, 
taking  Richards's  interest,  and  again  the  firm  name  changed  to  Aller,  Hil- 
dred &  Co.  In  1 88 1,  Thiesen  and  Hildred,  with  J.  D.  Norton,  purchased  the 
Aller  interest  and  changed  the  firm  name  to  Thiesen,  Hildred  &  Co.  The 
last  change  was  made  in  May,  1887,  when  Thiesen  and  Hildred  bought  the 
other  interest,  and  the  present  firm  of  Thiesen  &  Hildred  was  established. 
Notwithstanding  the  frequent  changes  made  in  this  firm  establishment,  the 
business  has  always  been  successfully  conducted  and  proved  a  fairly  profitable 
investment  of  means.  To  be  sure,  in  times  of  stagnation  in  trade  and  business 
circles,  the  firm  have  felt  the  general  depression,  but  at  no  time  can  the  busi- 
ness be  said  to  have  been  conducted  at  a  loss. 

Napoleon  Foundry.  This  industry  was  established  by  T.  J.  Clay,  in  the 
year  1858,  or  thereabouts,  but  after  operating  some  time  was  sold  to  A.  B. 
Scribner.  The  latter  subsequently  sold  a  half  interest  to  R.  M.  Bedeau,  and 
business  was  managed  under  the  firm  style  of  Scribner  &  Bedeau.  In  1874 
the  Bedeau  interest  was  sold  to  Ephraim  James  and  the  firm  name  changed  to 
Scribner  &  James  ;  one  year  later  Mr.  James  became  sole  owner  and  proprie- 
tor, and  with  some  changes  of  no  strong  account  has  so  continued  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  The  works  are  located  on  the  street  first  east  of  Perry,  and  a  short 
•distance  north  of  Front,  but  when  first  started  were  on  a  common  some  dis-. 
tance  further  east.  At  the  foundry  is  manufactured  all  kinds  of  iron  and  brass 
castings,  particularly  light  castings. 

Tile  and  Brick  works.  In  the  year  1869  the  firm  of  H.  A.  Myerholtz  & 
Brothers  established  a  plant  for  the  manufacture  of  drain  tile  and  building  brick. 
The  works  are  situate  on  Washington  street,  east.  No  tile  was  made  by  them, 
however,  until  the  year  1876,  since  which  it  has  ranked  equal  with  their  other 
branch  of  manufacture.  The  manufacture  of  tile  is  governed  largely  by  the 
demand  for  it  through  the  agricultural  districts,  as  much  of  the  land,  through 
this  county  at  least,  requires  draining  before  it  can  be  made  profitable  for  farm- 
ing purposes.  The  annual  production  of  brick  by  this  firm  reaches  about  one 
and  one-half  millions.  In  the  year  1886  they  manufactured  about  four  hun- 
dred thousand  feet  of  drain  tile  of  all  sizes.  At  their  works  there  is  a  visible 
future  supply  of  clay  to  run  about  three  more  years,  but  when  that  is  ex- 
hausted they  have  an  abundant  supply  elsewhere  and  within  convenient  dis- 
tance. 


Henry  County.  185 


Miller's  Carriage  Works.  This  branch  of  trade  and  manufacture  under 
this  name  was  started  by  John  and  Florence  Miller  in  the  year  1870,  and  so 
continued  until  1877,  when  John  Miller  sold  his  interest  to  Joseph  and  Conrad 
Miller,  the  firm  still  retaining  the  original  style  of  Miller  Brothers.  In  1885 
the  firm  changed  and  M.  R.  Rummell  and  John  Miller  succeeding.  The  build- 
ing occupied  by  them  is  a  substantial  three  story  brick,  situate  on  Perry  street, 
south  of  and  near  the  canal.  As  indicated  by  the  heading,  the  firm  manufac- 
ture carriages  and  wagons  of  all  descriptions,  and  also  do  general  repair  work. 

Shaff's  Carriage  Works.  About  the  year  1870  Mr.  ShafT,  the  proprietor, 
commenced  in  a  small  way  the  manufacture  of  carriages  and  wagons  in  Napo- 
leon. Four  years  later  he  erected  the  present  commodious  brick  factory  build- 
ing on  East  Washington  street.  Here,  since  that  time,  he  has  been  engaged 
in  the  business  above  mentioned,  in  connection  with  which  is  a  general  black- 
smith and  repair  shop  ;  also  he  holds  the  agency  for  the  Champion  mower, 
reaper  and  binder. 

Napoleon  Machine  Works.  In  the  year  1878  Charles  F.,  Alfred,  and  James 
Beard  commenced  business  in  establishing  a  machine  shop  and  repair  works 
on  Front  street,  west  of  Perry,  under  the  firm  name  of  Beard  Brothers.  Sub- 
sequently, and  in  connection  with  this  business,  was  started  a  brass  and  iron 
foundry.  About  the  year  1882  Charles  F.  Beard  became  sole  proprietor  of 
the  entire  business.  At  these  works  are  made  steam  engines,  shafting,  hangers, 
pulleys  and  wood-sawing  machines,  also  all  kinds  of  iron  and  brass  castings. 

Napoleon  Boat  Oar  Factory.  Although  this  is  a  comparatively  new  in- 
dustry to  the  town  it  is  by  no  means  new  to  its  proprietor.  Mason  Britton,  who 
started  the  business  at  Ashtabula,  O.,  thirty-five  years  ago.  He  was  the  in- 
ventor of  the  machinery  now  in  use  at  a  similar  factory  at  Wauseon,  and  was 
for  some  years  interested  in  the  business  at  that  place.  In  March,  1887,  Mr. 
Britton  erected  works  and  commenced  business  on  Front  street,  near  Saygers's 
mill  in  this  village. 

It  is  a  known  fact  that  the  United  States  supplies  the  foreign  and  domestic 
trade  with  the  best  quality  of  boat  oars,  and  for  their  manufacture  there  are 
nine  regular  factories  in  this  country,  besides  five  others  that  make  this  produc- 
tion auxiliary  to  some  other.  A  ready  market  is  found  at  all  seaport  towns, 
but  this  factory  ships  mainly  to  San  Francisco. 

Shoemaker  &  Zaenger's  Cigar  Factory  was  started  in  Napoleon  on  the  4th 
day  of  May,  1887,  and  is  therefore  the  youngest  of  the  town's  industries.  The 
members  of  the  firm  are  George  C.  Shoemaker  and  John  C.  Zaenger.  They 
employ  at  present  but  six  workmen  and  produce  about  one  thousand  cigars- 
daily.  The  factory  is  located  on  the  east  side  of  Perry  street  in  the  main  busi- 
ness part  of  the  town. 

24 


1 86  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


The  Village  Fire  Department. 

There  appears  to  have  been  no  well  conducted  effort  looking  to  the  organ- 
ization of  this  important  adjunct  of  the  municipality  until  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1870,  and  the  agitation  the  subject  received  was  brought  about  by  a  most 
■disastrous  and  sweeping  conflagration  that  occurred  during  the  year  preced- 
ing, 1869,  by  which  an  entire  square  of  business  blocks  and  dwellings,  with 
small  exceptions,  was  destroyed.  Prior  to  this  time  the  village  possessed  no 
fire  apparatus  whatever,  not  even  so  much  as  a  "bucket  brigade;"  nor  was 
there  in  existence  any  organization,  volunteer  or  other,  for  the  prevention  or 
extinguishment  of  fires.  To  be  sure,  at  the  first  alarm  of  fire  the  whole  people 
stood  ready  to  render  such  assistance  as  lay  in  their  power,  and  volunteers, 
with  a  plentiful  supply  of  pails  and  buckets,  were  always  on  hand,  but  the 
serious  fire  losses  in  the  town  showed  the  inefficiency  of  this  kind  of  service  and 
protection.  It  was,  therefore,  after  the  extensive  destruction  by  fire  of  prop- 
erty, during  the  year  1869,  that  the  subject  became  so  seriously  discussed  that 
the  complete  organization  of  a  fire  department  was  determined  upon  and  event- 
ually effected. 

The  municipal  authorities  took  the  matter  in  hand,  and  by  an  ordinance  of 
the  council,  passed  January  10,  1870,  the  proposition  was  submitted  to  the 
electors  of  the  village,  whether  a  fire  department  should  be  organized  and  nec- 
essary and  complete  apparatus  procured.  On  the  3d  day  of  February,  of  that 
year,  the  election  was  held,  and  the  proposition  carried. 

Then  followed  much  discussion  as  to  the  kind  of  apparatus  that  should  be 
secured,  some  favoring  the  purchase  of  a  hand  engine  and  the  procuring  of 
ladders  to  be  built  "at  home,"  while  others  believed  in  purchasing  a  complete 
set  of  apparatus,  including  steamer,  hose  cart  and  truck  (hook  and  ladder)  of 
approved  patterns.  To  a  certain  extent  both  were  successful,  although  it  was 
not  until  some  time  later  that  the  excellent  fire  apparatus,  now  in  use,  was 
secured. 

At  the  time  of  the  election  a  tax  of  five  mills  was  voted  for  the  purpose  of 
organizing  the  department  and  procuring  fire  apparatus. 

On  February  14th  the  council  appointed  members  Barnes  and  Vocke  a 
committee  to  enquire  concerning  the  necessary  apparatus  and  supplies. 

The  council  subsequently,  March  14,  voted  on  the  question  whether  a  hand 
engine  or  a  steam  engine  should  be  procured  for  the  department,  upon  which 
vote  the  result  showed  four  members  in  favor  of  a  hand  engine  and  but  one 
favoring  a  steamer,  whereupon  a  committee,  consisting  of  members  J.  M.  Haag, 
O.  E.  Barnes,  and  J.  L.  Vocke,  was  chosen  to  contract  for  and  purchase  a  hand 
engine. 

It  seems  that  this  resolution  to  purchase  for  the  village  a  hand  engine  was 
never  carried  out,  although  it  had  been  voted,  and  O.  E.  Barnes  had  been 


Henry  County.  187 


selected  to  proceed  to  Adrian  and  examine  an  engine  that  was  offered  for  sale 
at  that  place. 

About  this  time  too,  the  question  of  introducing  the  Holly  system  of  wa- 
ter-works was  being  discussed  somewhat,  and  owing  to  the  great  diversity  of 
opinion,  and  conflict  of  sentiment,  matters  were  at  a  standstill.  The  hand 
engine  scheme  seems  to  have  been  abandoned.  The  town  of  Defiance  had 
procured  a  steamer  from  the  Clapp  &  Jones  works  of  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  and  upon 
being  tested,  so  fully  met  the  approval  of  all  interested  that,  on  the  ist  of  Oc- 
tober, 1872,  the  Mayor  and  J.  L.  Robertson  were  directed  to  close  a  contract 
with  the  representative  of  Clapp  &  Jones  for  the  purchase  of  a  steamer,  jumper, 
and  three  hundred  feet  of  rubber  hose,  at  the  agreed  price  of  $4,600,  which 
was  done.  In  the  mean  time  a  lot  and  building  was  secured  for  the  uses  of 
the  department,  situate  on  Washington  street,  not  far  from  the  present  location 
of  Norton  &  Bruns's  store. 

The  building  here  was  destroyed  by  fire,  after  which  the  department  ap- 
paratus was  stored  in  convenient  places  until  the  new  building  on  Washing- 
ton street,  east  of  Perry,  was  completed. 

This  building  was  erected  during  the  year  1875,  by  George  Lightheiser. 
It  is  a  plain,  but  substantial  three  story  brick  building.  The  lower  floor  is 
used  by  the  department  for  storing  their  apparatus;  also  in  the  rear  are  rooms- 
fitted  for  purposes  of  a  city  lock-up.  The  second  floor  is  arranged  for  the 
corporation  use,  in  part  for  council  room  and  mayor's  ofifice,  firemen's  meeting^ 
room,  and  additional  room  for  confining  offenders.  The  upper  floor  contains 
a  hall  for  general  assemblage  uses.  The  total  cost  of  the  building,  according 
to  the  bid  of  George  Lightheiser,  was  $8,900. 

The  apparatus  now  in  use  by  the  village  fire  department  consists  of  one 
Clapp  &  Jones's  piston  steamer,  one  jumper,  one  four-wheeled  hose  cart,  and 
one  hook  and  ladder  truck. 

The  department  was  first  organized  and  managed  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  departments  of  many  other  towns  and  villages  throughout  the  State,  but  in 
1881,  by  an  ordinance  passed  October  3,  the  whole  underwent  a  material 
change.  By  this  ordinance  it  was  provided  that  the  council  should  appoint  a 
resident  freeholder  to  enlist  not  less  than  fifteen,  nor  more  than  twenty-five 
men  to  act  as  hose-men  ;  not  less  than  twenty-five  and  not  more  than  forty 
men  as  engine-men ;  not  less  than  twenty  nor  more  than  forty  men  to  act  as 
hook  and  ladder-men ;  also  providing  for  the  election,  for  each  company,  of 
one  foreman,  one  first  assistant,  and  one  second  assistant  foreman. 

This  ordinance  met  with  some  considerable  opposition  from  the  "  fire  lad- 
dies," and  was  modified  somewhat  to  meet  their  wishes.  The  first  engineer  of 
the  steamer  was  J.  B.  Reno,  but  he  was  soon  succeeded  by  George  Flenner, 
Next  was  Joseph  Wheeler,  who  served  until  1878,  when  James  Shay  was 
elected  and  has  served  to  the  present  time.     The  first  chief  of  the  department 


History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


was  Oscar  E.  Barnes.  The  present  officers  of  the  Napoleon  fire  department 
are  as  follows :  Chief  engineer,  Josiah  Kohler  ;  first  assistant,  Jacob  Brown ; 
second  assistant,  B.  F.  Pontius  ;  secretary,  Joseph  Kopp  ;  treasurer,  J.  M.  Mar- 
tin ;  engineer  of  steamer,  James  Shay. 

Education  in  Napoleon. 

In  matters  pertaining  to  education,  and  educational  institutions,  the  town 
and  subsequent  village  of  Napoleon  can  furnish  a  record,  which,  for  advance- 
ment and  prosperity,  has  kept  even  step  with  the  other  of  her  institutions, 
from  the  founding  of  the  town  to  the  present  day.  The  beginning,  like  that 
of  the  other  branches,  was,  of  course  humble,  but  from  it  has  grown  an  institu- 
tion that  stands,  not  only  an  ornament,  but  an  honor  to  the  village  and  its  resi- 
dents as  well.  The  first  place  for  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  town  was 
a  little  log  building,  not,  however,  built  for  school  purposes,  that  stood  quite 
near  Craig's  old  tavern.  School  was  held  here  as  early  as  1837,  and,  for  a  time, 
was  under  the  charge  of  Miss  Mary  Whipple.  There  is  still  living  in  Napo- 
leon, at  least  one  person  who  attended  Miss  Whipple's  school,  at  the  age, 
then,  of  four  years. 

This  building,  of  course,  was  illy  arranged  for  school  use,  but  it  was  a  be- 
ginning, and  served  the  purpose  until  the  building  of  a  frame  school-house  that 
stood  not  far  from  the  present  court-house  location.  This  is  said  to  have  been 
a  one-story  frame  structure,  not  large,  but  sufficient  for  the  times.  A  number 
of  the  older  residents  of  the  town  went  during  their  younger  days  to  school 
there,  among  them  Judge  James  G.  Haly,  and  his  wife,  or  she  whom  he  after- 
ward married.  Samuel  Powell  also  attended  this  school.  The  teacher,  about 
1838,  was  a  young  man  named  Watson.      He  came  from  New  York  State. 

Then  again,  during  the  "fifties,"  another  school  was  built  in  rear  of  what  is 
now  Bitzer's  block,  about  where  Mr.  Bitzer's  residence  stands.  This  also  was 
a  one-story  frame  building,  but  in  later  years  was  changed  materially,  an  ad- 
dition built  two  stories  high,  and  a  bell  was  provided  to  be  placed  in  a  belfry 
on  its  top,  and  "rung"  with  a  rope.  This  building  was  destroyed  in  the  ex- 
tensive fire  that  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  November,  1869.  From  that 
time  down  to  1 871,  or  until  the  completion  of  the  present  elegant  Union  School 
building,  the  board  of  education  hired  several  rooms  in  different  places  in  the 
town. 

Prior  to  the  year  1858  the  town  of  Napoleon,  or  what  then  was  known  as 
the  town,  with  surrounding  territory,  within  prescribed  limits,  formed  a  part  of 
■school  district  number  one  of  the  township  of  Napoleon,  and  its  schools  were 
under  the  control  and  direction  of  the  school  directors  of  that  township.  On 
the  9th  day  of  August,  1858,  upon  the  petition  ofT.  S.  C.  Morrison,  James  G, 
Haly,  J.  A.  Stout,  John  Powell,  William  Dodd  and  Justin  H.  Tyler,  an  elec- 
tion was  held  by  which  the  question  was  submited  to  the  electors  whether  a 


Henry  County.  189 


union  school  district  should  be  created  in  the  territory  that  had  formerly  formed 
a  part  of  district  number  one  of  the  township. 

The  law  authorizing  this  action  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1849,  and  was  amended  at  the  next  session  by  a  further  act  passed 
March  13,  1850,  but  it  was  not  until  the  year  1858  that  the  people  of  Na- 
poleon availed  themselves  of  its  provisions.  The  vote  upon  the  question 
resulted  in  forty- three  ballots  for,  and  three  against  the  adoption  of  the  pro- 
"visions  of  the  law,  and  the  subsequent  organization  of  the  town  into  a  union 
school  district. 

On  the  20th  day  of  August  following  the  electors  again  met  for  the  pur- 
pose of  chosing  six  school  directors,  which  resulted  in  the  election  of  the  fol- 
lowing persons :  William  Dodd,  John  Powell,  J.  A.  Stout,  W.  J.  Jackson,  H. 
McHenry  and  Justin  H.  Tyler.  These  constituted  the  board  of  education. 
They  met  for  organization  and  election  of  officers  on  the  21st  day  of  August, 
at  which  meeting  Justin  H.  Tyler  was  made  president,  John  Powell,  secretary, 
and  W.  J.  Jackson,  treasurer.  They  employed  G.  V.  Bailey  as  teacher  of  the 
High  School,  at  a  salary  of  fifty  dollars  per  month,  and  Misses  S.  S.  Powell  and 
H.  E.  Reynolds,  also  employed  as  teachers  of  the  primary  department  at  a 
salary  of  eighteen  dollars  per  month  each. 

^  |The  next  year,  1859,  S.  L.  Adams  was  employed  as  principal  at  a  salary  of 
forty  dollars  per  month  ;  Miss  Powell  for  the  second  department,  at  a  salary  of 
eighteen  dollars  per  month,  and  Miss  E.  A.  Craig  for  the  third  department,  at 
a  salary  of  sixteen  dollars  per  month. 

In  the  year  i860  the  board  materially  increased  the  school  facilities  by  the 
■erection  of  a  new  building  and  enlarging  the  old. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  board  held  March  7,  1865,  it  was  unanimously  agreed 
to  purchase  a  certain  tract  of  ground  "  lying  south  of  the  Methodist  church, 
and  joining  the  canal,"  and  authorized  J.  E.  Cowdrick  to  negotiate  with  Henry 
Yeager,  the  owner,  for  the  purchase  of  the  same  at  the  price  of  four  thousand 
dollars. 

By  the  incorporation  of  the  village  in  1863,  the  hmits  of  Napoleon,  proper, 
were  defined  ;  but  by  subsequent  extensions  of  those  limits,  much  more  terri- 
tory was  brought  to  the  town,  and  as  frequently  as  these  changes  have  been 
made,  just  so  frequently  have  the  limits  of  the  Union  School  district  been  en- 
larged, and  they  now  run  co-extensive  with  the  village  limits  with  some  ex- 
ceptions, noticeably  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  but  it  is  hardly  within  the 
province  of  this  brief  sketch  to  pursue  them  in  detail. 

By  an  extensive  conflagration  that  occurred  in  November,  1869,  the  school- 
■building  of  Napoleon  was  entirely  destroyed.  Upon  the  following  day  the 
board  held  a  meeting,  and  engaged  the  house  of  Mrs.  McCann,  Craig's  Hall, 
•and  rooms  over  Wilson's  store  for  school  use  until  another  school-house  could 
be  provided.     In  December,  following,  it  was  ordered  that  the  board  petition 


igo  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  Legislature  for  permission  to  issue  bonds,  upon  the  credit  of  the  village,  to- 
the  extent  not  exceeding  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  for  the  purpose  of 
building  a  union  school.  This  law  was  passed,  whereupon  the  board  entered 
into  a  contract  with  George  Platfoot,  of  Toledo,  for  the  erection  proposed,  ta 
be  built  on  the  lands  that,  in  1865,  had  been  purchased  from  Henry  Yeager.. 
In  September,  1871,  the  building  was  completed  and  occupied.  It  was  dedi- 
cated with  appropriate  ceremonies,  the  address  upon  that  occasion  being  deliv- 
ered by  Hon.  John  M.  Haag,  of  Napoleon. 

The  Napoleon  Union  School  is  a  three  story  brick  building,  three  stories- 
high,  and  with  a  mansard  story  and  basement.  Its  interior  is  well  arranged 
for  its  purpose,  having  four  primary  department  rooms,  including  German,  on 
the  lower  floor;  three  intermediate  school- rooms,  and  one  "C"  grammar  de- 
partment on  the  second  floor;  the  "  A  "  and  "B  "  grammar  rooms,  with  reci- 
tation rooms,  on  the  third  floor,  while  the  large  hall  is  arranged  to  be  used  for 
the  high  school  department. 

The  building  stands  on  a  desirable  and  large  piece  of  land  in  the  west  part, 
of  the  village.  It  is  a  large  and  substantial  appearing  structure,  entirely  suffi- 
cient for  the  present  wants  of  the  place.  The  board  of  education,  with  com- 
mendable zeal,  have  succeeded  in  reducing  the  bonded  indebtedness  to  about 
six  thousand  dollars,  an  amount  that  will  be  entirely  paid  within  the  next  few 
years. 

This  school  is  under  the  care  of  the  following  instructors :  W.  W.  Weaver, 
superintendent ;  J.  F.  Smith,  principal ;  Miss  Fanny  Godman,  assistant  princi- 
pal ;  Mary  E.  Fanning,  teacher  of  "  A  "  grammar  department;  Alta  Suydam,. 
"B"  grammar  department;  Nettie  Hibbard,  "C"  grammar  department; 
Lalah  Hague,  "A"  intermediate  department;  Hannah  Peterson,  "B"  inter- 
mediate department ;  Mary  Ketring,  "  C  "  intermediate  department ;  Lena 
Miller,  third  primary  ;  Jennie  Fouke,  second  primary ;  Belle  King,  first  pri- 
mary; Mr.  C.  F.  Clement,  teacher  of  German,  which  is  limited  to  the  fourth- 
grade. 

By  an  extension  of  the  village  limits,  a  considerable  tract  of  land  was 
acquired  on  the  south  side  of  the  Maumee  River,  and  which  locality  is  now 
designated  as  South  Napoleon.  Its  lands  of  course  came  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  board  of  education  of  the  village  ;  but  in  1879,  upon  a  petition  duly 
presented  to  them,  the  lands  embraced  within  sections  twenty-five,  twenty-six,, 
thirty-five  and  thirty-six,  were  released  to  the  jurisdiction,  for  school  purposes, 
of  the  school  directors  of  the  township  of  Napoleon. 

The  South  Napoleon  brick  school-house  was  erected  by  the  board  of  edu- 
cation, in  the  year  1884,  at  a  total  cost  of  $2,540.  It  has  accommodations  for 
nearly  one  hundred  scholars;  contains  two  school- rooms,  each  24  by  28  feet 
in  size,  with  a  hall-way  ten  feet  wide.  The  rooms  for  the  school  are  situate 
one  on  the  first,  and  one  on  the  second  floor.  The  teachers  are  Miss  Mary  E. 
Barnes  and  Miss  Blanche  Leonard. 


Henry  County.  191 


This  furnishes  a  record,  substantially,  of  the  schools,  past  and  present,  of 
Napoleon,  except  the  parochial  school  connected  with  St.  Augustine's  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  its  society,  an  account  of  which  will  be  found  in  connec- 
tion with  the  sketch  of  that  society. 

Much  of  the  information  upon  which  is  written  the  sketch  of  the  early 
schools  of  Napoleon,  is  derived  from  recollections  of  old  residents  of  the  town 
and  vicinity,  and  it  is  possible  that  some  inaccuracies  in  statement  may  be 
found ;  on  the  whole,  however,  the  record  may  be  regarded  as  substantially 
correct. 

Churches  of  Napoleon. 

St.  Augustine's  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  Parochial  School.  In  the  year 
1856  Bishop  Rappe  visited  this  place,  and  found  about  eight  Catholic  families, 
whom  he  encouraged  to  build  a  little  church.  They  were  mostly  poor  people, 
who  had  large  families  to  support  by  their  daily  labor,  and  could  spend  but  ht- 
tle  of  their  hard  earnings  in  the  cause  of  religion.  However,  a  liberal- hearted 
Frenchman,  Augustine  Pilliod,  took  the  matter  in  hand  and,  assisted  by  James 
Brennan,  and  with  what  little  help  he  could  get  from  the  other  families  and 
some  outside  the  church,  put  up  a  small  frame  building  24  by  30  feet  in  size, 
but  for  want  of  funds  the  church  was  not  plastered  until  about  1858.  When 
finished  the  church  cost  about  $500,  and  Mr.  Pilliod  named  it  St.  Augustine's 
Church,  after  his  Christian  name. 

The  mission  was  then  attended  at  certain  times  by  the  priest  in  charge  at 
Defiance,  in  1858,  by  Rev.  F.  Westerholt,  and  from  1859  to  1861  by  Rev.  A. 
J.  Hoeffel.  The  care  of  it  was  then  given  to  the  priest  of  Providence,  being 
attended  from  1861  until  July,  1863,  by  Rev.  James  P.  Maloney,  and  from 
July,  1863,  until  September,  1864,  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Pietz.  In  November,  1864, 
the  congregation  had  considerably  increased,  and  it  received,  in  that  year,  its 
first  resident  pastor.  Rev.  P.  J.  Carroll,  who  had  charge  until  1868.  Under 
his  administration  an  addition,  24  by  25  feet,  was  built  to  the  church,  and  also 
a  tower  erected  in  front,  the  latter  being  paid  for  by  John  H.  Vocke  ;  he  also 
built  a  little  frame  school-house,  26  by  36  feet  in  size.  In  1865  he  organized 
a  Catholic  school,  which  he  placed  in  charge  of  his  sister,  Ellen  Carroll,  and 
since  that  time  Napoleon  has  not  been  without  a  parochial  school.  Father 
Carroll  was  succeeded,  in  November,  1868,  by  Rev.  N.  A.  Moes.  Under  his 
pastorate  the  Napoleon  and  Providence  congregations,  which  for  nine  years 
had  been  attended  by  one  priest,  were  separated,  and  each  received  a  resident 
pastor.  In  October,  1870,  Father  Moes  was  succeeded  by  the  present  pastor, 
Rev.  Michael  Pietz,  who  found  the  church  encumbered  with  a  debt  of  about 
$1,100,  about  two-thirds  of  the  value  of  its  entire  property.  Under  his  min- 
istry the  debt  was  paid  and  about  $1,000  worth  of  furniture  purchased.  In 
the  latter  part  of  1875  Father  Pietz   purchased   the   lot  on  which  the  present 


192  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

church  stands,  at  a  cost  of  $4,000,  and  which  was  paid  for  in  three  years.  In- 
1878  a  new  school-house  was  built  on  the  lot,  and  also  a  new  house  for  the 
sisters.  For  more  satisfactory  educational  facilities  the  school  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  Cleveland. 

In  the  year  1880  the  congregation  with  the  sanction  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Gilmour  of  Cleveland,  took  the  first  steps  toward  the  erection  of  the  new  and 
elegant  church  edifice.  The  committee  chosen  to  share  this  labor  and  respon- 
sibility with  the  pastor,  were  H.  H.  Vocke,  Fred  F.  Shoner,  Michael  Wirth,. 
Fred'k  Fisher  and  Otto  Honeck.  According  to  their  original  intention  the  edi- 
fice was  to  cost  not  exceeding  $15,000,  but  its  actual  cost  reached  something 
over  $21,000.  The  work  of  building  was  let  to  various  persons  for  the  dif- 
ferent classes  of  work  to  be  performed.  The  Gothic  style  of  architecture  was 
adopted,  and  the  building  was  faithfully  done,  reflecting  much  credit  on  alt 
engaged  in  the  work.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  June  19,  188 1,  by  Rt.  Rev. 
Bishop  Gilmour,  assisted  by  Rev.  N.  A.  Moes,  Rev.  J.  B.  Lung,  Rev.  James 
Christophany,  Rev.  Edward  Hannin  and  the  pastor.  The  church  was  formally 
dedicated  with  appropriate  and  impressive  ceremonies,  on  the  17th  of  June,^ 
1883.  The  interior  compares  favorably  with  the  exterior  in  design  and  finish. 
It  is  well  furnished  and  carpeted,  and  supplied  with  a  fine  pipe  organ.  The 
extreme  height  from  the  ground  to  the  top  of  the  cross  is  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Napoleon  was  organized  June  15,  1861, 
The  congregation  met  for  this  purpose  in  the  court  house.  Rev.  E.  B.  Rafens- 
berger,  one  of  the  members  of  the  committee  of  organization  appointed  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Maumee,  preaching  the  sermon.  The  text  chosen  for  the  occa- 
sion was  the  third  verse  of  the  third  chapter  of  the  prophecy  by  Amos;  "  Can 
two  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed  ?"  The  committee  of  organization 
was  composed  of  Revs.  Rafensberger  and  D.  L.  Anderson. 

Many  of  the  older  members  of  the  church  and  congregation  have  passed 
away,  while  some  have  gone  to  other  places.  The  following  is  a  complete  list 
of  members  at  the  time  of  organization:  James  A.  Parker,  Rachel  W.  Parker, 
Rosana  Steedman,  Chrisiina  Stout,  Susanna  D.  McCann,  Rebecca  P.  Steed- 
man,  John  Babcock,  Rachel  B.  Tressler,  Anna  McWilliams,  Harriet  Cary,  Sa- 
rah Durbin,  Harriet  Tyler,  Margaret  Tressler,  Mary  Babcock.  With  these 
members  the  church  was  organized  in  June,  1861.  The  society  in  its  early 
existence  met  for  worship  in  the  court-house,  the  Episcopal  Church  edifice, 
and  in  the  rooms  in  the  Cary  block,  but  feeling  the  need  of  a  church  home, 
resolved  to  build  for  its  own  use.  When  nearly  completed  the  edifice  was 
almost  wholly  destroyed  by  a  severe  storm,  but  the  ruins  were  at  once  cleared 
away,  and  the  erection  of  a  neat  and  comfortable  brick  edifice  was  begun,  and 
in  due  time  completed  on  the  same  site,  at  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Web- 
ster streets.     The  lot  was  donated  to  the  society  by  Justin  H.  Tyler. 


Henry  County.  193 


The  first  pastor  of  the  church  was  Rev.  D.  K.  Richardson,  chosen  by  the 
congregation  in  1864.  He  was  followed  four  years  later,  1868,  by  Rev.  Daniel 
Edgar.  In  1871  Rev.  J.  P.  Lloyd  was  called,  and  continued  pastor  in  charge 
for  a  period  of  nine  years.  In  1882  the  present  pastor,  Rev.  Donahey,  was 
called  to  the  field.  Prior  to  his  call  the  church  was  supplied  for  about  six 
months  by  a  Mr.  Abbey,  a  student  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Mau- 
mee,  but  now  a  foreign  missionary. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  early  records  of  this  church  and  its 
society  are  unknown  to  the  people  of  the  present  day.  Such  written  records 
as  have  been  kept  are  at  the  seat  of  the  conference  district,  and  an  effort  to 
obtain  accurate  data  concerning  the  early  days  of  the  church  in  Napoleon  has 
proved  fruitless.  The  early  members  are  nearly  all  dead  or  gone  from  the 
locality,  and  those  who  came  into  lhe  church  later  have  a  very  imperfect  rec- 
ollection of  the  matter.  The  early  meetings  of  the  society,  however,  were  held 
at  the  court-house,  the  school-house,  and  in  halls,  and  the  church  edifice  at  the 
corner  of  Washington  and  Webster  streets,  was  erected  somewhere  between 
the  years  1857  and  1861. 

The  society  is  large,  ranking  about  second  or  third  in  point  of  numbers  in 
the  village.  It  is  impossible  from  such  information  as  is  at  hand,  to  furnish  a 
list  of  its  pastors.  The  society  is  at  present  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Bates. 

The  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  St.  Paul's  Church.  This  society  was 
organized  in  Napoleon  during  the  year  1856,  and  held  its  meetings  in  the 
court-house  and  other  convenient  places  until  the  year  1867,  when  the  church 
edifice  on  Monroe  street  was  erected.  Up  to  this  time  the  church  was  a  sup- 
ply station,  having  no  resident  pastor.  The  first  supply  pastor  was  Rev.  A. 
W.  Bergt,  who  organized  the  church,  and  to  whom  the  credit  therefor  is  mainly 
due.  He  was  succeeded  in  1864  by  Rev.  Paul  Rupprecht,  who  was  in  charge 
until  1867,  during  which  year  the  church  edifice  and  pastor's  residence  was 
built.  The  first  resident  pastor  came  to  the  place  in  1867,  Rev.  Karrer,  who 
remained  until  1871,  and  was  then  succeeded  by  Rev.  L.  Dulitz.  The  latter 
continued  until  1883,  a  period  of  nearly  thirteen  years.  The  present  pastor, 
Rev.  W.  L.  Fisher,  was  then  called  and  has  since  remained  in  charge,  officiat- 
ing at  this  church  and  two  missions  outside  the  village.  The  society  now  in- 
cludes about  seventy-five  families,  and  the  church  membership  reaches  nearly 
two  hundred  and  fifty  persons.  Connected  with  this  church  is  a  thriving  par- 
ochial school,  having  an  average  attendance  of  about  fifty  scholars,  and  under 
the  tutorship  of  Frank  Firks.  The  society  erected  the  school-house  that  is 
now  occupied  during  the  year  1885. 

The  Evangelical  Association  Church.  The  mission  of  this  association  was 
organized  at  the  conference  of  1872,  and  placed  under  the  charge  as  supply  of 
Rev.  Elisha  Hoffman.     The  class  at  that  time  was  composed  of  but  nine  per- 

25 


194  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

sons.  Rev.  Hoffman  was  assisted  in  1873  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Ingle.  In  1874  the 
commodious  church  edifice  was  completed  and  dedicated  on  the  12th  day  of 
April,  of  that  year.  It  is  situated  on  Clinton  street,  one  block  west  from  Perry 
street.     Its  cost  was  about  ten  thousand  dollars. 

The  pastors  or  supplies  in  charge  of  the  mission  (for  being  still  partly  sup- 
ported by  the  conference  is  still  a  mission)  have  been  as  follows:  1872-3-4^ 
Rev.  Elisha  Hoffman;  1875-6,  Rev.  A.  W.  Orwig;  1877-8,  Rev.  G.  Miesse; 
1879-80,  Rev.  S.  P.  Spreng;  1881-2,  Rev.  S.  J.  Gamertsfelder ;  1883,  Rev. 
F.  G.  Stauffer;  1885,  Isler  M.  Houser;  1886,  Rev.  E.  M.  Spreng,  the  latter 
being  the  present  incumbent.  This  society  is  not  large  but  is  steadily  increas- 
ing in  numbers. 

The  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  Emanuel  Church  was  formed  during 
the  year  1883,  under  the  form  of  church  government  prescribed  by  the  Ohio 
Synod.  Among  the  early  members  of  the  society  were  Frederick  Theek  and 
family,  Henry  Rohrs  and  family,  Frederick  Soehnholtz  and  family,  George 
Behrens  and  wife,  August  Hirseland  and  family,  Theodore  Suhr  and  family, 
H.  C.  Groeschner  and  family,  George  H.  Rohrs  and  family,  Otto  Kuntzner  and 
family,  Ferdinand  Roessing  and  wife,  Henry  Holterman  and  family,  Mrs.  Wues- 
tenfeldt  and  some  others.  Not  all,  however,  of  those  above  named  are  still 
connected  with  the  church,  some  having  moved  to  other  places,  while  others, 
have  withdrawn  from  the  society. 

No  church  edifice  has  ever  been  erected,  the  society  occupying  the  church 
formerly  occupied  by  the  society  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church.  The 
church  was  organized  by  Rev.  Louis  Dammann,  who  has  been  continued  in 
pastoral  charge  to  the  present  time. 

Of  the  other  church  societies  that  should  be  mentioned  in  connection  with 
this  chapter  are  those  of  St.  John's  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  that  of 
the  United  Brethren,  the  latter  being  located  in  South  Napoleon. 

St.  John's  Church  was  organized  many  years  ago  and  was  among  the  first 
societies  formed  in  the  town.  They  built  a  neat  chapel  on  Clinton  street,  west 
of  Perry  street,  but  the  society  was  never  large  or  particularly  prosperous  ;  on 
the  contrary,  its  membership  decreased  and  finally  the  church  was  closed.  The 
building  still  stands,  however,  and  is  now  rented  to  the  society  of  Emanuel 
Church. 

The  United  Brethren  Church  of  South  Napoleon  is  a  comparatively  new 
organization,  whose  house  of  worship  was  recently  built.  The  society  and 
membership  are  small,  but  are  nobly  struggling  to  retain  an  existence. 

Local  Organizations,  Societies  and  Orders. — Napoleon  Lodge,  No.  256,  F. 
and  A.  M.,  was  chartered  October  25,  1855,  with  the  following  charter  mem- 
bers, who  were  chosen  its  first  officers,  there  being  only  sufficient  members  to 
perfect  the  organization :  G.  R.  McBane,  W.  M.;  D.  M.  McCann,  S.  W.;  H. 
D.  Taylor,  J.  W.;  Julius  Kellogg,  treasurer;  Harvey  Allen,  secretary;  Will- 


Henry  County.  195 


iam  J.  Jackson,  S.  D.;  Henry  Seeling,  J.  D.;  John  McCartney,  tyler.  From 
"these  original  members  the  lodge  has  increased  to  about  fifty'.  The  present 
officers  are  as  follows:  Samuel  Bigger,  W.  M.;  A.  E.  H.  Maerker,  S.  W.; 
■Oliver  Higgins,  J.  W.;  John  Wilson,  treasurer  ;  A.  S.  Condit,  secretary  ;  S. 
Jacquay,  S.  D.;  John  Frease,  J.  D.;  E.  James,  tyler;  G.  F.  Curtis  and  John 
Hoy,  stewards. 

Haly  Chapter,  R.  A.  M.,  No.  136,  was  chartered  September  26,  1871,  with 
the  following  members,  who  were  chosen  to  the  offices  indicated  :  Jonathan  D. 
Norton,  M.  E.  H.  P.;  Charles  E.  Reynolds,  capt.  of  host ;  Henry  E.  Cary, 
Icing;  James  G.  Haly,  G.  M.  3d  vail;  S.  M.  Hague,  R.  A.  capt.;  H.  B.  Lantz- 
enheizer,  G.  M.  2d  vail;  R.  P.  Osborn,  P.  S.;  Samuel  Bigger,  scribe;  L.  G. 
Randall,  G.  M.  ist  vail ;  A.  Bridge,  guard.  Succession  of  most  eminent  high 
priests:  Jonathan  D.  Norton,  1871-4;  H.  J.  Bigley,  1874-6;  J.  D.  Norton, 
1876-8;  S.  M.  Hellor,  1878-80;  J.  F.  McCaskey,  1880-1  ;  E.  T.  Martin, 
1881-4;  L.  G.  Randall,  1884-7.  The  chapter  has  a  present  membership  of 
forty-one,  and  is  officered  as  follows:  E.  T.  Martin,  H.  P.;  Samuel  Bigger, 
king;  J.  V.  Cuff,  scribe;  C.  E.  Reynolds,  C.  of  H.;  William  Humphrey,  P. 
S.;  Seth  Jacquay,  R.  A.  capt.;  F.  O.  Blair,  G.  M.  of  3d  vail ;  William  Brook, 
G.  M.  of  2d  vail ;  George  Wright,  G.  M.  of  1st  vail;  J.  H.  Frease,  treasurer; 
George  Dann,  secretary ;   Oliver  Higgins,  guard. 

Napoleon  Lodge,  No.  260,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was  instituted  January  23,  1855, 
with  charter  members  as  follows  :  George  W.  Waterman,  Robert  K.  Scott, 
Robert  Boyle,  Joseph  Rogers,  and  Andrew  J.  Schofield.  Its  present  officers 
are  Otto  A.  Stuve,  N.  G.;  Charles  Van  Hyning,  V.  G.;  T.  C.  Clewell,  secre- 
tary;  S.  Martin,  treasurer;  D.  Wilson,  warden;  James  Emery,  R.  S.  N.  G.; 
A.  J.  Ulrich,  L.  S.  N.  G. 

Maumee  Valley  Enc,  No.  177,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was  instituted  July  8,  1870, 
with  the  following  charter  members  :  C.  N.  Smith,  F.  N.  Powell,  L.  T.  Calkins, 
David  Wilson,  John  M.  Shoemaker,  Seth  L.  Curtis,  and  James  W.  Brown. 
This  is  not  a  strong  organization,  numbering  at  present  but  sixteen  members. 
Its  officers  are  as  follows  :  Samuel  C.  Haag,  C.  P.;  James  G.  Kitter,  H.  P.; 
Otto  A.  Stuve,  S.  W.;  J.  Y.  Housell,  J.  W.;  D.  Wilson,  scribe;  A.  Bradley, 
treasurer. 

Patriarchs  MiUtant,  Canton  of  Napoleon,  No.  50, 1.  O.  O.  F.,  was  instituted 
by  charter  in  June,  1887.  The  degree  is  new  to  Napoleon  but  not  to  the  order. 
It  has  a  membership  of  eighteen,  and  is  officered  as  follows :  T.  C.  Clewell, 
captain;  J.  P.  Belknap,  lieutenant;  J.  Y.  Housell,  ensign;  S.  C.  Haag,  clerk; 
David  Wilson,  accountant. 

Choate  Post  No.  66,  G.  A.  R.,  so  named  in  honor  of  Colonel  William  A. 
Choate,  of  the  Thirty-eighth  O.  V.  Inf.,  and  formerly  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Henry  county  bar,  was  organized  by  charter  May  4,  1881.  The  charter 
members  were  L.  G.  Randall,  Charles  E.    Reynolds,  L.   Y.   Richards,  Otto 


196  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Honeck,  Henry  E.  Gary,  John  M.  Shoemaker,  R.  M.  Cloud,  J.  P.  Watson,  H. 
H.  Fast,  A.  S.  Condit,  G.  H.  Reeber,  H.  B.  Powell,  H.  McHenry,  M.  J.  Mar- 
vin, John  Siford,  James  Shay,  Frederick  Yockee,  E.  B.  Magill,  F.  M.  Bascom, 
Abner  Yeager,  Levi  Drummond,  W.  F.  Balsley,  Joseph  Grim,  Henry  Lazenbe, 
and  Charles  Newton. 

The  first  officers  were :  Post  Com.  L.  G.  Randall ;  S.  V.  Com.,  Otto 
Honeck;  J.  V.  Com.,  L.  Y.  Richards;  adjt.,  C.  E.  Reynolds;  q.  m.,  Henry  E. 
Cary ;  surg.,  John  M.  Shoemaker ;  chaplain,  R.  M.  Cloud ;  officer  of  the  day, 
J.  P.  Watson  ;  officer  of  the  guard,  H.  H.  Fast;  sergt.  maj.,  A.  S.  Condit;  Q. 
M.  sergt.,  George  H.  Reeber;  aid,  H.  B.  Powell.  Comrade  Randall  held  the 
office  of  post  commander  for  three  years,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Comrade 
Reynolds.  The  membership  of  the  post  now  reaches  one  hundred  and  sixty 
persons,  officered  as  follows ;  P.  Com.,  C.  E.  Reynolds  ;  S.  V.  C,  D.  M.  Jones; 
J.  V.  C,  George  Baum;  adjt.,  Henry  Kobe;  Q.  M.,  Henry  E.  Cary;  chap., 
David  Musser  ;  surg.,  John  Bloomfield  ;  officer  of  day,  Joseph  Grim  ;  officer  of 
guard,  Samuel  Martin  ;  Q.  M.  sergt,  J.  B.  Hague  ;  aid,  H.  B.  Powell.  The 
post  treasury  has  a  relief  fund  aggregating  seven  hundred  dollars. 

The  Napoleon  Light  Guard,  Company  F  Sixteenth  Regiment  Infantry, 
Ohio  National  Guard,  was  organized  under  the  State  military  law,  in  the  year 
1877.  Company  F  is  fully  equipped  and  armed,  ready  for  use.  At  present  it 
numbers  seventy  members,  officered  as  follows:  C.  E.  Reynolds,  captain;  F. 
W.  Reiter,  first  lieutenant;  A.  E.  Augenstein,  second  lieutenant;  sergeants, 
W.  L.  Fouke,  first;  Julius  B.  Bernstein,  W.  N.  Hess,  C.  H.  Suydam;  corpo- 
rals, William  Hudson,  James  N.  Putt,  W.  W.  Lenert,  Joseph  Kopp,  Joseph  A. 
Musser;  musician,  Charles  W.  Jackson. 

Henry  County  Agricultural  Joint  Stock  Fair  Company.  The  fair  company 
was  incorporated  in  1883,  by  J.  C.  Saur,  Josiah  Koller,  Robert  K.  Scott,  C.  H. 
Gidley,  Henry  Rohrs,  R.  B.  Heller,  J.  C.  McLain  and  N.  H.  Hartman.  Cap- 
ital stock,  $10,000,  divided  into  four  hundred  shares.  The  company's  grounds 
embrace  about  thirty-eight  acres  of  land,  situate  in  South  Napoleon.  Annual 
premiums  are  offered  averaging  about  $5,000.  The  officers  are  Josiah  Koller, 
president;  M.  Reiser,  vice  president;  O.  Parker,  treasurer;  J.  L.  Halter,  sec- 
retary; board  of  directors,  the  officers,  ex- officio,  and  William  Booher,  C.  F. 
Wilson,  J.  Brinckerman,G.  W.  Lester  and  H.  Rohrs.  The  company  is  in  the 
fifth  year  of  its  existence. 

Village  Civil  List.  The  following  list  of  officers  of  the  incorporated  village 
of  Napoleon  is  extracted  from  the  Journal  of  Council  Proceedings,  and  includes 
the  names  of  such  officers  as  were  elected  by  the  electors  of  the  village  from 
the  date  of  incorporation: 

1863.  Mayor,  Justin  H.  Tyler;  recorder.  Ransom  E.  Reynolds;  George 
W.  Waterman,  Henry  Kahlo,  Daniel  Yarnell  and  George  Bogart,  councilmen. 

1864.  Mayor,  Justin  H.  Tyler;   recorder.  Ransom  E.    Reynolds;   Henry 


Henry  County.  197 


Kahlo,  John  Sidlinger,  George  W.  Waterman,  David  Honeck,   George  Bogart, 
councilman. 

1865.  Mayor,  Asa  H.  Tyler;  Frederick  M.  Daggett,  recorder;  John 
Thrapp,  Henry  D.  Taylor,  Daniel  Honeck,  David  Hartman,  James  Brennan, 
councilmen. 

1866.  Mayor,  Asa  H.  Tyler;  Ransom  T.  Osborn,  recorder;  John  M. 
Haag,  John  H.  Vocke,  Seth  L.  Curtis,  William  Ditmer,  Harmon  J.  Tressler, 
councilmen. 

1867.  Mayor,  Joseph  R.  Swigart;  Charles  M.  Smith,  recorder;  Elisha  B. 
Harrison,  Daniel  J.  Humphrey,  Edwin  S.  Blair,  Henry  Lantzenheiser,  Joseph 
A.  Stout,  councilmen. 

1868.  Mayor,  Joseph  R.  Swigart;  Thomas  R.  Carroll,  recorder;  Joseph 
A.  Stout,  Edwin  S.  Blair,  Henry  D.  Lantzenheiser,  Lyman  Trowbridge,  John 
Theisen,  councilmen. 

1869.  Mayor,  John  L.  Robertson;  M.  E.  Heller,  recorder;  John  M.  Haag, 
Oscar  E.  Barnes,  Frederick  Theek,  John  M.  Shoemaker,  John  H.  Vocke, 
councilmen. 

1870.  Mayor,  Justin  H.Tyler;  Henry  Westervelt,  clerk  (name  changed 
from  recorder);  Henry  B.  Lantzenheiser,  Henry  Rafif,  John  Wilson,  Henry  E. 
Cary,  J.  W.  Brown,  Joseph  Vocke,  councilmen;  C.  B.  Waters,  marshal. 

1871.  Mayor,  Justin  H.  Tyler;  Henry  Westervelt,  clerk;  Elijah  B.  Bel- 
den,  John  Kuntz,  Joseph  L.  Robertson,  councilmen  elected;  street  commis- 
sioner, Samuel  J.  Roche. 

1872.  Mayor,  William  A.  Tressler;  marshal,  Orrin  A.  Parker;  treasurer, 
Jesse  D.  Norton;  clerk,  Henry  Westervelt;  councilmen,  Charles  M.Smith, 
Seth  L.  Curtis,  John  Theisen,  David  W.  Shoemaker. 

1873.  Mayor,  William  A.  Tressler;  David  Meekison,  clerk ;  D.  W.  Shoe- 
maker, Leverett  G.  Randall,  David  Wilson,  councilmen  elected. 

1874.  Mayor,  Benjamin  E.  Sheldon;  clerk,  Jacob  B.  Augenstein ;  treas- 
urer, Jesse  D.  Norton ;  Albert  M.  Wright,  David  D.  TurnbuU,  Samuel  Biggar, 
councilmen  elected. 

1875.  Mayor,  Benjamin  E.  Shelden ;  clerk,  Jacob  B.  Augenstein;  street 
commissioner,  John  Sullivan ;  Henry  E.  Cary,  John  Theisen,  Matt.  Reiser, 
councilmen  elected. 

1876.  Mayor,  Frank  M.  Rummell;  clerk,  Jacob  B.  Augenstein;  marshal, 
D.  M.  Jones ;  treasurer,  Daniel  J.  Humphrey ;  Oscar  E.  Barnes,  Frederick  Al- 
ler,  Leverett  G.  Randall,  councilmen  elected. 

1877.  Mayor,  Frank  M.  Rummell ;  Henry  E.  Carey,  Matt  Reiser,  George 
Daum,  councilmen  elected  ;  street  commissioner,  Daniel  Hess ;  clerk,  Jacob  B. 
Augenstien. 

1878.  Mayor,  Frank  M.  Rummell;  councilmen  elected,  Frederick  F. 
Shoner,  Albert  Bradley,  Oscar  E.  Barnes ;  J.  B.  Augenstein,  clerk ;  Daniel  J. 
Humphrey,  treasurer ;  David  M.  Jones,  marshal. 


198  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

1879.  Mayor,  Frank  M.  Rummell ;  Jacob  M.  Augenstein,  clerk ;  coun- 
cilmen  elected,  Henry  E.  Gary,  Henry  Rohrs,  Matt.  Reiser;  street  commis- 
sioner, John  Langdon. 

1880.  Mayor,  John  M.  Shoemaker;  clerk,  Jacob  B.  Augenstein;  coun- 
cilmen  elected,  William  J.  OverhuUs,  George  Daum,  Frederick  Aller;  treas- 
urer, Daniel  J.  Humphrey ;  marshal,  William  A.  Tressler. 

1881.  Mayor,  John  M.  Shoemaker;  clerk,  Jacob  Augenstien ;  street 
commissioner,  Daniel  Hess  ;  councilmen  eleeted,  Asa  H.  Tyler  Otto  Honeck, 
Nathaniel  McCoUey. 

1882.  Mayor,  John  M.  Hagg;  clerk,  Jacob  B.  Augenstein  ;  treasurer,  Jo- 
seph B.  Vocke  ;  marshal,  John  D.  Ritter;  councilmen  elected,  Andrew  Jack- 
son Sagers,  Henry  A.  Meyerholtz,  Edward  Brown. 

1883.  Mayor,  John  M.  Hagg;  clerk,  Jacob  B.  Augenstein;  street  com- 
missioner, Daniel  Hess;  councilmen  elect,  David  Meekison,  Orrin  Parker,  Geo. 
Hahn. 

1884.  Mayor,  William  A.  Tressler  ;  clerk,  Edwin  C.  Dodd  ;  marshal,  John 
D.  Ritter ;  treasurer,  Joseph  B.  Vocke ;  councilmen  elected,  Joseph  Schoff,  Lu- 
ther L.  Orwig,  William  Tietjen. 

1885.  Mayor,  William  A.  Tressler;  clerk,  Edwin  C.  Dodd  ;  street  com- 
missioner, Joseph  Grim  ;  councilmen  elected,  John  Withers,  Lemuel  Fellers, 
Oscar  E.  Barnes. 

1886.  Mayor,  John  Theisen  ;  clerk,  Edwin  C.  Dodd  ;  marshal,  S.  0.  Rake- 
straw  ;  treasurer,  Oliver  Higgins ;  councilmen  elected,  Richard  W.  Cahill,  Matt. 
Reiser,  Ferdinand  Roessing. 

1887.  Mayor,  John  Theisen;  clerk,  Edwid  C.  Dodd  ;  street  commissioner, 
Daniel  Hess;  councilmen  elected,  James  Donovan,  Henry  Halterman,  Jerome 
Martin. 

Present  Municipal  Officers. — Mayor,  John  Theisen,  salary,  $100;  clerk, 
Edwin  C.  Dodd,  salary,  $240 ;  treasurer,  Oliver  Higgins,  fee  office  ;  marshal, 
S.  O.  Rakestraw,  salary,  $1.50  per  day  ;  street  commissioner,  Daniel  Hess, 
salary  per  diem  allowance ;  councilmen,  Richard  W.  Cahill,  James  Donovan, 
Henry  Halterman,  Matthias  Reiser,  Jerome  Martin,  Ferdinand  Rogssing  (not 
salaried.) 

Committees  of  the  council,  finance,  Cahill,  Roessing  and  Donovan. 

Fire  department,  Martin,  Roessing  and  Reiser. 

Sewers,  Donovan,  Martin  and  Halterman. 

Sanitary,  Reiser,  Halterman  and  Cahill. 

Streets  and  sidewalks,  Halterman,  Martin  and  Donovan. 

Purchasing,  Roessing,  Cahill  and  Reiser. 


Henry  County. 


199. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 
HISTORY  OF  BARTLOW  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS,  original  number  three  in  range  five,  is  the  youngest  in  the  sisterhood 
of  townships,  and  is  situated  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  county  where 
Henry,  Wood,  Hancock  'and  Putnam  join.  It  was  not  organized  until 
1854,  at  which  time  there  were  not  enough  electors  living  on  the  territory  to 
fill  the  township  offices,  and  it  became  necessary  at  the  first  election,  which 
was  held  on  a  pile  of  railroad  ties,  for  one  person  to  assume  the  duties  of  sev- 
eral official  positions.  There  was  not  much  electioneering,  politicians  were  not 
in  demand,  and  no  charges  of  bribery  or  corruption  were  made. 

The  township  was  named  in  honor  of  Cornelius  Bartlow,  who  located  on 
section  thirty-six,  where  he  still  lives,  in  1851,  and  was  the  first  settler  in  the 
township,  it  at  that  time  being  a  part  of  Richfield. 

From  the  duplicate  of  1855,  the  first  upon  which  Bartlow  appears  as  an 
independent  organization,  we  learn  that  there  were  at  that  time  but  four  resi- 
dent taxpayers,  namely :  Cornelius  Bartlow,  Jesse  Bensley,  James  F.  Russell, 
Jonathan  W.  Vanscoyoc,  who,  with  the  Dayton  &  Michigan  Railroad,  paid 
taxes  on  personal  property  valued  at  $1,331.  There  were  22,429^  acres  of 
land  valued  at  $28,874  listed  for  taxation,  and  the  total  tax  paid  was  $488.12. 
A  contrast  may  as  well  be  drawn  here.  The  duphcate  of  1887  shows  21- 
633  acres  of  land  valued  at  $152,930,  the  number  of  acres  having  been  reduced 
by  railroad  right-of-ways  and  town  plats.  The  chattel  property  is  assessed  at 
$123,450,  and  the  tax  paid  aggregates  $8,207.98.  The  population  in  i860- 
was  only  thirty-two  (32) ;  in  1870  it  had  reached  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
(126) ;  in  1880  it  amounted  to  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen  (1816),  and  must 
at  present  be  at  least  twenty-five  hundred  (2500).  There  are  seven  school- 
houses,  in  addition  to  the  graded  one  at  Deshler. 

Many  causes  contributed  to  retard  the  improvement  and  development  of 
this  township:  (i)  It  was  the  only  part  of  the  county  that  formed  a  part  of  the 
actual  "Black  Swamp,"  and  it  was  indeed  a  swamp — low,  flat,  wet,  no  outlet  of 
any  kind  for  the  water  which  covered  the  whole  surface,  and  timber  and 
underbrush,  and  all  kinds  of  wild  vegetable  growth,  made  it  a  place  where 
indeed  "beasts  with  man  divided  empire  claimed,"  and  to  the  first  settler  may 
well  be  appHed  the  words  of  Moore  : 

"  His  path  was  rugged  and  sore, 

Through  tangled  juniper,  beds  of  reeds, 
Through  many  a  fen,  where  the  serpent  feeds. 
And  man  never  trod  before." 

(2)  Nine-tenths  of  the  land  was  owned  by  non-residents  of  the  county. 
The  late  John  G.  Deshler,  of  Columbus,  himself  owned  about  one-fourth  of  the 


200  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

township  ;  these  lands  were  held  for  speculation,  and  were  not  for  sale.  (3) 
There  were  no  roads  nor  access  to  market.  (4)  There  were  plenty  of  more 
desirable  and  eligibly  located  lands  to  be  had  at  a  cheap  price. 

The  construction  of  the  Dayton  and  Michigan  Railroad,  which  enters  the 
township  on  the  east  near  the  half  section  line  of  section  twelve,  running  south- 
westerly and  leaving  near  the  middle  of  section  thirty-four  on  the  south,  was 
the  first  break  made  in  the  wilderness.  The  construction  of  this  road  necessi- 
tated drainage,  but  it  was  very  superficial.  A  large  reservoir  was  constructed 
at  the  place  where  Deshler  now  stands,  and  the  surface  water  drained  into  it 
through  Brush  Creek,  and  became  a  main  watering  place  for  the  railroad. 
The  real  improvement  of  Bartlow  began  with  the  construction  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railway  in  1869.  A  frame  building  was  erected  and  a  supply  store 
for  the  contractors  and  employees  opened  at  the  reservoir,  and  the  D.  and  M. 
then  made  that  place  a  regular  station,  giving  it  the  name  of  Alma.  The  B. 
and  O.  enters  the  township  near  the  middle  of  section  twenty- four  and  runs  in 
a  northwestern  direction,  leaving  at  the  northwest  corner  of  section  eighteen. 
The  Deshler  and  McComb  Railroad  runs  through  sections  thirty-six  and  twen- 
ty-five, terminating  at  Deshler  in  section  twenty-three. 

The  West  Branch  of  Beaver  Creek,  Hammer  Creek,  Beaver  Creek,  Brush 
Creek,  all  cleaned  out,  widened  and  deepened,  and  surface  and  underground, 
together  with  the  railroad  ditches,  affords  good  and  sufficient  drainage ;  and 
fair  roads  are  now  constructed  to  almost  every  part  of  the  township. 

The  Village  of  Deshler. 

This  is  the  only  town  in  the  township.  It  was  so  named  in  recognition  of 
John  G.  Deshler,  the  large  land  owner  already  referred  to,  but  was  laid  out  and 
platted  by  Frederick  H.  Short  for  himself  and  as  trustees  for  a  syndicate  com- 
posed of  Daniel  McLane,  Stephen  S.  L'Hommedieu,  William  Beckett,  William 
E.  Boven,  Theodore  Stanwood,  John  W.  Hartwell,  and  John  G.  Deshler.  The 
plat  was  recorded  August  23,  1873.  It  is  located  in  the  southeast  corner  of 
section  twenty- three,  and  the  southwest  corner  of  section  twenty- four.  It  con- 
sists of  two  hundred  lots,  twenty  out  lots,  and  two  public  squares.  North, 
Plum,  Elm,  Maple,  Main,  Mulberry,  and  Walnut  streets,  and  five  alleys,  run 
east  and  west ;  Wood,  Vine,  Park,  East,  Lind  streets,  Keyser  avenue  and  four 
alleys  run  east  and  west. 

On  the  8th  of  February,  1875,  Silas  D.  Stearnes,  Justus  Stearnes,  and  Josiah 
H.  Stearnes  platted  an  addition  in  the  north  side  of  the  southwest  quarter  of 
section  twenty-four,  east  of  the  D.  &  M.  Railrord,  and  on  both  sides  of  the 
B.  &  O.  Railway.  North,  Plum,  Elm,  Maple,  Main,  and  Mulberry  streets  were 
continued  and  Short  street  added,  running  east ;  East  and  Lind  streets  were 
continued,  and  Ash  and  Oak  added,  running  north  ;  Water,  Holmes,  and  Bart- 
low streets  and  four  alleys  run   southeast,  and  Stearnes  avenue,  Pine,  Beach, 


Henry  County.  20  r 


Sycamore,  and  Butternut  streets,  with  five  alleys,  run  northwest.      One  square 
is  dedicated  to  the  public. 

On  the  1 8th  of  September,  1875,  Short,  for  himself  and  as  trustee,  as  already 
mentioned,  added  addition  to  the  village  embracing  eighteen  of  the  out  lots  in  the 
original  plat,  the  part  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  twenty- three  not  before: 
platted,  eighty  acres  in  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  twenty-three,  fifteen, 
and  a  half  acres  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  twenty-three,  thirty-five 
acres  in  the  southeast  quarter  of  the  same  section,  forty-nine  acres  in  the  south- 
east quarter,  and  seven  acres  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  fourteen.  -The 
addition  was  on  both  sides  of  the  B.  &  O.  Railway.  It  continued  North,  Plum, 
Elm,  Maple,  Main,  and  Mulberry  streets,  with  the  alleys  on  the  north  side  of 
the  railway,  and  continued  Walnut,  and  added  South,  Buckeye,  Marion,  and 
Harrison,  running  east  and  west,  on  the  south  of  the  railway.  It  also  con- 
tinued Keyser  avenue,  Park,  Vine,  and  Wood  streets,  and  alleys,  and  added 
Washington,  Chestnut,  and  Deshler  streets,  running  north  and  south. 

The  incorporation  of  the  village  was  perfected  on  the  30th  day  of  April, 
1876.  It  has  now  a  population  of  about  fourteen  hundred  ;  maintains  a  fire 
department,  is  grading  and  improving  its  streets,  sidewalks,  etc.  It  has  a  fine 
$5,000  brick  school  building,  and  an  excellent  graded  school  is  taught  nine 
months  in  the  year.  A  Methodist  Episcopal  brick  church,  a  Roman  Catholic 
frame  church,  and  a  Free  Methodist  frame  church  furnish  sufficient  places  for 
worship.  The  Deshler  Flag,  a  five-column  quarto  weekly  journal,  is  pub- 
lished here. 

There  is  also  a  machine  shop  and  foundry.  One  of  the  most  extensive 
stave  factories  in  northwestern  Ohio  is  owned  and  operated  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Lee. 
A  large  saw-mill,  owned  by  Messrs.  Ball  and  Smith,  has  a  capacity  of  35, 000 
feet  per  day,  and  turns  out  annually  2,000,000  feet  of  sycamore  lumber,  used 
almost  entirely  for  tobacco  boxes,  besides  a  large  amount  of  ash,  oak,  and  hick- 
ory for  domestic  and  shipping  purposes.  Heidelbach  Brothers  are  manufac- 
turing tobacco  boxes,  and  deal  in  lumber,  sash,  doors,  etc.,  on  an  extensive 
scale.  Mitchell  &  Widdner  are  the  proprietors  of  the  Deshler  brick  and  tile 
works,  an  industry  which  is  assuming  large  proportions.  Through  the  enter- 
prise of  Mr.  Mace  Baer,  a  large  brick  block  has  been  erected  within  the  last 
two  years.     The  citizens  are  energetic  and  enterprising. 

When  we  glance  back  and  see  the  wonderful  changes  and  transformations 
which  have  taken  place  within  so  few  years,  eastern  fable  assumes  a  shade  of 
plausibility,  and  Aladdin's  lamp  seems  a  possibility.  William  Hubbard,  when 
editor  of  the  Northwest,  in  appreciation  of  the  wonderful  improvement,  and 
partly  joking  Tontogany,  a  village  in  Wood  county,  wrote  the  following  fable, 
which  is  worth  preserving  : 

26 


202  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


THE  OLD  TIME  AND  THE  NEW. 


BY  A  FROG  AND  AN  OWL. 


There  was  a  great  big  Frog,  and  he 
Sat  on  a  great  big  log,  and  he 
Croaked  thus  ;   "  I'm  old  Mahogany, 
"  First  settler  at  Tontogany  ! 

"  Boola-ba-lum  ! — Lum  ! — Lum  ! 

"  Boola-ba-lum  ! — Lum  ! — m  ! — m  ! 

"  I've  seen  a  '  settler  '  shiver  and  shake, 
Until  I  thought  his  liver  would  break  ! 
Then  bitters  and  barks  '  endivver  '  to  take, 
And  gag,  and  '  hid-je-ous  '  faces  make  ! 

"  I've  known  the  fog  so  thick  at  night 
You'd  get  from  your  candlewick  no  light ; 
But  stir  the  air  with  a  stick,  you  might. 
And  the  smell  it  would  make  you  sick  outright. 

"  The  doctor  he  kept  a  mercury  can. 

And  found  the  practice  hard  work  for  a  man  ; 
But  feeling  your  pulse  with  a  jerk,  he  ran 
To  measure  your  calomel  out  in  a  pan  ! 

"  The  sick  were  as  ten  to  one  viell,  you  know, 
And  the  well  one  a  doctor  would  tell  to  '  Go  ! 
'  For  daddy  and  mamma  is  awful  low, 
'  And  you'll  find  our  house  by  the  cow-bell,  O  !' 

"  The  doctor  behind  him  fastened  a  boat, 
A  life-preserver  tied  round  his  throat, 
And  with  rubber  pants  and  vest  and  coat, 
He  i\'as  ready  to  ride,  or  row,  or  float ! 

"If  an  old  she-bear  didn't  cross  his  way. 
Or  a  catamount  '  chaw  him  up  '  for  prey. 
He  would  reach  the  house  by  break  of  day. 
And  onthe  road  home  would  whistle  for  pay  !" 

Thus  spoke  the  old  bull-frog,  and  he 
Dodged  under  his  slippery  log,  then  he 
Croaked  out :   "  Good-bye,  Tontogany  ! 

■"  You'll  see  no  more  of  Mahogany  ! 

"  Boola-ba-lum  ! — Lum  ! — Lum! 

,  "  Ker-chug  !" 

There  was  an  owl  perched  on  a  tree  ; 
She  oped  her  eyes  that  she  might  see  — 
She  wondered  what  in  the  world  could  be 
The  cause  of  the  croak  at  Tontogany. 

"  Too-hoot !— To-hoot !— To-hoo  ! 

"  To-hoot ! — To  hoot ! — To-hoo-oo-oo  ! 

"^No  'fevernagur  '  now  is  near, 

Nor  barks  nor  bitters  are  wanted  here  — 
The  fog  is  gone  and  the  sky  is  clear. 
And  health  has  reigned  for  many  a  year. 


Henry  County.  203 


"  The  doctor  has  sold  his  mercury  can, 
He  keeps  no  more  a  calomel  pan, 
His  life-preserver  was  '  bought  by  a  man,' 
And  he  made  of  his  boat  a  bin  for  bran. 

"A  thousand  channels  are  digged,  you  see, 
Our  rich,  wild  lands  from  water  are, free ; 
And  the  rivulets  ripple  and  roll  in  glee 
To  swell  the  waves  of  the  broad  Maumee. 

"  The  she-bear  and  her  cubs  are  gone  — 
The  wolves  died  howling  one  by  one, 
To  the  crack  of  the  settler's  deadly  gun, 
When  the  day  was  past  and  the  chopping  done. 

"  Let  croakers  such  as  Mahogany, 
Do  just  as  did  that  frog,  when  he 
Went  under  the  slippery  log,  and  he 
Said  '  Good-bye,  old  Tontogany  ! 

'  Boola-ba-lum  ! — Lum  !■ — m  !-! 
'  Ker-chug  ! 
"  The  old  time's  past  —  to-hoot !  —  to-hoo  oo  ! 
We  welcome  now  the  new  !" 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

HISTORY  OF  DAMASCUS  TOWNSHIP. 

IT  would  appear  tha.t  the  biography  of  a  middle  aged  man  could  be  easily 
written,  and  the  information  obtainable  from  one  person.  So  should  the  his- 
tory of  a  county,  young  as  that  of  Henry,  be  accurately  and  speedily  compiled. 
We  are,  however,  confronted  with  a  mountain  of  difficulties  seemingly  insur- 
mountable. The  smoke  of  the  element,  to  the  music  of  which  Nero  is  said  to 
have  kept  time  with  his  fiddle,  has  obscured  the  early  foot-prints  ;  ignorance 
has  made  no  record,  and  when  made  carelessness  has  permitted  it  to  be  de- 
stroyed. Unlike  an  old  settled  county  one  generation  has  not  stepped  into 
the  tracks  of  its  predecessor,  and  tradition  preserved  the  record ;  but  like  the 
Toltecs  and  the  Aztecs,  the  successor  has  inherited  no  history  of  its  predeces- 
sor, and  it  is  only  from  a  few  landmarks  and  the  [impaired  recollection  of  a 
very  few  of  the  remaining  members  of  the  original  tribe  of  Abraham  that  we  are 
enabled  to  gather  a  few  recollections  worth  preserving  and  embalming  in  print. 

Three  Stages  of  Civilization. 

We  find  three  types  of  civilization  as  having  existed  here.     Pioneer  is  rather 
a  misnomer  for  the  first,  as  he  came  not  as  a  settler,  removed  but  few  obstruc- 


204  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

tions,  and  cleared  a  very  narrow  way  for  those  who  were  to  follow;  he  was 
rather  an  adventurer,  restless  in  civilization  and  happy  only  in  the  solitude 
of  wild  nature ;  the  rifle  and  the  dog  were  his  companions,  and  the  fruit  of  the 
hunt  and  trap  his  only  means  of  support.  Very  little  improvement  was  made 
by  this  type ;  a  small  corn  and  truck  patch  was  cleared,  and  a  rude  log  cabin 
•erected,  but  the  immense  forests  remained  comparatively  undisturbed.  He 
was  followed  by  the  man  with  the  ax,  and  in  his  footsteps  came  the  saw-mill. 
This  was  the  timbering  period,  and  the  giants  of  the  forest  fell  rapidly  before 
the  woodman's  ax.  The  monster  oaks  were  felled,  hewed,  sleded  to  the  Mau- 
mee,  rafted  to  Toledo,  thence  on  vessels  to  Montreal  and  Quebec,  and  then  to 
Liverpool,  England,  where  they  were  converted  into  vessels.  The  walnut,  ash 
and  poplar  were  converted  into  lumber  and  shipped  to  Eastern  markets.  The 
soft  wood  has  become  valuable  only  in  late  years  and  since  the  advent  of  the 
stave  factory  and  hoop  maker.  With  the  lumbermen  came  many  who  re- 
mained, and  accompanied  or  followed  by  others  in  search  of  cheap  homes. 
These  with  their  descendants,  eastern  arrivals  and  foreign  immigration  make 
up  the  present  population  and  civilization. 

Civil  Organization. 

Damascus  township  was  organized  as  a  voting  precinct  in  1823,  included 
the  whole  of  what  was  then  Henry  county,  with  the  voting  place  at  Independ- 
ence, now  in  Defiance  county.  As  time  advanced  improvements  multiplied 
and  population  increased,  new  civil  townships  were  formed,  until  Damascus  is 
at  present  limited  to  the  original  government-surveyed  township  No.  Five, 
north  of  range  eight,  east,  minus  so  much  as  lies  north  of  the  Maumee  River, 
and  forms  part  of  Washington  township,  being  sections  i  and  6,  the  most  of  5 
and  7,  and  parts  of  three  and  4.  It  is,  of  course,  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
Maumee,  on  the  east  by  Wood  county,  on  the  south  by  Richfield,  and  on  the 
west  by  Harrison  township.  In  1840,  when  its  territory,  divided  with  Rich- 
field and  Flat  Rock,  embraced  all  of  the  county  south  of  the  river,  it  had  a  pop- 
ulation of  only  489.  In  i860,  reduced  to  its  present  dimensions,  it  contained 
761  souls,  which  in  1870  had  increased  to  1,179,  this  grew  to  1,415  in  1880, 
and  at  present,  estimating  from  the  voting  population  and  including  the  village 
of  McClure,  which  has  sprung  up  since,  must  number  not  less  than  2,000 
persons. 

Topography. 

The  township,  in  common  with  the  county,  is  very  level,  or  rather  flat.  It 
is,  however,  easily  drained  into  the  several  natural  water  courses  which  run 
through  the  township,  emptying  into  the  Maumee. 

The  south  branch  of  Turkey  Foot,  the  main  creek  south  of  the  Maumee, 
enters  the  township  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  nineteen,  running  north- 


Henry  County.  205 


easterly  through  sections  nineteen,  eighteen  and  seventeen  and  emptying  into  the 
river  in  the  west  half  of  section  eight.  Lick  Creek  starts  in  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  section  twenty-nine,  also  running  in  a  northeasterly  direction  until  it 
reaches  the  river  in  the  northwest  corner  of  section  three,  a  fragment  of  which 
lies  south  of  the  river.  The  east  branch  of  this  creek  commences  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  section  sixteen,  uniting  with  the  main  creek  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  section  nine.  Big  Creek  starts  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  section 
thirty-four,  running  south,  tending  slightly  to  the  east,  through  sections  twen- 
ty-seven, twenty-two,  fifteen  and  eleven,  reaching  the  river  in  the  southwest 
quarter  of  the  latter  section.  The  channels  of  these  creeks  have  been  greatly 
improved  by  widening  and  deepening,  and  with  the  system  of  artificial  drain- 
age, both  surface  and  under-ground  tiling,  completety  drain  the  township, 
which  is  now  one  of  the  best  improved  and  most  productive  in  the  county,  the 
soil  being  mainly  black  alluvium  and  its  fertility  seemingly  inexhaustible. 

The  Coldwater,  Mansfield  and  Lake  Michigan  Railroad  is  located  through 
the  township,  its  road  commencing  at  the  east  side  of  the  southwest  quarter  of 
section  twenty-five  and  running  in  a  southwestern  direction  through  sections 
twenty- five,  twenty- six,  twenty-seven,  twenty-eight,  twenty  and  nineteen. 
The  "Narrow  Guage,"  now  converted  into  a  standard,  and  known  as  the 
"Clover  Leaf "  route,  also  runs  through  the  township,  entering  on  the  east 
line  at  the  northeast  corner  of  section  thirteen  and  running  diagonally  through 
the  township,  southwesterly  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  thirty-one.  It 
crosses  the  road  bed  of  the  C.  M.  &  L.  M.  Railroad,  in  the  northeast  quarter 
of  section  twenty-eight.  The  location  of  the  railroads,  and  especially  the  con- 
struction of  the  narrow  guage,  gave  birth  to  the 

Village  of  McClure. 

This,  the  only  village  in  the  township,  was  laid  out  and  platted  into  town 
lots  by  John  McClure,  and  entered  of  record  in  the  ofiice  of  the  recorder  of 
Henry  County,  April  15,  1880,  and  is  situated  "in  the  northeast  part  of  the 
northeast  quarter  of  section  twenty-eight,"  on  the  line  of  the  Delphos  and  To- 
ledo (narrow  guage)  Railroad.  The  original  plat  was  711  feet  square  and  was 
divided  into  twenty-eight  lots,  including  the  depot  grounds.  On  the  7th  day 
of  February,  1881,  Mr.  McClure  added  an  addition  of  thirty- two  lots  on  the 
south  of  the  town,  increasing  the  number  of  lots  to  sixty.  April  7,  1881,  Da- 
vid Foltz  platted  an  addition  of  six  lots  to  the  east  side  of  the  town,  and  August 
26,  1 88 1,  added  another  addition  of  four  lots  on  the  south  of  the  town.  Oc- 
tober 19,  188 1,  J.  G.  Markley's  addition  of  twenty- four  lots  was  added  to  the 
north  of  the  town.  Sept.  23,  1881,  Mr.  McClure  added  his  second  addition  of 
twenty-six  lots  on  the  west  of  his  first  addition.  Sept.  5,  1882,  Ammond 
Smith  platted  an  addition  of  five  lots  to  the  west  of  McClure's  second  addition. 
April  10,  1885,  J.  G.  Markley  added  a  second  addition  of  sixteen  lots  on  the 
iwest  of  his  first  addition. 


2o6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  village  was  incorporated  in  1886,  and  the  plat  admitted  to  record  on- 
the  loth  day  of  August  of  that  year. 

The  first  substantial  building  erected  in  the  village  was  in  1880,  on  lot  fif- 
teen on  the  original  plat,  by  Thomas  W.  Durbin,  who  for  a  number  of  years- 
had  been  merchandising  at  Texas,  in  Washington  township.  The  building  is- 
a  two- story  frame,  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  deep,  and  twenty- two  feet  wide. 
A  general  mercantile  business  is  carried  on  by  the  "Durbin  boys" — Dickin- 
son, Charles  and  Clark,  sons  of  the  proprietor.  The  same  year  Andrew  John- 
son erected  a  commodious  hotel ;  the  year  following  the  Rowland  brothers  put 
up  an  elevator  and  also  a  store-room  ;  following  were  the  Counselman  broth- 
ers with  still  another  store ;  then  xame  the  stave  factory,  planing-mill,  etc. 
The  town  at  present  contains  a  population  of  five  hundred,  has  a  post,  express 
and  telegraph  office,  one  church,  a  large  two-story  school-house,  three  general 
stores,  one  drug  store,  a  hardware  store,  saw-mill,  stave  factory,  planing-mill,, 
and  the  various  mechanical  artisans.  Gas  and  oil  have  lately  been  struck,, 
mains  and  pipes  have  been  laid,  and  the  town  is  now  heated  and  lighted  by 
the  natural  vapor. 

Early  Settlers. 

In  1837  there  were  but  three  hundred  and  eighty-five  acres  of  land  in  what 
is  now  Damascus  township,  on  the  duplicate  for  taxation,  and  it  was  a  number 
of  years  after  that  date  before  settlement  commenced.  John  Savage  was,  per- 
haps, one  of  the  very  first  actual  settlers ;  Abraham  Snyder  came  from  Vir- 
ginia in  1840,  but  first  settled  in  Washington,  at  that  time  called  Myo  town- 
ship; James  Reid  came  in  1843  ;  James  Fiser,  also  from  Virginia,  came  the 
same  year  ;  Samuel  Domer  in  1849,  and  Solomon  Domer  the  year  following; 
Milton  Jennings  came  in  1851;  Jacob  Beaver  was  one  of  the  early  settlers ; 
William  Bell,  Philip  W.  Counselman,  the  Shepard  family,  John  M.  McClure, 
John  Foltz,  John  C.  McLain,  may  be  mentioned  among  the  pioneers  to  whom 
is  due  the  credit  of  converting  the  forests  of  Damascus  into  a  garden. 

Present  Condition.  —  Not  less  than  three  fourths  of  the  lands  of  this  town- 
ship were  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  worth  from  $25  to  $85  per  acre- 
The  township  is  well  ditched,  has  good  roads  on  almost  every  section  line ;  its 
residences  and  farm  buildings  are  surpassed  by  few  localities,  and  it  has  more 
churches  and  school-houses  than  any  other  township  in  the  county,  or,  in  fact, 
in  most  any  other  county.  Its  population  is  very  moral,  sober  and  industri- 
ous, in  fact  a  more  desirable  community  or  better  county  in  which  to  live,  will 
be  hard  to  find. 

Damascus  township  presents  several  sad  examples  from  which  the  farmer- 
and  agriculturist  should  profit.  Several  of  her  pioneer  and  best  to  do  farmers 
who  purchased  government  lands  at  a  low  price  in  the  early  days  of  the  county, 
settled  in  the  wilderness,  and  patiently  enduring  all  hardships  and  deprivations,. 


Henry  County. 


207 


-were  in  their  old  age  induced  by  their  boys,  who  had  become  fascinated  with 
town  Hfe,  or  felt  too  proud  to  farm,  to  sell  their  hard  earned  homes,  now  valu- 
able, and  remove  to  the  neighboring  town  and  engage  in  merchandising,  a 
business  of  which  neither  they  or  their  boys  knew  anything. 

In  discussing  the  reasons  why  so  many  of  the  boys  born  and  bred  on  farms, 
become  dissatisfied  with  rural  life,  and  why  so  few  follow  the  occupation  at 
which  their  fathers  had  won  success,  there  is  one  that  is  too  little  considered. 
Most  of  these  young  men  expect  some  day  to  marry,  and  seeing  how  hard  a 
time  their  mothers  usually  have,  are  properly  unwilling  to  oblige  the  girls  they 
love  to  assume  such  arduous  responsibilities.  In  fact,  they  cannot  oblige  a  girl 
to  become  a  farmer's  wife  if  they  would.  The  time  for  such  obligation  has  not 
yet  come,  and  in  ninety- nine  cases  out  of  one  hundred,  ambitious  girls,  who 
like  a  man  well  enough  for  himself,  suppress  their  feelings  and  give  him  the 
go-by,  if  this  be  the  prospect  in  life  that  he  holds  out  "  for  better  or  for  worse." 
It  is,  unfortunately,  not  altogether  a  prejudice  that  thus  influences  young  wo- 
men against  the  farm,  or  rather  it  is  the  natural  prejudgment  of  their  own  fate 
from  the  facts  in  farmers'  wives'  experiences  with  which  they  are  themselves 
familiar. 

Undoubtedly  the  greatest  improvement  in  farming  life  now  needed  con- 
sists in  greater  comforts  and  conveniences  for  farmers'  wives.  The  farmer  him- 
self has  all  sorts  of  labor-saving  machinery.  The  wife  often  has  to  do  with 
only  the  same  conveniences  provided  for  her  mother  and  grandmother  before 
her.  As  social  duties  become  more  exacting  her  time  and  leisure  are  less  than 
formerly.  Children  on  the  farm  do  not  "  rough  it "  as  much  as  they  used  to. 
Just  all  the  difference  in  their  appearance  marks  so  much  the  greater  care 
thrown  upon  the  mother.  It  is  more  difficult  than  formerly  to  get  good  help 
in  the  house  in  the  country.  Girls  who  work  in  private  families  prefer  city  life. 
They,  too,  had  rather  find  a  beau  among  the  young  men  in  some  city  avoca- 
tion than  on  a  farm.  Now,  as  far  as  possible,  a  farmer  should  make  his  wife's 
work  proportionately  as  easy  as  his  own,  or  he  .should  quit  the  business  if  sat- 
isfied that  this  cannot  be  done.  Usually  the  hardest  jobs  in  the  house  may  be 
saved  by  a  little  timely  thoughtfulness  on  the  part  of  the  husband  and  men 
folks.  Having  a  good  supply  of  wood  or  other  fuel  in  a  convenient  place 
ought  to  be  a  requirement  from  every  housewife.  So,  too,  should  good  hard 
and  soft  water  convenient  for  use.  Many  steps  may  be  saved  by  constructing 
sewage  drains  to  convey  slops  from  the  house.  This  drain  should  terminate 
in  some  receptacle  at  a  distance  from  the  house,  which,  kept  disinfected,  will 
more  than  pay  its  way  in  providing  fertilizers  for  the  farm. 

It  is  presumed  that  most  farmers'  wives  have  sewing  machines.  They  are 
as  great  help  in  the  house  as  mowers  and  harvesters  are  on  the  farm,  and  rnay 
be  used  many  more  days  in  the  year.  The  ice-house  and  creamery  should  be 
maintained  wherever  a  cow  is  kept.     They  make  a  great  saving  in  the  labor  of 


2o8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

caring  for  milk,  and  are  besides  well  worth  their  cost  in  making  more  and  better 
butter  than  by  the  old  laborious  methods.  The  ice-cold  milk  from  the  creamer 
is  an  excellent  drink  for  hard  working  men.  With  every  particle  of  cream  re- 
moved it  is  as  nutritious  as  it  ever  was,  and  its  coolness,  combined  with  nutri- 
tion, makes  it  valuable  for  a  drink  to  men  in  the  hay  and  harvest  fields.  Then,, 
too,  with  plenty  of  ice  it  is  easy  to  have  ice  cream  easily,  made  cheaply  and 
better  than  nine-tenths  of  what  is  sold  in  cities.  With  beautiful  home-grown 
flowers  in  the  dooryard,  and  perhaps  a  green-house  for  them  in  winter,  the 
farmer's  wife  need  ask  no  odds  of  her  city  sisters  with  equal  wealth  in  the 
pleasures  and  refinements  of  life  which  each  may  enjoy. 

The  trouble  with  most  farmers  is  that  they  do  not  make  the  most  of  little 
things  where  they  can  easily  and  cheaply  increase  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of 
life.  Lacking  these  they  look  with  greater  envy  on  the  supposed  advantages 
of  city  residents,  and  of  course  become  discontented  and  unhappy.  If  farmers 
asked  the  advice  of  their  wives  more  than  they  do  about  household  arrange- 
ments, and  gave  them  their  way  in  these,  they  would  find  the  comforts  of  their 
homes  greatly  increased  thereby.  Perhaps  then  their  sons,  whom  they  hope 
to  leave  as  prosperous  farmers,  would  not  be  deterred  from  their  father's  busi- 
ness by  their  inability  to  find  lovable  and  intelligent  young  women  willing  tO' 
share  such  a  life  with  them. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
HISTORY  OP  FLAT  ROCK  TOWNSHIP.i 

IN  the  year  1833,  about  September,  my  parents  (Jared  and  Susanna  Scofield)' 
left  Delaware  county,  N.  Y.,  for  the  Maumee  Valley.  We  boarded  a  canal 
boat  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  on  the  Erie  Canal,  which  took  us  to  Buffalo;  thence  by  sail 
up  Lake  Erie.  After  a  tedious  journey  of  several  days  we  arrived  at  a  place- 
called  Portland  (now  Sandusky  City)  east  of  the  mouth  of  Sandusky  River ; 
thence  by  wagon  to  Lower  Sandusky  (now  Fremont);  thence  across  to  Perrys- 
burg,  through  what  was  then  called  the  Black  Swamp,  which,  indeed,  was  prop- 
erly named.  The  road  is  now  macadamized,  but  then  was  black  swamp  the 
entire  distance.  I  recollect  one  day  our  progress  was  so  slow  that  we  did  not 
get  far  enough  to  find  a  place  to  stay  over  night  without  camping  in  the  mud 
and  water,  and  we  were  without  horse  feed.  We  left  the  wagons,  went  back 
and  stayed  at  the  place  we  had   stayed  the  night  before.     After  this  tedious 

1  Written  and  contributed  for  this  volume  by  James  E.  Scofield,  a,  pioneer  of  the  Maumee  Valley, 
from  personal  recollections,  records,  and  information  derived  from  other  early  settlers. 


^  tTCv;^:^^^^ 


Henry  County. 


209 


journey  of  several  days  (thirty-one  miles)  we  arrived  at  Perrysburg,  there 
forded  the  Maumee  River,  and  went  up  the  north  bank  to  Providence.  There 
we  camped  in  a  log  cabin,  without  floor  or  windows,  and  allowed  the  teams  to 
return  to  their  homes  in  Portland. 

Our  emigrant  train  consisted  of  father,  mother  and  seven  children,  four 
boys  and  three  girls,  and  grandmother  ;  also  Uncle  and  Aunt  Lucinda  Morse 
(mother's  sister),  with  two  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl.  My  father  went  pro- 
specting (being  some  acquainted  with  the  country  from  a  visit  here  the  year 
before)  with  his  neice  and  her  husband,  Joseph  Heath,  who  also  located  here 
in  the  spring  of  the  same  year,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  opposite  Girty's 
Island.  The  remainder  of  the  family  remained  in  camp  in  regular  Indian  style, 
hunting  and  fishing.  Game  and  fish  were  plenty.  Upon  my  father's  return, 
after  an  absence  of  a  week,  we  broke  camp  and  embarked  on  a  double  pirogue, 
which  consisted  of  two  huge  trees  being  dugout  in  proper  shape,  with  reason- 
ably thin  sides  and  bottom  to  make  them  light  as  possible,  and  yet  substantial 
enough  to  endure  some  hardships,  then  laid  side  by  side  matched  together  and 
caulked  in  the  seam  to  prevent  leaking.  Then  "  wales  "  were  added  around 
the  top  of  the  sides  for  poling,  or  propelling  purposes.  I  believe  they  had  a 
name  for  the  craft  to  designate  it  from  a  pirogue,  which  is  one  huge  tree  dug 
out  like  a  canoe. 

Thus  equipped,  and  under  command  of  Captain  Carver,  we  weighed  anchor 
and  glided  up  the  placid  Maumee,  using  poles  for  power,  and  arrived  late  in  the 
evening  of  the  same  day  at  Girty's  Island,  and  the  residence  of  Joseph  Heath, 
before  mentioned.  All  the  parties  were  mutually  acquainted  in  the  State  of 
New  York.  In  this  neighborhood  I  have  resided  since.  On  coming  up  the 
river  a  fine  buck  was  seen  swimming  across  at  some  distance  above  us.  Uncle 
Orrin  being  anxious  to  have  the  first  deer  made  a  shot,  at  a  long  distance,  but 
failed  to  hit  him.  Shortly  after  when  nearer,  father  made  a  better  shot,  killing 
the  deer.  Upon  arriving  at  the  spot,  the  water  being  shallow  and  full  of  grass, 
the  deer  did  not  sink  but  was  easily  pulled  into  the  boat.  This  was  our  first 
venison  captured  in  Ohio,  or  perhaps  any  other  place.  It  is  my  first  recollec- 
tion of  venison. 

At  this  time  (about  October,  1833)  Napoleon  was  not  known.  Not  a  tree 
was  cut.  The  branches  of  trees  hung  over  the  banks  of  the  river  on  either 
side  all  the  way  up,  and  indeed,  all  the  way  to  Defiance,  and  also  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.  Now  and  then  were  observed  small  clearings,  one  of  which  was  that  of 
John  Patrick,  (a  pioneer  of  1824)  three  miles  east  of  Napoleon.  Another 
owned  by  widow  Buckhn,  near  the  mouth  of  Turkey  Foot  Creek;  Mr.  Gunn's, 
at  Prairie  du  Masque;  Samuel  Bowers's  about  one  mile  west,  and  Elisha  Scrib- 
ner's,  off  the  river  farther  north.  The  next  clearing  west  of  John  Patrick  was 
that  of  Elijah  Gunn,  a  pioneer  of  1826,  at  Girty's  Point,  opposite  of  the  east 
end  of  Girty's  Island,  in  (now)  Flat  Rock  township;  then  Joseph  Heath's,  op- 

27 


2IO  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

posite  the  west  end  of  the  island,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river.     On  the 
south  bank  were  Reuben  Wait  and  Amos  Cole.     The  three  last  named  families- 
were  pioneers  of  1833.     Then  came  John  Lowry's  plan,  up  near  Snake  Town, 
formerly  an  Indian  town  on  the  south  bank,  opposite  the  (now)  town  of  Florida; 
then  John  Carver,  at   Snake    Town.     William    Hunter's  inn,    or  hotel,  was  a 
double  log  cabin  on  the  north  bank  (now  Florida);  Thomas  Brown  lived  a  half 
mile  east ;  William  Bowen,  who  afterward  laid  out  the  town  of  Florida,  lived 
on  his  land.      He  had  a  small  clearing,  as  also  had  Mr.  Hunter  and  Mr.  Brown. 
The  next  clearing,  west  of  Florida,  was  that  of  Richard  Grimes,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  river  and  a  little  back  (now   the  residence  of  Dr.  Gibbons  Parry). 
The  next  on  the  river  bank,  in  succession,  now  in  Richland  township,  Defiance 

county,  were  Mr.  Tuttle,  Samuel  Rohn,  Dr.  Jonathan  Evans, Hively,  Isaac 

Brancher  and  Pierce  Evans  (near  Defiance).  On  the  south  bank  were  Dr.  J. 
L.  Watkins  (in  now  Flat  Rock), Graves  (now  Richland)  and  Samuel  Kep- 
ler.    Then  Fort  Defiance,  at  the  junction  of  the  Au  Glaize  and  Maumee  Rivers. 

Township  Organization — Election  Records. 

Flat  Rock  township  was  organized  on  the  23d  day  of  May,  1835.  The 
records  show  the  election  of  its  first  officers  of  that  date.  William  Bowen  and 
Samuel  Rohn  were  judges,  and  Jared  Scofield  and  Amos  Cole,  clerks  of  elec- 
tion. The  book  shows  ten  votes  polled.  Amos  Cole  was  elected  justice  of  the 
peace;  John  L.  Watkins,  Richard  Grimes  and  Jared  Scofield,  trustees;  Joseph 
Heath,  clerk  and  constable;  William  Bowen  and  George  Lowry,  overseers  of 
the  poor;  John  Lowry  and  Jesse  King,  fence  viewers;  John  L.  Watkins  and 
Elijah  Gunn,  road  supervisors. 

June  22,  1835.  Trustees  met  and  divided  the  township  into  school  dis- 
tricts. Number  three  included  Pleasant  township  and  Marion  and  Monroe,  if 
they  had  any -inhabitants.  The  records  do  not  show  when  these  townships 
were  detached,  neither  do  they  show  how  Richland  and  Flat  Rock  were  to- 
gether, but  from  memory  (as  a  boy  fifteen  years  old),  the  election  was  held  on 
the  bank  of  the  river,  on  the  territory  now  of  Richland,  using  a  hat  for  the 
ballot  box.  Some  of  the  voters  lived  there  then,  and  since  to  time  of  their 
decease. 

The  first  State  and  county  election  was  held  October  13,  1835.  John  L. 
Watkins,  Jared  Scofield  and  Richard  Grimes  were  the  judges,  and  Samuel 
Rohn  and  William  Wait,  clerks  of  said  election.  Patrick  G.  Good  received 
eight  votes  for  senator,  Stacy  Taylor  five,  John  E.  Hunt,  five,  and  John  C. 
Spink,  three;  Samuel  Marshal  had  five  votes  for  representative;  for  county 
commissioner,  Amos  Cole  had  thirteen,  Isaac  Brancher,  ten,  and  Jonathan 
Mead,  eight  votes;  for  surveyor,  John  L.  Watkins  had  ten,  and  Frederick  Lord 
two;  for  sheriff,  Samuel  Bowers  had  thirteen;  for  coroner,  William  Bowers 
had  thirteen;  for  auditor,  Hazael  Strong  had  thirteen;  for  recorder,  John  N. 


Henry  County.  211 


Evans  had  thirteen;  for  prosecuting  attorney,  Frederick  Lord  had  four;  for 
treasurer,  Israel  Wait  had  twelve,  and  for  county  assessor,  Willis  Wait  had 
thirteen  votes. 

The  first  settlement  with  township  officers  was  held  March  7,  1836.  Trus- 
tees present,  John  L.  Watkins,  Jared  Scofield  and  Richard  Grimes.  The  next 
township  election  was  held  April  4,  1836.  Jared  Scofield,  John  L.  Watkins 
and  Richard  Grimes  were  judges,  and  Joseph  Heath  and  Reuben  Wait,  clerks. 
Reuben  Wait,  Jared  Scofield  and  Richard  Grimes  were  elected  trustees,  and 
Joseph  Heath  clerk.  The  following  October  my  father,  Jared  Scofield,  died, 
which  ended  his  further  action  in  developing  this,  then,  wilderness. 

The  second  State  and  county  election  was  held  October  11,  1836,  with 
twenty-four  electors  present.  For  governor,  Joseph  Vance  had  seventeen 
votes,  and  Eli  Baldwin  seven;  for  congress,  Patrick  G.  Good  had  seventeen,  and 
James  Brown  seven;  for  representative  in  State  legislature,  John  Holister  had 
seventeen  votes,  and  Amos  Evans  seven ;  for  county  commissioner,  John  Pat- 
rick had  twenty-four  votes ;  for  recorder,  Hazael  Strong  had  eighteen  votes,  and 
John  Glass  six.  From  this  record  it  would  seem  that  the  Whigs  were  in  the 
ascendancy.  (A  much  different  state  of  affairs  now  exists.)  From  my  recol- 
lection the  persons  receiving  the  larger  number  of  votes  were  all  Whigs.  The 
Democratic  majority  over  the  RepubHcans  will  run  an  even  hundred,  and  per- 
haps a  little  more  at  this  time  (1887). 

The  next  township  election  was  held  April  3,  1837.  Sixteen  electors  were 
present.  Reuben  Wait,  Richard  Grimes  and  Jesse  King  were  elected  trustees  ; 
Joseph  A.  Brewer,  clerk;  William  Bowen,  treasurer;  for  school  examiner, 
Wm.  C.  Brownell  had  fifteen  votes,  Isaac  P.  Whipple  sixteen,  and  Reuben 
sixteen.  The  record  does  not  show  how  the  tie  vote  was  settled.  The  next 
State  and  county  election  was  held  October  10,  1837,  w'^h  thirty-two  electors 
present.  For  State  senator,  John  Patterson  had  twenty-one  votes,  and  Curtis 
Bates  eleven;  for  representative,  George  W.  Crawford  had  twenty-one,  and 
Parley  Carlan  eleven ;  for  county  commissioners,  Isaac  Brancher  had  twenty- 
two,  and  James  Magill  eight;  for  treasurer,  Israel  Wait  had  twenty-two,  and 
John  Glass,  five ;  for  auditor,  John  Powell  had  twenty-one  and  F"rederick  Lord 
eleven ;  for  sheriff,  Alexander  Craig  had  nineteen  votes,  and  Henry  Leonard 
twelve;  for  coroner,  John  B.  Rundel  had  twenty-one,  and  Joseph  Heath  ten; 
for  prosecuting  attorney,  William  D.  Barry  had  ten,  and  Frederick  Lord  twen- 
ty-one ;  for  assessor,  Adolphus  Patrick  had  eleven,  and  Willis  Wait  twenty-one. 

The  next  township  election  was  held  April  2,  1838.  Reuben  Wait,  Rich- 
ard Grimes  and  Jesse  King  were  elected  trustees,  and  William  C.  Brownell 
clerk.  At  this  election  William  C.  Brownell,  Richard  Grimes  and  Amos  Cole 
were  elected  school  land  trustees.  On  the  lOth  day  of  May,  1838,  Amos  Cole 
was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  second  term,  and  John  B.  Rundel  for  a 
first  term,  making  two  justices  in  the  township. 


212  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  next  State  and  county  election  was  held  October  9,  1838.  Number  of 
electors  present,  25.  For  governor,  Joseph  Vance  had  14  votes,  and  Wilson 
Shannon  1 1  ;  Congress,  Patrick  G.  Good  had  14,  William  Sawyer  1 1  ;  State 
senator,  John  Hollister  14,  and  Curtis  Bates  1 1  ;  representative,  William  Tay- 
lor had  14,  and  Perley  Carlin  1 1  ;  county  commissioner,  Jonathan  F.  Evans 
12,  and  Henry  Leonard  13  ;  surveyor,  William  C.  Brownell  24,  Frederick 
Lord  I. 

The  next  township  election  was  held  April  i,  1839.  Reuben  Wait,  Rich- 
ard Grimes  and  Jesse  King  were  elected  trustees,  and  Wm.  C.  Brownell,  clerk; 
William  Bowen,  treasurer,  and  Jacob  Barnhart,  justice  of  the  peace,  in  place  of 
John  B.  Rundel,  deceased. 

The  next  State  and  county  election  was  held  October  8,  1839.  For  State 
senator,  John  E.  Hunt  had  17  votes,  and  Jonathan  Taylof  14;  representative, 
Moses  McNelly  had  16,  and  William  Taylor  14;  sheriff,  Alexander  Craig  had 
22,  and  William  D.  Barry  5  ;  treasurer,  John  Patrick  16,  and  Samuel  Bowers, 
14;  auditor,  John  Powell  16,  and.  Lorenzo  L.  Patrick  12;  commissioner,  John 
Knapp  14,  and  David  Edwards  14  ;  assessor,  Benjamin  B.  Abell  17,  and  Will- 
iam C.  Brownell  14;  recorder,  Hazael  Strong  21,  and  John  Glass  3  ;  coroner, 
Joseph  Heath  18,  and  John  Patrick  10.  On  the  second  day  of  March,  1840, 
George  A.  Young,  a  citizen  of  T.  3,  N.  R.  6,  E.  (now  Pleasant  township),  pre- 
sented a  petition  signed  by  citizens  of  that  part  of  territory  of  Flat  Rock  town- 
ship, praying  to  be  set  off  in  a  separate  school  district,  known  as  No.  4,  to  in- 
clude No.  3  north  of  ranges  6  and  7,  east  (now  Pleasant  and  Marion  town- 
ships), which  was  granted  ;  also,  at  the  same  time,  altered  that  part  of  school 
districts  Nos.  2  and  3,  as  originally  divided,  as  follows :  All  of  No.  3,  in  Flat 
Rock  township  (T.  4,  north  of  range  6,  east),  to  be  included  in  No.  3  ;  also  to 
include  all  of  No.  4,  north,  range  7,  east  (now  Monroe  township).  This  left 
Nos.  I  and  3,  all  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  in  No.  4,  north  of  range  6,  east, 
which  has  ever  since  remained  in  Flat  Rock  township. 

The  next  township  election  was  held  April  6,  1840.  Reuben  Wait,  Jesse 
King  and  Richard  Grimes  were  elected  trustees;  Isaac  Bowen,  treasurer.  The 
records  for  federal.  State  and  county  election  do  not  appear  on  the  minutes 
for  this  year.  The  writer  of  this  chapter  was  attending  school  at  Lancaster, 
Fairfield  county,  O.,  that  summer.  There  he  saw  General  William  H.  Har- 
rison, candidate  for  president  on  the  Whig  ticket,  and  Colonel  Richard  M, 
Johnson,  candidate  on  the  Democrat  ticket  for  vice-president;  also  Thomas 
Corwin,  candidate  for  governor  of  Ohio,  and  Hon.  William  Allen,  since  mem- 
ber of  Congress  from  that  portion  of  Ohio,  and  governor  of  the  State,  and 
many  other  leading  politicians  of  that  day. 

The  next  township  election  was  held  April  6,  1840.  Trustees  elected,  Reu- 
ben Wait,  Jesse  King  and  Richard  Grimes  ;  clerk,  William  Wait ;  treasurer, 
Isaac   Bowen.      For  the  first  time,  G.  A.  Young,  a  citizen  of  the  territory  of 


Henry  County.  213 


(now)  Pleasant  township,  was  elected  supervisor  of  road  district  No.  4.  The 
records  do  not  show  when  this  road  district  was  created.  Road  districts  Nos. 
I,  2  and  3,  were  in  existence  some  time  before  this,  and,  at  this  election, 
George  Luciobel  was  elected  for  district  No.  i  ;  William  Miller  for  No.  2,  and 
Isaac  P.  Whipple  for  No.  3  ;  overseers  of  the  poor,  Isaac  Bowen  and  Washing- 
ton Lowry ;  fence  viewers,  Addison  Goodyear,  Cyrus  Howard  and  Jesse 
King;  constables,  Adam  Stout  and  Henry  Banks. 

The  next  township  election  was  held  April  5,  1841.  Richard  Grimes,  Jesse 
King  and  Amos  Cole  were  elected  trustees,  and  David  Harley,  clerk ;  treas- 
urer, Isaac  Bowen ;  overseers  of  the  poor,  David  Harley  and  Cyrus  Howard. 
On  May  21,  Cyrus  Howard  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  at  a  special  elec- 
tion. 

The  next  election  was  held  April  4,  1842.  School  land  trustees,  John 
Lowry,  Amos  Cole  and  Isaac  P.  Whipple  ;  trustees  of  township,  Cyrus  How- 
ard, David  Harley  and  William  Wait ;  clerk,  George  W.  Patterson ;  assessor, 
William  C.  Brownell ;  treasurer,  Isaac  Bowen,.  The  records  do  not  show  State 
and  county  election. 

The  next  township  election  was  held  April  3,  1843.  Cyrus  Howard,  Wash- 
ington Lowry  and  Adam  Stout  were  elected  trustees;  George  W.  Patterson, 
clerk  ;  treasurer,  Isaac  Bowen ;  assessor,  Andrew  Rundel. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  i,  1844.  Amos  Cole, 
Robert  Newell  and  Reuben  Wait  were  elected  trustees;  Jared  McCarty,  clerk; 
Andrew  Rundel,  assessor  ;  Cyrus  Howard,  treasurer.  The  latter  did  not  qual- 
ify, and  Lyman  Back  was  appointed  by  the  trustees  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Cyrus 
Howard  was  also  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  at  this  election,  but  did  not 
qualify,  and,  on  the  22d  day  of  June,  1844,  Amos  Cole  was  elected  to  fill  the 
vacancy. 

At  the  next  annual  election,  held  April  7,  1845,  Reuben  Wait,  Amos  Cole 
and  Robert  Newell  were  elected  trustees ;  Jared  McCarty,  clerk ;  Daniel  A. 
Blodget,  treasurer;   Amos  Cole,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  6,  1 846.  Robert  Newell, 
Reuben  Wait  and  Lemuel  Sapp  were  elected  trustees  ;  Gibbons  Parry,  clerk ; 
Daniel  Blodget,  treasurer,  and  Jared  McCarty,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  for  township  was  held  April  5,  1847.  Amos 
Cole  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  ;  Robert  Newell,  Amos  Cole  and  Elijah 
Gunn,  trustees ;  Lyman  Back,  clerk ;  Adam  Stout,  treasurer,  and  James  E. 
Scofield,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  6,  1848.  Lyman  Back  was  elected 
justice  of  the  peace ;  Emanuel  Barnhart,  David  Harley  and  Amos  Cole,  trus- 
tees ;  Andrew  J.  Scofield,  clerk ;  Adam  Stout,  treasurer,  and  James  E.  Sco- 
field, assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  2,  1849.     Emanuel  Barnhart,  Eh- 


214  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

jah  Carr  and  David  Harley  were  elected  trustees  ;  Andrew  J.  Scofield,  clerk ; 
Adam  Stout,  treasurer,  and  James  E.  Scofield,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  i,  1850.  Emanuel  Barnhart,  Eli- 
jah Carr  and  Amos  Cole  were  elected  trustees  ;  J.  C.  McCracken,  clerk ;  Adam 
Stout,  treasurer,  and  Charles  G.  Shull,  assessor  ;  also,  Elijah  Carr  was  elected 
justice  of  the  peace.  On  June  25,  Lyman  Back  resigned  his  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace,  and  Jonathan  Cook  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy,  October  8,  1850. 

The  next  annual  election  for  township  officers  was  held  April  7,  185 1. 
Amos  Cole,  Elijah  Carr  and  John  Brubaker  were  elected  trustees  ;  Adam 
Stout,  treasurer  ;   Charles  G.  Shull,  assessor,  and  J.  C.  McCracken,  clerk. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  5,  1852.  Amos  Cole, 
John  Brubaker  and  Elijah  Carr  were  elected  trustees;  treasurer,  Adam  Stout; 
clerk,  George  W.  Waterman,  and  assessor,  James  E.  Scofield. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  4,  1853.  Amos  Cole,  Elijah  Carr 
and  John  Brubaker  were  elected  trustees  ;  George  W.  Waterman,  clerk ;  Eman- 
uel Barnhart,  treasurer  and  assessor. 

The  next  was  held  April  3,  1854.  Amos  Cole,  John  Brubaker  and  Jere- 
miah Huston  were  elected  trustees ;  George  W.  Waterman,  clerk ;  R.  K.  Scott, 
assessor,  and  James  E.  Scofield,  treasurer.  This  year  the  election  for  State 
and  county  officers  appears  again,  and  was  held  October  10,  1854.  For  rep- 
resentative in  Congress,  Richard  Mott  received  90  votes  ;  Henry  S.  Com- 
mager,  28;  Joseph  R.  Swan,  85,  and  Shepard  F.  Norris  35,  for  judge  of  State 
Supreme  Court.  Board  of  Public  Works,  Jacob  Blickensderfer,  87,  and  Alex- 
ander P.  Miller  33  ;  probate  judge,  Hazael  Strong  78,  and  Harvey  Allen  42; 
■county  clerk,  George  B.  Pfeifer  83,  and  Asa  H.  Tyler,  37  ;  sheriff",  William 
Durbin  yy,  and  Henry  N.  Low  42  ;  surveyor,  WiUiam  H.  Brownell  84,  and 
Charles  Hornung  33  ;  commissioner,  James  E.  Scofield  81,  and  Ward  Wood- 
ward 35.  Whole  number  of  votes  polled  120.  At  that  time  the  people  were 
dividing  some  in  politics,  caused  largely  by  Congress  agitating  the  slavery 
■question ;  the  persons  receiving  the  majority  vote  being  Whigs,  except  two  of 
the  commissioners,  both  of  whom  belonged  to  the  Democratic  party.  James 
E.  Scofield,  the  Republican  member  of  the  board,  was  wavering,  and  voted  for 
Richard  Mott,  which  undoubtedly  caused  his  Whig  friends  to  give  him  a  good 
vote.     The  vote  shows  that  something  did  it. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  2,  1855.  Amos  Cole, 
John  Brubaker  and  Jeremiah  Huston  were  elected  trustees  ;  George  W.  Water- 
man, clerk  ;  Isaac  Karsner,  treasurer,  and  Robert  K.  Scott,  assessor.  On  the 
third  day  of  March,  1856,  James  E.  Scofield  was  appointed  clerk  to  fill  vacancy 
■caused  by  G.  W.  Waterman's  removing  from  the  township. 

The  next  annual  election  for  township  officers  was  held  April  7,  1856. 
James  E.  Scofield  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  ;  Amos  Cole,  John  Brubaker 
and  Jeremiah  Huston,  trustees ;   Robert  K.  Scott,  clerk  ;   Matthias  Diemer,  as- 


Henry  County.  215 


sessor,  and  Isaac  Karsner,  treasurer.      James   E.  Scofield  was  continued  clerk 
by  appointment,  as  R.  K.  Scott  did  not  qualify. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  6,  1857.  Amos  Cole,  John  Bru- 
baker  and  Henry  R.  Andrews  were  elected  trustees;  Isaac  Karsner,  treasurer) 
Milton  Stout,  assessor,  and  James  E.  Scofield,  clerk. 

The  next  annual  election  for  township  officers  was  held  April  5,  1858. 
John  A.  Vincent  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  ;  Amos  Cole,  H.  R.  Andrews 
and  John  Brubaker,  trustees  ;  James  E.  Scofield,  clerk ;  Isaac  Karsner,  treas- 
urer, and  Henry  Banks,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  4,  1859.  Amos  Cole; 
H.  R.  Andrews  and  John  Brubaker  were  elected  trustees  ;  James  E.  Scofield, 
clerk;  R.  K.  Scott,  treasurer,  and  Henry  Banks,  assessor;  James  E.  Scofield, 
justice  of  the  peace. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  2,  i860.  Amos  Cole, 
Henry  R.  Andrews  and  John  Brubaker  were  elected  trustees ;  James  E.  Sco- 
field, clerk  ;   George  W.  Armund,  treasurer ;   Matthias  Diemer,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  i,  1861.  Henry  R. 
Andrews,  Amos  Cole  and  John  Brubaker  were  elected  trustees;  James  E.  Sco- 
field, clerk ;  George  W.  Armund,  treasurer,  and  Henry  Banks,  assessor.  John 
A.  Vincent  was  also  elected  justice  of  the  peace. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  7,  1862.  Henry  R.  Andrews, 
John  Brubaker  and  John  Knipp  were  elected  trustees  ;  James  E.  Scofield, 
clerk;  Isaac  Karsner,  treasurer,  and  Henry  Banks,  assessor;  James  E.  Scofield 
was  also  elected  justice  of  the  peace  (his  own  successor),  receiving  all  the  votes 
polled,  81  ;  and  137  out  of  142  for  clerk. 

The  next  annual  election,  April  6,  1863.  John  Knipp,  Henry  R.  Andrews 
and  Joseph  Bachman  were  elected  trustees ;  James  E.  Scofield,  clerk ;  Isaac 
Karsner,  treasurer  (being  his  own  successor  without  opposition  ;  as  also  was 
James  E.  Scofield,  clerk).     Curtis  L.  Morse,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  4,  1864.  John  Knipp,  Henry  R. 
Andrews  and  John  Brubaker  were  elected  trustees  ;  Isaac  Karsner,  treasurer  ; 
John  A.  Vincent,  clerk,  and  George  Schneider,  assessor  ;  also,  John  A.  Vincent, 
justice  of  the  peace,  being  his  own  successor.  The  minutes  do  not  show  who 
was  the  successor  of  James  E.  Scofield,  resigned,  and  moved  out  of  the  town- 
ship temporarily,  which  event,  to  his  knowledge,  occurred  the  24th  day  of 
February  in  the  year  1864.  He  resigned,  both  as  clerk  and  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  also  postmaster  at  Florida. 

James  E.  Scofield  was  assistant  postmaster  at  Florida  in  the  year  1850.  In 
July,  of  that  year,  Lyman  Back,  the  postmaster,  died,  leaving  the  office  in  Sco- 
field's  possession.  Shortly  after  this  time  the  latter  was  appointed  postmaster 
and  remained  such  until  after  the  nomination  of  James  Buchanan,  for  president, 
in  1856.      This   official  refused   to  support   Mr.  Buchanan,  in   consequence  of 


2i6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

which  his  "  head  went  into  the  basket,"  and  Henry  Andrews  was  appointed 
his  successor.  Mr.  Andrews  remained  a  year  or  two,  when  he,  too,  was  de- 
posed, and  Isaac  Karsner  was  appointed  his  successor.  Shortly  after  the  elec- 
tion of  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  i860,  Mr.  Karsner  turned  the  office  over  to  Sco- 
field,  as  assistant,  and,  after  the  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln,  in  i86i,the 
latter  was  appointed  postmaster,  and  remained  as  such  until  his  resignation,  in 
February,  1864,  leaving  in  charge  John  A.  Vincent,  who  was  shortly  after- 
ward appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy.  In  1833  there  was  no  post-office  nearer 
than  Defiance,  but  one  was  established  in  about  1834,  called  McLean,  after 
John  McLean,  the  postmaster-general.  Jared  Scofield  and  Isaac  P.  Whipple, 
his  brother-in-law,  were  both  candidates  for  postmaster,  which  was  amicably 
settled  between  them,  and  Isaac  P.  Whipple  became  the  appointee,  this  being 
the  first  post-office  in  the  township,  and  perhaps  the  first  one  in  the  territory 
of  Henry  county.  Mail  was  received  about  once  each  month,  carried  on  horse- 
back, by  John  Omens,  as  near  as  can  be  ascertained.  This  post-office  was  situ- 
ated about  one  mile  east  of  the  present  town  of  Folrida. 

Florida  was  laid  out  about  this  time,  or  soon  after,  by  William  Bowen, 
who  recorded  twenty-four  lots  on  the  Williams  county  records.  The  records 
of  Henry  county  being  destroyed  in  the  year  1847,  by  the  burning  of  the 
court-house,  left  Florida  without  any  available  plat.  About  1872  it  became 
necessary  for  some  cause,  to  search  for  records  of  some  lots  and  corners  in  dis- 
pute, and  it  was  found  that  none  of  the  lot  lines  and  alleys  would  correspond 
with  others.  Owing  to  this  unfortunate  state  of  affairs,  many  and  serious  com- 
plications and  disputes  arose,  but  the  surveyor  had,  fortunately,  recourse  to 
the  records  of  Williams  county,  to  which  Henry  county  was  formerly  attached, 
where  he  found  the  original  twenty-four  lots  there  recorded.  An  application 
was  made  to  the  Legislature  for  a  special  act  for  replatting  the  town,  which  was 
granted  in  the  winter  of  1873,  but  it  was  found  that  no  law  authorizing  such 
an  act  existed,  and  therefore  the  act  was  made  general.  By  that  act  the  com- 
missioners of  Henry  county  appointed  the  writer  to  re-survey  and  plat  Florida, 
which  was  done.  About  the  year  1865  or  '66,  a  post-office  was  established  and 
called  Okolona,  and  Mr.  Scofield  was  appointed  postmaster  and  remained  as 
such  until  about  January,  1872,  when  John  H.  Benson,  who  succeeded  to  the 
business  of  the  former  incumbent,  was  appointed. 

The  next  election  for  the  township  offices  was  held  April  8,  1865.  Henry 
R.  Andrews,  John  Brubaker  and  John  Knipp  were  elected  trustees;  Isaac 
Karsner,  treasurer  ;  John  A.  Vincent,  clerk,  and  George  Schneider,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  2,  1866.  Henry  Andrew,  John 
Brubaker  and  John  Knipp  were  elected  trustees;  Isaac  Karsner,  treasurer; 
John  A.  Vincent,  clerk  ;  and  George  Schneider,  assessor.  At  this  election 
John  A.  Vincent  failed  to  qualify,  and  Andrew  J.  Scofield  was  appointed  April 
2 1st  by  John  Knipp  and  H.  R.  Andrew  (two  of  trustees)  to  fill  vacancy.     Da- 


Henry  County.  217 


vid  Smith  was  also  elected  justice  of  the  peace  at  this  election.  On  May  26, 
1866,  an  order  was  received  from  the  probate  judge  for  an  additional  justice 
of  the  peace,  and  on  the  12th  day  of  June,  1886,  M.  V.  B.  McKinney  was 
elected.  On  the' 9th  day  of  October,  1866,  Jerome  Thayer  was  elected  justice 
of  the  peace.  The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  i,  1867. 
Henry  R.  Andrew,  John  Brubaker  and  John  Knipp  were  elected  trustees;  An- 
drew J.  Scofield,  clerk  ;  Henry  L,  Weaver,  treasurer ;  George  Schneider,  asses- 
sor ;  Andrew  J.  Scofield  was  also  elected  justice  of  the  peace. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  6,  1868,  John  Knipp 
John  Brubaker  and  Henry  R.  Andrew  were  elected  trustees  ;  Joseph  Ice,  clerk  ; 
Henry  L.  Weaver,  treasurer,  and  George  Schneider,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  5,  1869.  John  Brubaker,  Henry  R. 
Andrew  and  John  Knipp  were  elected  trustees  ;  Andrew  J.  Scofield,  clerk ; 
Henry  L.  Weaver,  treasurer,  and  William  Kemmer,  assessor.  On  the  12th  day 
of  October,  1869,  Elias  Parker  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  and  James  E. 
Scofield  land  appraiser. 

The  next  annual  township  election  was  held  April  4,  1870.  John  Brubaker, 
John  Knipp  and  Henry  R.  Andrew,  trustees;  Andrew  J.  Scofield,  clerk; 
Henry  L.  Weaver  treasurer,  and  William  Kemmer,  assessor.  Andrew  J.  Sco- 
field was  also,  elected  justice  of  the  peace  on  the  same  day. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  3,  1871.  John  Brubaker,  John 
Knipp  and  Henry  R.  Andrew  were  elected  trustees;  Andrew  J.  Scofield,  clerk; 
Henry  L.  Weaver,  treasurer  ;  William  Kemmer,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  i,  1872.  James  E.  Scofield, 
George  Hoffman  and  John  Brinkman  were  elected  trustees ;  Andrew  J.  Sco- 
field, clerk;   Henry  L.  Weaver,  treasurer,  and  William  Kemmer,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  7,  1873.  John  Brinkman,  George 
Bortz  and  John  Brubaker  were  elected  trustees  ;  Andrew  J.  Scofield,  clerk ; 
Henry  L.  Weaver,  treasurer ;  William  Kemmer,  assessor.  At  the  same  elec- 
tion Newton  S.  Cole  and  William  J.  Barr  were  elected  justices  of  the  peace. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  6,  1874.  John  Brinkman,  George 
Bortz  and  Martin  Lowry  were  elected  trustees  ;  Joseph  Weibel,  clerk  ;  Frede- 
erick  Loenhart,  treasurer,  and  William  H.  Stockman,  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  for  township  officers  was  held  April  5,  1875. 
Martin  Lowry,  John  Brinkman  and  George  Bortz  were  elected  trustees ; 
Frederick  Loenhart,  treasurer ;  Joseph  Weibel,  clerk,  and  William  Kemmer, 
assessor. 

The  next  annual  township  election  April  3,  1876.  John  Brinkman,  Mar- 
tin Lowry  and  George  B.  Rettig  were  elected  trustees  ;  Joseph  Weibel,  clerk ; 
Lewis  F.  Richholt  treasurer,  and  William  Kemmer  assessor. 

The  next  annual  election  was  held  April  2,  1877.  John  Brinkman,  Martin 
Lowry  and  George  B.  Rettig  were  elected  trustees  ;  Lewis  F.  Richholt,  treas- 
urer ;  Joseph  Weibel,  clerk,  and  William  Kemmer,  assessor.  ^^ 


2i8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  next  election  for  township  officers  was  held  April  i,  1878.  John 
Brinkman,  George  B.  Rettig  and  Martin  Lowry  were  elected  trustees ;  Lewis 
F.  Richholt,  treasurer ;  Andrew  J.  Scofield,  clerk,  and  William  Kemmer,  as- 
sessor. 

The  next  township  election  was  held  April  7,  1879.  John  Brinkman, 
George  B.  Rettig  and  James  E.  Scofield  were  elected  trustees  ;  Joseph  Weibel, 
clerk  ;  Lewis  F.  Richholt,  treasurer,  and  William  Kemmer,  assessor.  At  this 
election  Joseph  Weibel  and  Abraham  Huff  were  elected  justices  of  the  peace. 

The  next  annual  election  for  township  officers  was  held  April  5,  1880. 
James  E.  Scofield,  George  B.  Rettig  and  John  Brinkman  were  elected  trustees ; 
Joseph  Weibel,  clerk ;  Lewis  F.  Richholt,  treasurer,  and  William  Kemmer,  as- 
sessor. 

The  next  annual  election  for  township  officers  was  held  April  4,  1881.  John 
Brinkman,  James  E.  Scofield  and  George  B.  Rettig  were  elected  trustees  ;  Jo- 
seph Weibel,  clerk;  Lewis  F.  Richholt,  treasurer,  and  William  Kemmer,  as- 
sessor. 

The  next  annual  election  for  township  officers  was  held  April  3,  1882.  Frede- 
rick Nischwitz,  George  B.  Rettig  and  James  E.  Scofield  were  elected  trustees; 
John  W.  Long,  clerk  ;  Lewis  F.  Richholt,  treasurer,  and  Abraham  Hough, 
assessor.  Also  at  this  election  James  E.  Scofield  and  Abraham  Hough  were 
elected  justices  of  the  peace.  The  next  annual  election  for  township  officers 
was  held  April  2,  1883.  Frederick  Nischwitz,  William  Art  and  William  N. 
Brubaker  were  elected  trustees  ;  Frederick  B.  Loenhart,  treasurer ;  John  W. 
Long,  clerk,  and  William  H.  Dancer,  assessor.   ' 

The  next  was  held  April  7,  1884.  Gotleib  F.  Rothenberger,  John  A. 
Knipp  and  James  E.  Scofield  were  elected  trustees ;  Frederick  B.  Loenhardt, 
treasurer ;  John  W.  Long,  clerk,  and  Martin  V.  Brubaker,  assessor. 

The  next  election  was  held  April  6,  1885.  James  E.  Scofield  was  elected 
justice  of  the  peace ;  John  A.  Knipp,  Conrad  C.  Groll  and  James  E.  Scofield, 
trustees  ;  F.  B.  Loenhardt,  treasurer  ;  John  W.  Long,  clerk,  and  William  E. 
Decker,  assessor. 

The  next  April  5,  1886,  Conrad  C.  Groll  was  elected  trustee  for  three 
years;  G.  F.  Rothenberger  for  two  years,  and  Philip  Huston  for  one  year;  F. 
B.  Loenhardt,  treasurer ;  John  W.  Long,  clerk,  and  Martin  V.  Brubaker,  as- 
sessor. 

The  next  minutes  of  election  do  not  appear  on  the  books,  but  the  meetings 
of  the  trustees  for  the  qualification  of  the  officers  elected  was  held  April  li, 
1887.  The  trustees  of  Flat  Rock  township  met  April  11,  1887,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  qualifying  officers  for  the  respective  offices  to  which  they  had  been 
elected  as  follows  ;  James  E.  Scofield,  trustee  for  three  years ;  Conrad  C. 
■Groll  two  years,  and  Gotleib  F.  Rothenberger  one  year  ;  Frederick  Loenhardt, 
treasurer,  one  year ;  John  W.   Long  clerk,  i  year ;   Petef  Kemmer  assessor, 


Henry  County.  219 


one  year  ;  Joseph  H.  Rennicker,  and  Samuel  Travis  constables,  one  year  each  ; 
Henry  Egler,  supervisor  road  district  No.  i,  one  year;  Christian  Baur,  No.  2  ; 
William  Rush,  No.  4 ;  John  Sell,  No.  5  ;  Peter  Loenhart,  No.  6 ;  John  Cur- 
rans,  No.  7  ;  Jacob  Brecheisen,  No.  8  ;  Charles  Grossman,  No.  9;  C.  H.  Wes- 
lenhausen,  No.  10,  and  Frederick  Kemmer  No.  1 1  ;  Henry  J.  Kesler,  justice 
of  the  peace,  three  years,  and  James  E.  Scofield  yet  to  serve  one  year.  Road 
district  No.  3  has  been  recently  attached  to  No.  i,  therefore  no  supervisor  of 
that  district  was  elected,  but  it  is  in  charge  of  No.  i. 

The  reader  will  see  that  the  growth  of  this  county  has  been  rapid  when  he 
considers  that  only  three  road  districts  existed  at  the  commencement,  and  the 
territory  comprised  four  original  surveyed  townships — Flat  Rock,  Pleasant, 
Marion  and  Monroe — twelve  miles  square,  which  will  appear  separately  written 
in  this  work.  Each  now  has  its  own  road  districts,  and  good  farms  along  their 
roads  ;  but  formerly  it  was  a  wilderness,  the  haunt  of  wolves,  bear,  deer,  wild 
turkeys  and  frogs.  No  pen  picture  can  make  the  reader  realize  the  change 
that  this  region  has  undergone.  In  all  this  territory  were  only  a  few  inhabi- 
tants, and  they  settled  along  the  river  in  the  original  survey  (Flat  Rock  town- 
ship), within  a  distance  of  about  three  miles,  and  the  land  they  tilled  would 
not  equal  a  section  (640  acres)  of  territory.  Now  good  farms  and  roads  are  all 
over  this  territory.  Flat  Rock  township,  six  miles  square,  contains  eleven 
road  districts  and  good  roads. 

Florida,  the  first  village  in  the  township  and  county,  is  situated-  on  the 
Miami  and  Erie  Canal  and  Maumee  River,  and  here  the  township  records  are 
kept,  and  township  business  done.  Its  early  business  men  have  passed  away. 
Many  are  dead  ;  some  have  removed,  and  a  few  are  yet  living  here.  Adam 
Stout,  Lyman  Back  and  Jared  McCarty,  the  last  two  under  the  firm  name  of 
Back  &  McCarty  (all  deceased)  were  its  first  permanent  merchants.  There 
were  a  few  others  at  the  commencement  of  digging  the  canal — Adam  Stout 
as  early  as  1840,  and  Back  &  McCarty  about  the  autumn  of  1842.  About 
1846  Back  &  McCarty  dissolved  partnership,  Mr.  McCarty  retiring.  Mr. 
Back  continued  the  business  until  his  death,  in  1850,  and  Mr.  Stout  until  about 
1852,  when  he  sold  to  Emanuel  Barnhart  and  Isaac  Karsner,  who  continued 
the  business  for  a  time,  when  they  dissolved,  Mr.  Barnhart  retiring.  Mr.  Kars- 
ner continued  for  some  years,  when  he  sold  to  Dr.  Robert  K.  Scott.  Drt 
Scott  sold  out  to  Mr.  Karsner,  and  removed  to  Napoleon  and  associated  him- 
self with  S.  M.  Heller,  then  in  business  at  that  place.  Mr.  Karsner  continued 
the  business  until  about  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  took  as  partner  his  step- 
son. Captain  Washington  W.  Bowen.  This  firm  was  of  short  duration,  when 
the  firm  name  was  again  changed  to  Weaver  &  Viers,  Dr.  Henry  L.  Weaver 
and  Ezra  Viers  having  purchased  the  stock  of  goods.  This  also  was  a  short- 
lived firm,  Mr.  Viers  selling  to  Mr.  Karsner,  when  the  firm  name  became 
Weaver  &  Karsner,  and  continued  until  about  1875,  when  it  again  changed  to 


220  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Isaac  Karsner  &  Son.  This  firm  continued  to  perhaps  about  1879,  when  they 
closed  their  business  entirely,  leaving  the  house  out  of  business.  About  this 
time,  or  before,  S.  M.  Heller  &  Co.,  of  Napoleon,  opened  a  branch  store  in  the 
building  erected  by  Tuttle  &  Egler,  and  continued  the  business  for  a  time 
when  they  removed  their  goods  and  left  the  village.  About  1869  Andrew 
Tuttle,  of  Defiance,  and  Jacob  Egler  erected  a  store  building  on  the  present 
site  of  John  Dancer  &  Son's  storeroom,  and  opened  a  stock  of  dry  goods, 
groceries,  boots  and  shoes,  etc.,  under  the  firm  name  Tuttle  &  Egler.  About 
1 87 1  Mr.  Egler  sold  his  interest  to  E.  Y.  King.  Shortly  after  Mr.  Tuttle 
sold  to  Miner  Ice.  Shortly  after  Mr.  Ice  sold  to  David  F.  Brubaker,  and  the 
store  was  continued  for  a  time  by  King  &  Brubaker,  when  the  latter  retired 
and  Mr.  King  became  sole  proprietor.  Shortly  after  this  Mr.  King  closed  out 
entirely  and  went  to  Harvey  county,  Kan.,  and  engaged  in  farming.  About 
this  same  time  George  C.  Weaver  opened  a  stock  of  dry  goods,  groceries, 
boots  and  shoes,  queensware,  etc.,  in  the  old  building  of  Isaac  Karsner  &  Son, 
where  he  continued  to  the  time  of  his  death,  in  April,  1881,  when  John  Dan- 
cer bought  the  stock  and  removed  it  to  the  old  stand  of  E.  Y.  King.  After 
having  erected  a  new  building  in  place  of  the  former,  which  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  the  business  was  continued  for  a  time  under  the  firm  name  of  John 
Dancer  &  Son,  the  son,  William  H.  Dancer,  being  the  partner.  This  firm  was 
succeeded  by  John  W.  Long  and  Andrew  Tuttle,  under  firm  name  of  Long  & 
Tuttle,  by  whom  the  purchased  goods  were  removed  to  their  newly  repaired 
building  which  they  yet  occup)'.  This  firm  is  doing  an  extensive  business  in 
dry  goods  and  groceries,  boots  and  shoes,  besides  buying  grain  of  all  kinds, 
and  selling  agricultural  machinery.  Long  &  Tuttle  bought  and  repaired  two 
of  the  old  warehouses  and  storerooms  occupied  in  earlier  times  when  the  canal 
was  doing  a  lively  business,  and  until  the  railroads  were  built  on  either  side, 
the  Wabash  first,  then  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio.  This  firm  have  repaired  two 
of  these  buildings  —  one  a  commodious  storeroom  and  the  other  a  warehouse, 
in  which  they  have  placed  an  engine  for  elevating  grain  and  shelling  corn. 
Their  grain  business  this  year  will  amount  to  about  forty-five  thousand  bushels 
of  wheat,  besides  barley,  rye,  corn  and  oats. 

In  the  year  1850  James  E.  Scofield  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at 
Florida,  which  was  of  short  duration,  when  he  took  a  partner  in  the  person  of 
George  W.  Waterman,  under  the  firm  name  of  Scofield  &  Waterman.  They 
erected  an  ashery,  and  ran  it  in  connection  v\ith  their  other  trade.  The  firm 
soon  dissolved,  Mr.  Waterman  taking  the  ashery,  and  Mr.  Scofield  the  store. 
Mr.  Waterman  added  an  oven  for  pearl-ash,  which  he  continued  for  some  time, 
when  he  closed  out  and  removed  to  Hutchinson,  Kan.,  but  was,  during  or 
since  the  war,  in  South  Carolina  with  his  brother-in-law.  Governor  R.  K. 
Scott,  in  the  railroad  business.  Mr.  Scofield  continued  in  the  dry  goods  and 
grain  business  up  to  about  1852,  when  he  sold  his  goods  to  Barnhart  &  Kars- 


Henry  County.  221 


Tier,  but  continued  in  his  storeroom,  selling  drugs  and  medicines.  On  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1864,  he  went  to  Oakland  Station  (now  Okolona),  on  the  Wabash 
Railroad,  in  Napoleon  township. 

In  about  the  autumn  of  1849  David  Harley  erected  the  storeroom  now 
known  as  the  old  school-house,  and  engaged  in  merchandising,  which  he  con- 
tinued for  a  time  when  he  sold  the  building  to  the  school  directors,  they  con- 
verting it  into  a  school-house. 

In  about  1852  John  and  Jacob  Frease  bought,  at  administrator's  sale  of  the 
estate  of  Lyman  Back,  the  plank  warehouse  and  storeroom  combined,  erected 
by  him  just  before  his  death  in  1850.  They  put  in  it  a  stock  of  goods  usually 
kept  in  a  first-class  country  store.  It  was  placed  in  charge  of  George  Frease. 
This  firm  sold  their  stock  of  goods  to  David  Harley  and  F.  A.  Woodward,  and 
removed  to  Napoleon.  The  new  firm  of  Harley  &  Woodward  continued  the 
business  in  all  its  parts  for  a  time,  when  C.  K.  Woodward  bought  Mr.  Harley's 
interest.  Soon  after  this  John  J.  Stockman  bought  the  warehouse  and  store- 
room, when-  the  old  firm  removed  their  goods  to  a  small  storeroom  in  the 
house  now  occupied  by  Long  &Tuttle.  The  storeroom  at  that  time  was  much 
smaller  than  now,  it  having  since  been  remodeled  and  enlarged  by  the  latte'r 
firm.  The  firm  of  Woodward  Brothers  continued  for  a  time,  when  they  closed 
out,  C.  K.  Woodward  returning  to  his  farm  in  Liberty  township,  and  F.  A. 
Woodward  and  David  Harley  moving  to  Napoleon,  where  they  again  engaged 
in  merchandising.  Some  time  after  this,  about  1865,  John  J.  Stockman  opened 
a  store  in  the  plank  warehouse,  of  which  he  was  now  the  owner,  and  continued 
the  business,  together  with  grain  buying,  for  a  time,  when  he  took  a  partner 
in  the  person  of  Joseph  Ice.  This  firm  continued  for  a  time,  when  William  H., 
a  son  of  the  elder  Stockman,  became  the  partner,  which  latter  firm  was  con- 
tinued up  to  the  death  of  John  J.  Stockman,  when  the  entire  stock  of  goods 
was  closed  out  at  administrator's  sale.  Since  that  time  there  has  been  nothing 
of  any  importance  in  the  old  plank  warehouse.  A  hardware  stock  of  small 
amount  was  continued  there  for  a  time,  supposed  to  be  the  property  of  W.  H. 
Stockman,  but  the  store  was  in  charge  of  W.  T.  Faucet,  neither  of  which  per- 
sons are  now  residents.  The  business  now  being  generally  closed  along  the 
canal,  the  little  village  of  Florida  began  to  decline.  The  probable  cause  of 
this  may  not  be  out  of  place.  The  firm  of  Smith  &  Scofield,  at  Oakland  Sta- 
tion, on  the  Wabash  Railroad,  north  of  Florida,  drew  largely  from  all  the  former 
patrons  of  the  place,  and,  moreover,  the  county  seat,  Napoleon,  had  grown 
since  1835,  and  down  to  1850  in  more  than  double  proportions,  and  became  a 
natural  trading  center  to  which  the  farming  people  were  glad  to  resort.  The 
Wabash  road  went  into  operation  about  1852.  It  passed  about  two  miles 
north  of  the  town,  and  where  once  had  been  the  most  flourishing  village  of  the 
county,  there  was  nothing  but  a  way  station  on  the  old  canal,  which,  too,  had 
practically  gone  into  disuse.     Many  business  men  left  about  this  time,  of  com- 


222  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

pletion  of  the  Wabash  Railroad.  About  twelve  or  fourteen  years  later  the 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  was  finished,  passing  the  town  on  the  south,, 
and  Holgate,  a  new  town  on  that  road,  cut  the  trade  again.  Florida,  however,, 
has  not  become  wholly  depopulated.  The  country  in  the  vicinity  contains 
many  fine  farms,  and  the  village  still  holds  some  small  trade.  The  village  is 
pleasantly  situated  on  the  river  in  the  northwest  part  of  Flat  Rock  township, 
and  contains  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants.  It  has  had  some  manu- 
facturing industries.  David  Harley,  a  contractor  on  the  canal  during  its  con- 
struction, shortly  afterward  erected  a  saw- mill  on  the  present  site  of  the 
flouring-mill  of  J.  E.  Klingelhofer.  To  this  was  added  one  run  of  stone  for 
flouring  and  grinding  corn.  This  was  the  first  grist-mill  in  Henry  county 
after  its  organization  in  1835.  Isaac  Karsner  was  foreman  in  the  mill  for  a 
time.  It  afterward  became  the  property  of  Gibbons  Parry  and  Isaac  Karsner, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Karsner  &  Parry.  This  continued  for  a  time  when 
Daniel  Fribley  and  Peters  Gibbons  were  added  to  the  firm,  and  Mr.  Karsner 
retired  and  went  to  merchandising.  The  firm  name  then  changed  to  Parry,. 
Gibbons  &  Fribley,  who  in  about  1856,  erected  the  flouring-mill  now  owned 
by  J.  E.  Klingelhofer.  This  mill  had  two  heavy  run  of  stone,  together  with 
the  light  ones  in  the  old  mill.  This  firm  remained  until  about  i860,  when  it 
dissolved,  Dr.  Parry  retiring,  and  Mr.  Fribley  selling  his  interest  in  the  saw- 
mill, but  retained  it  in  the  flouring-mill,  of  which  he  became  sole  proprietor. 
Austin  F  Gitchel  became  a  partner  with  Peters  Gibbons.  They  entirely 
rebuilt  the  saw-mill.  The  firm  name  became  Gibbons  &  Gitchel,  which  was 
continued  until  choice  timber  was  scarce  and  portable  mills  became  frequent,, 
after  which  it  went  into  disuse  and  decay.  But  little  of  it  is  now  left,  only  the 
flume  which  supplies  the  flouring-mill.  About  1865  the  flouring-mill  passed 
into  the  hands  of  John  Spangler  and  David  Boor,  of  Defiance.  This  firm  re- 
mained for  a  time  when  Mr.  Boor  sold  his  interest  to  Alfred  Elkins,  and  the 
firm  then  changed  to  Elkins  &  Spangler.  After  a  short  time  Mr.  Elkins  be- 
came sole  proprietor  and  continued  up  to  his  death,  in  March,  1881,  he  being 
killed  in  the  mill.  His  widow,  with  her  two  sons,  John  and  Newton  Elkins, 
continued  the  business  for  a  time,  when  it  was  sold  to  Sigg  &  Klingelhofer, 
under  whom  it  was  quite  extensively  repaired.  In  1886  it  passed  to  J.  E. 
Klingelhofer,  Mr.  Sigg  retiring.  J.|E.  Klingelhofer,  the  present  enterprising 
owner,  had  all  the  old  machinery  taken  out  and  replaced  with  full  roller  pro- 
cess, second  to  none  in  northwestern  Ohio. 

Florida,  being  located  in  the  center  of  a  large  grain  growing  country,  with 
a  good  flouring-mill,  for  sale  and  custom  work,  will  add  materially  to  its  present- 
trade.  Mr.  K.  intends  manufacturing  flour  for  shipment,  which  will  give  em- 
ployment in  winter  when  the  canal  is  closed.  The  first  physician  of  the  vil- 
lage was  Dr.  John  L.  Watson.  He  was  here  on  a  farm  in  the  woods,  on  the 
south  side  of,  and  up  the  river  from  Florida.  Whether  a  graduate  is  not. 
known,  but  it  is  presumed  that  he  was,  as  he  was  a  man  of  excellent  education.. 


Henry  County.  223 


About  1842  Dr.  George  W.  Patterson  located  in  Florida  and  practiced  for 
•some  years,  when  he  moved  away.  In  1840  Dr.  Gibbons  Parry  located  at 
Independence,  some  five  miles  above  Florida.  His  practice  extended  to  this 
point,  and  further  east  along  the  canal,  then  in  course  of  construction.  Shortly 
after  he  removed  to  Florida,  where  he  has  since  remained.  He  obtained  a 
lucrative  practice,  and  now  lives  on  his  farm  a  little  out  of  town,  enjoying  the 
fruits  of  his  well  spent  life,  and  is  aged  over  eighty  years.  There  were  sev- 
eral other  physicians,  but  of  short  residence,  many  of  whose  names  are  forgot- 
ten by  the  present  inhabitants. 

In  about  i860  Drs.  Henry  L.  Weaver  and  Abraham  McKinney  located 
here  and  commenced  practice  under  the  firm  name  of  Weaver  &  McKinney. 
They  remained  for  a  time,  when  a  dissolution  occurred,  Dr.  Weaver  retiring, 
and  went  to  merchandising.  Dr.  McKinney  continued  for  a  time,  when  he 
removed  to  Defiance,  and  is  yet  in  practice.  About  1866  Dr.  Tyler  located 
here  and  practiced,  but  soon  returned  to  Napoleon.  About  1872,  Dr.  J.  M. 
Stout  came  here  and  practiced  and  Dr.  H.  L.  Weaver  became  associated  with 
him.  This  firm  practiced  for  a  time,  when  Dr.  Weaver  returned,  went  into 
other  business,  and  Dr.  Stout  moved  to  Holgate,  where  he  is  yet  in  practice. 
About  1876  Dr.  Albert  M.  Pherson  located  at  Florida,  and  yet  continues  in 
his  practice.  Dr.  Stanton  E.  Miller  located  here  in  the  spring  of  1887.  About 
1848  Dr.  John  L.  Arnold  located  here  and  practiced  in  connection  with  his 
other  business  (groceries  and  provisions)  together  with  his  farm,  which  he 
•obtained  soon  after  his  location.  Issac  Karsner  read  medicine  with  Dr.  Gib- 
bons Parry  to  better  prepare  himself  for  the  profession,  having  had  some  prac- 
tice in  earlier  days  of  the  country.  He  practiced  in  connection  with  his  other 
business  for  a  time,  and  is  yet  living  in  the  town,  but  doing  no  other  business 
than  looking  after  his  farm.      He  is  now  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  life. 

Among  the  business  interests-  of  Florida  not  before  mentioned,  there  may 
be  named  the  following :  R.  A.  Wood  opened  a  stock  of  dry  goods  and  boots 
and  shoes,  which  was  continued  for  a  time,  and  then  sold  to  Jones  &  Andrew 
{Millet  Jones  and  Calvin  R.  Andrew).  These  firms  were  in  the  building  now 
occupied  by  Long  &  Tuttle.  The  business  was,  after  a  few  years,  closed  out, 
Mr.  Andrew  going  to  Dakota,  and  Mr.  Jones  resumed  his  trade  as  a  carpenter. 
About  1846  Lyman  Back,  in  connection  with  his  dry  goods  business  on  the 
street  north  of  the  canal,  opened  a  grocery  and  feed  store  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  boating  people.  This  was  soon  followed  by  Adam  Stout  and 
others,  some  adding  "fire  water  "  and  other  beverages  for  the  inner  man.  The 
saloon  business  became  common,  and  in  fact  at  one  time  outranked  other 
branches  of  trade,  but  with  the  general^decline  these  went  down,  so  that  there 
is  but  one  saloon  in  Florida  at  this  time.  About  1847  Matthias  Diemer  and 
Andrew  BoUey  opened  a  general  boat  and  feed  store,  all  kinds  of  groceries  and 
provisions,  vegetables,  including    "firewater,"   and  did  a  prosperous   business 


224  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

for  some  years.      Diemer  Brothers'  business  so  increased  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  add  more  room,  which  they  did  by  erecting  a  new  and  more  commo- 
dious building  to  accommodate  their   increasing  trade.      Boatmen  made  it  a 
point,  when  going  east,  to  lay  in  supplies,  such  as  oats,  potatoes,  cabbage,  and 
other  commodities  for  the  round  trip  to  Toledo  and  return,  including  as  much 
water  as  vessels  would  hold.     Diemer  Brothers  continued  this  business  until 
about  i860,  when  Jacob  Diemer  retired  and  went  to  Napoleon,  and  engaged 
in  the  grocery  and   saloon   business.      Matthias   Diemer   continued  in  the  old 
stand  until  about  1866,  when  he  sold  to  Lewis  F.  Richholt,  and  went  to  Na- 
poleon, where  he  engaged  with   his  brother.     Mr.  Richholt  continued  for  a 
time  in  connection  with  his   saloon.     When  the  canal  became  of  little  impor- 
tance for  trade  he  purchased  the  old  warehouse  of  Karsner  &  Son,  remodeled 
it,  and  engaged  in  the  grain  trade  both  here  and  at  Toledo.      He  also  erected 
a  grocery  house  in  town.      Mr.  Richholt   was   elected  treasurer  of  Flat  Rock 
township   three   terms.      He  erected  the  new   school-house  in    1882-3,  after 
which  he  closed  out  and  went  to  Dakota,  leaving  his  treasury  bondmen  and 
grain  creditors  to  account  his  folly  in  grain  gambling  and  the  neglect  of  other 
business.     About  1838  Robert   Newell   engaged   in   blacksmithing.     He  was^ 
the  first  regular  smith  in  the  village,  and  continued  up  to  his  death,  in  1851  or 
1852.     Peter  Sester  was  the  next,   who   now  lives   on  his  farm  in  Napoleon 
township.     William  Calhoun,  Jacob  T.  Groshner,  William  Goldenstar,  all  fol- 
lowed in  the  same   trade.     Frederick  Loenhart,   John   J.  Andrew  and  F.  B. 
Loenhart  are  the  present   smiths  in  the  village.     About  1850  Henry  Andrew 
(now  deceased),  together  with  his  son-in-law,  Joseph  Rogers,  engaged  in  cab- 
inet work.     About  1844  John  Truby  engaged  in  wagon  making.     He  was  fol- 
lowed by  George    Hopkins,  Jasper  H.   Smith,  Smith    &   Loenhart,  and  F.  B> 
Loenhart,  who   yet   continues   in   connection  with  blacksmithing.     The  first 
shoemaker  of  the  town  was  Jacob  Barnhart,  about  1840;  the  last  were  Henry 
Harris  and  D.  Rasmus,  who  are  now   in   that   business.     The  first  hotel  was 
erected  about  1840  by  Joseph  A.  Brewer,  but  was   first  used  for  store  pur- 
poses and  as  an  ashery.      Mr.  Brewer  moved  away,  when  the  storeroom,  with 
additional  buildings,  was  converted  into  a  hotel,  and  the  ashery  into  stables  by 
John  B.  Rundle,  and  by  him   occupied   as  a  hotel.     The  subsequent  propri- 
etors were  Hiram  Scobel,  Dr.  Gibbons  Parry  and  William  Goldenstar.     It  was 
finally  converted  into  a  dwelling  and  occupied  by  different  families.     This  house 
is  yet  standing  and  occupied  as  a  dwelling  by  its  owner.     The  next  hotel  was 
erected  soon  after  the  first,  and  was  occupied  by  Christian  Stoat.     Then  J.  C. 
McCrackin  became  host;  then  Joseph  Stout.     The  property  was  afterward  sold 
to  George  Hopkins,  who  continued  it  for  a  time  and  called  it  "  White  Hall."' 
It  was  again  sold  to  John  Dancer  for  a  private  dwelling,  but  eventually  be- 
came the  property  of  the  M.  E.  Church  society  for  parsonage  and  church  pur- 
poses. 


Henry  County.  225 


In  1 87 1  this  society  erected  their  church  on  the  property.  This  was  the 
first  church  building  in  the  village.  Soon  afterward  followed  the  United 
Brethren  Church  in  1874;  then  the  Evangelical  German  Reform  Church  in 
1875.  A  few  years  later  the  German  Lutheran  society  built  a  brick  church 
edifice.  These  four  buildings  are  neat  and  substantial  edifices  sufficient  for 
the  necessities  of  their  respective  societies.  Prior  to  the  several  church  erec- 
tions worship  was  conducted  in  private  dwellings  and  school-houses. 

At  an  early  day  William  Bowen,  a  devout  Methodist,  and  proprietor  of  the 
village,  donated  a  portion  of  his  lands  for  church  and  school  purposes.  A 
small  frame  building  was  erected  by  the  school  authorities  and  church  mem- 
bers and  was  used  by  both  up  to  and  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Bowen,  when  it 
was  found  that  neither  had  any  title  in  fee  simple.  The  property  was  deeded 
by  the  heirs  to  the  school  authorities,  and  was  used  many  years  for  school  and 
church  purposes. 

The  first  post-office  at  or  near  Florida  was  established  about  1834,  with 
Isaac  P.  Whipple  as  postmaster.  It  remained  there  until  about  1842,  when,  at 
the  death  of  Mr.  Whipple,  it  was  moved  to  Florida  and  George  W.  Patterson 
appointed  postmaster.  In  about  two  or  three  years  Mr.  Patterson  left  the 
town  and  Lyman  Back  became  postmaster,  and  continued  as  such  to  the  time 
of  his  death  in  1850,  when  James  E.  Scofield  became  his  successor.  He  con- 
tinued to  1856,  when  he  was  deposed  for  refusing  to  support  James  Buchanan 
for  president,  and  Henry  Andrew  became  his  successor.  In  about  a  year  Mr. 
Andrew  w^s  succeeded  by  Isaac  Karsner.  In  i860  James  E.  Scofield  became 
Mr.  Karsner's  assistant  and  removed  the  office  back  to  its  old  quarters.  In 
1 86 1  Mr.  Scofield  was  appointed  to  fill  vacancy  caused  by  Mr.  Karsner's  resig- 
nation, and  continued  to  1864,  when  he  resigned  and  removed  to  the  little  sta- 
tion of  Oakland,  on  the  Wabash  railroad  (now  Okolona)  where  he  again  be- 
came postmaster  for  a  term  of  years,  mention  of  which  has  been  made  in  this 
chapter.  John  A.  Vincent  became  his  successor  at  Florida,  but  soon  moved 
away,  and  Henry  L.  Weaver  became  his  successor  and  remained  until  his  resig- 
nation in  1885.  John  W.  Long,  the  present  incumbent,  next  succeeded  to  the 
office.  It  may  be  well  here  to  mention  that  during  Mr.  Weaver's  term  the 
office  was  in  the  hands  of  an  assistant,  and  at  three  different  locations  besides 
the  first. 

Early  and  Prominent  Settlers. —  Elijah  Gunn,  in  about  1826,  settled  on 
what  is  known  in  history  as  "  Girty's  Point,"  which  contains  a  large  extent  of 
as  fertile  land  as  is  in  the  State.  The  Gunn  tract  is  now  owned  by  his  heirs 
who  reside  thereon.  Much  of  this  rich  and  highly  productive  land,  which 
gently  rises  back  from  the  river  at  this  historic  point,  and  including  Girty's 
Island,  is  owned  by  different  parties,  among  whom  are  Lei-oy  Wait,  Anthony 
Shultz's  heirs,  and  Henry  Boesling.  All  these  farms  are  under  excellent  culti- 
vation, having   good  buildings,  rendering  them  very  valuable  farming  lands. 

29 


226  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

In  1833  Girty's  Island  was  a  dense  forest  with  an  undergrowth  of  whortleberry, 
wild  grapes,  buckeye,  and  other  growth  indigenous  to  the  rich  soil.  On  some 
of  the  small  islands  surrounding  it,  grew  great  quantities  of  wild  onions.  The 
smaller  islands  have  disappeared.  The  larger  portion  of  the  main  island,  con- 
taining about  thirty  acres,  has  been  somewhat  diminished  from  its  original  size 
by  ice  and  wash.  About  one-half  is  now  under  cultivation.  This  island  is 
yet  the  favorite  resort  of  pleasure  seekers  for  recreation.  It  was  commonly 
reported  that  a  cannon  was  shoved  off  the  foot  of  the  island  during  the  war 
along  the  Maumee.  Some  of  the  boys  of  1833-4  have  sought  for  it  without 
result,  the  water  at  that  point  being  extremely  deep.  Many  relics  of  warfare 
have  been  plowed  up  on  the  farms  adjoining  the  river,  such  as  sabres,  gun- 
barrels  andbuUets;  also  Indian  relics  such  as  rings,  brooches,  buckles,  toma- 
hawks, pipes,  stone  hammers  and  arrow  heads  of  flint.  At  that  time  (1833). 
the  Indians  were  more  numerous  than  the  whites,  but  perfectly  civil.  They 
had  camps  near  this  island  on  the  south  bank  of  the  stream,  and  came  each  year 
and  burned  bones  at  the  graves  of  their  deceased  friends.  The  old  forest  farms 
of  Judges  Wait  and  Cole,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river  opposite  and  west  of 
this  island,  are  now  in  the  possession  of  heirs  and  purchasers,  but  in  a  good 
state  of  cultivation,  now  having  but  httle  woodlands  as  compared  with  their 
state  fifty  years  ago.  No  pen  picture  can  malce  the  reader  realize  the  change 
from  then  to  the  present.  Among  the  enterprising  residents  might  be  named 
Henry  L.  Weaver,  Ernest  Weaver,  Joseph  Lowry,  John  A.  Andrew,  John 
Brinkman,  William  Goldenstar,  Isaac  KarSner,  Dr.  Gibbons  Parry,  Christian 
Stout,  James  E.  Scofield,  John  Brubaker  and  David  Brubaker.  All  of  these 
owned  and  lived  on  their  farms  between,  1833  and  1850,  except  Ernest  Weaver, 
John  Brinkman  and  William  Goldenstar  the  latter  two  having  bought  improved 
farms.  There  are  many  other  excellent  old  farms  near  Florida,  but  they  are 
mostly  owned  by  farmers  that  bought  already  cleared  farms  from  heirs  and 
some  of  the  older  inhabitants  who  have  removed  from  the  township.  Many 
others  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  and  in  Richland  township,  Defiance 
county,  contribute  liberally  to  the  trade  of  Florida,  which  makes  it  a  village  of 
much  prosperity  and  likely  to  remain  so  ih  the  future.  It  will  grow  in  number 
of  inhabitants  as  the  country  and  soil  is  capable  of  sustaining  a  population  mul- 
tiplied by  ten  or  twenty  of  its  present.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  county 
in  general,  and  indeed,  of  all  northwestern  Ohio.  Flat  Rock  is  one  of  the  best 
"  cleared  up  "  townships  in  the  county,  containing  more  of  the  "  old  "  farms, 
perhaps,  than  any  other  section. 


Henry  County.  227 


CHAPTER  XX. 

HISTORY  OP  FREEDOM  TOWNSHIP. 

EVERYWHERE  we  turn  we  are  bewildered  by  the  fire  of  1847.  Even 
the  record  of  the  civil  organization  of  the  townships  cannot  be  found.  It 
is  known,  however,  that  Freedom  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  five  townships 
organized  in  the  territory-  now  composing  Henry  county ;  that  it,  and  Napo- 
leon township,  in  1 840,  included  nearly,  if  not  all  of  the  said  territory  north  of 
the  Maumee  River,  together  with  all  of  Fulton  county,  which  was  organized 
in  1850.  At  that  time,  with  all  of  its  territory,  it  had  a  population  of  only 
•one  hundred  and  five.  By  the  organization  of  Fulton  county,  there  was  left 
to  Freedom  township  not  even  the  originally  surveyed  territory — two  tiers  of 
sections  having  been  taken  from  the  north  and  given  to  Fulton  county;  and 
there  is  now  left  to  Freedom  township  but  twenty-four  sections  of  land.  Not- 
withstanding this,  the  township  has  had  a  wonderful  growth  both  in  population 
and  valuation.  In  1850  it  contained  four  hundred  and  sixty  souls,  and  the 
taxable  valuation  of  the  property  amounted  to  $27,602.  In  i860  the  popula- 
tion, with  greatly  diminished  territory,  was  four  hundred  and  fifty  and  the  val- 
uation $71,697.  In  1870  the  population  was  eight  hundred  and  twelve, 
and  the  valuation  of  land  $85,279.  In  1880  the  census  showed  twelve  hundred 
and  thirty-five  population,  and  the  land  was  valued  for  taxation  at  $230,480. 

The  township  is  situated  in  the  northern  part  of  Henry  county.  Is  bounded 
on  the  north  by  Fulton  county,  on  the  east  by  Liberty  township,  on  the  south 
by  Napoleon  township  and  on  the  west  by  Ridgeville  township.  The  topog- 
raphy is  that  in  common  with  the  balance  of  the  county,  level,  and  the  soil  ex- 
ceedingly good  and  fertile.  The  township  is  devoid  of  waterways,  with  the 
exception  of  three  small  creeks,  the  largest  being  Napoleon  Creek  and  Ober- 
haus  Creek.  These  traverse  nearly  the  whole  width  of  the  township. 
Through  the  southwest  corner  of  the  township  runs  the  bed  of  the  defunct 
Coldwater  and  Mansfield  Railroad. 

The  early  settlers  of  this  section  were  few;  not  more  than  a  score  lived  in 
the  township  prior  to  i860;  among  those  who  did  live  in  this  part  of  the 
county,  from  1838  to  1850,  may  be  mentioned  Daniel  Shinaman,  John  Miller, 
Samuel  and  Lewis  Eckhart,  John  Sorrick,  John  Knapp,  Harmon  Kline,  junior 
and  senior,  Conrad  Clay,  George  Struble,  John  Harmon  and  Benjamin  Holler. 

The  first-school  house  .ever  erected  in  this  township  was  one  of  unhewed 
logs,  a  very  primitive  and  small  building.  It  stood  in  what  is  now  section 
twenty- eight.  Daniel  Shinaman,  John  Harmon,  Benjamin  Holler  and  Har- 
mon Kline  were  the  builders. 

The  first  church  was  a  United  Brethren.     It  was  built  in  1852,  or  there- 


228  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

abouts,  and  also  stood  in  section  twenty- eight.  Here  the  settlers  from  far  and 
near  would  congregate  on  Sabbath  day  and  listen  to  the  Word  of  God  inter- 
preted by  George  Struble. 

The  township  is,  as  far  as  is  possible  to  learn,  devoid  of  many  of  those  stir- 
ring incidents  which  make  the  life  of  the  settler  exciting,  and  for  this  reason 
facts  of  record  can  only  be  dealt  with,  "pleasing  incidents  of  frontier  life"  will 
be  conspicuous  by  their  absence.  And  we  will  proceed  to  what  the  town- 
ship was  after  the  year  i860;  not  that  it  was  civilized  by  this  time,  but  because 
the  facts  are  within  our  grasp. 

From  i860  up  to  the  present  time  there  has  been  an  influx  of  Germans  to 
this  county,  and  especially  to  Freedom  township.  To  this  frugal  people  may 
be  given  a  great  deal  of  the  credit  of  converting  a  wilderness  into  a  garden, 
for  the  reason  that  they  were  not  choice  as  to  the  kind  of  land  Uncle  Sam  gave 
them,  and  whether  a  swamp  or  ridge  it  was  the  same  to  them  and  they  went 
to  work.  Now  Freedom  township  is  a  model  of  well-kept  farms;  now  there 
are  six  fine  school-houses,  a  couple  of  churches  and  scores  of  brick  dwelHngs. 
The  first  one  was  built  by  Harmon  Kline  and  the  others  followed  thick  and 
fast,  and  now  as  one  rides  through  the  county,  a  palatial  brick  residence,  well 
kept  grounds  —  a  sure  sign  of  thrift  and  wealth  —  is  an  ordinary  sight. 

Although  this  township  is  not  a  locality  for  pioneer  reminiscences  it  has  a 
history  which  entitles  it  to  the  name  of  the  "dark  and  bloody  ground  of  Henry 
county,"  three  persons  having  been  murdered  by  the  pretended  friends  of  the 
victims,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  gain. 

The  Miirder  of  W.  W.  Treadwell. — On  July  14,  1864,  Math.  Bowen 
while  walking  through  the  woods  near  what  was  known  as  the  little  Red 
School-house,  suddenly  came  upon  the  body  of  a  man.  The  body  had  evi- 
dently lain  for  some  time  as  the  birds  of  prey,  and  decomposition,  had  so  dis- 
figured the  remains  that  identification  was  well-nigh  impossible.  Two  bullet- 
holes  were  found  in  the  skull,  the  bullet  evidently  entering  just  back  of  the 
right  ear,  and  coming  out  above  the  right  eye.  The  right  side  of  the  head 
was  also  beaten  with  a  club,  which  was  found  near  by.  On  his  person  was 
found  a  number  of  trifles,  together  with  an  upper  set  of  false  teeth,  on  a  heavy 
gold  plate ;  seven  dollars  in  bills  and  some  eatables.  Some  weeks  later  a  re- 
port came  from  Adrian,  Mich.,  saying  that  two  men  had  escaped  from  the  jail 
there.  The  description  of  one  of  the  men  tallied  with  that  of  the  murdered 
man.  Investigation  was  at  once  begun,  and  it  was  learned  that  the  name  of 
the  murdered  man  was  W.  W.  Treadwell,  formerly  a  banker  of  Hudson,  Mich.,, 
who  had  been  confined  in  the  Adrian  jail  for  operations  not  exactly  legitimate. 
The  man  with  whom  he  escaped  was  incarcerated  for  horse  stealing.  His  name 
was  John  Crowell,  and  he  was  subsequently  arrested  in  Sandusky,  tried  and 
bound  over,  and  on  the  loth  of  May,  1865,  his  trial  begun  with  Hon.  A.  S. 
Latty  on  the  bench.     The  facts  disclosed  were  as  follows :  Treadwell  having 


Henry  County.  229' 


secured  large  loans  from  other  banks,  absconded,  was  arrested  in  Mansfield, 
O.,  taken  back,  tried,  convicted,  and  remanded  in  jail  to  await  sentence.  Crow- 
ell  was  arrested  in  Erie  county,  this  State,  for  stealing  horses  in  Michigan,  tried 
and  convicted  at  the  same  term  of  court  as  Treadwell  was,  and  also  remanded. 
In  jail  they  were  put  together,  and  at  five  o'clock  on  the  1st  of  July  escaped. 
Identification  of  the  two  men  now  became  an  easy  matter ;  they  traveled 
through  the  northern  part  of  the  county  inquiring  for  lost  cattle.  The  club 
now  became  an  important  factor,  and  every  witness  pointed  it  out  as  being  car- 
ried by  Crowell.  The  chain  of  evidence  was  quickly  woven  around  him.  The 
identification  of  Treadwell  was  established  beyond  a  doubt.  The  object  of  the 
crime  was  $900  in  the  possession  of  Treadwell.  The  sum  having  been  given  to 
him  by  his  wife  shortly  before  his  escape.  It  was  all  in  $100  bills,  and  the  most 
of  them  upon  the  bank  of  Rochester.  One  of  these  Rochester  bills  was  found 
upon  Crowell. 

On  Monday,  May  15,  1865,  the  case  was  given  to  the  jury;  an  hour  later, 
came  the  verdict  of  "  guilty."  A  motion  for  a  new  trial  was  made  but  denied. 
Judge  Latty  then  sentenced  Crowell  to  be  hanged  on  Friday,  the  i  ith  of  July, 
1865. 

The  execution  was  under  the  direction  and  charge  of  O.  E.  Barnes,  who 
was  then  sheriff.  While  making  preparations  for  the  execution,  and  even  upon 
the  scaffold,  the  prisoner  was  the  most  collected  of  all  present.  Upon  the  scaf- 
fold the  sheriff  asked  him  if  he  had  anything  to  say  before  the  sentence  of  the 
court  was  executed,  and  he  rephed,  "No  sir,  I  am  guilty."  The  sheriff  asked 
him  if  he  wished  it  understood  that  he  was  guilty  of  the  crime  for  which  he 
stood  condemned.  Crowell  replied  slowly  and  distinctly,  "  Yes  sir,  my  punish- 
ment is  just."  He  then  knelt  with  his  spiritual  adviser.  Father  Carroll,  after 
which  the  pinioning,  placing  of  the  cap,  etc.,  was  proceeded  with,  and  all  the 
time  Crowell  showed  the  least  emotion  of  any  present.  At  sixteen  minutes 
before  i  P.  M.,  the  trap  was  sprung,  and  John  CroweU  had  expiated  his  crime. 

The  Murder  of  George  Williams  and  Wife.  The  second  murder  was  the 
one  of  George  Williams  and  wife,  by  Wesley  Johnson,  on  October  23,  1883, 
the  details  of  which  are  as  horrible  as  any  instance  of  the  kind  in  the  State. 

On  the  evening  of  October  25,  1883,  Addison  Crew,  a  farmer  living  near 
the  farm  of  George  Williams,  had  occasion  to  go  to  Williams's  place.  On  first 
going  to  the  barn  his  eye  met  a  ghastly  sight.  There,  upon  the  floor  he  saw  the 
lifeless  body  of  George  Williams,  with  head  split  open,  and  throat  cut  from  ear 
to  ear.  He  raised  a  cry  and  with  several  others  went  to  the  house,  where,  upon 
the  floor  of  their  sleeping-  room,  lay  the  body  of  George  Williams's  wife,  terri- 
bly mutilated.  Upon  the  bed  was  a  nearly  famished  infant.  From  the  state 
of  the  bodies  it  was  supposed  that  they  had  lain  in  this  state  for  several  days. 
Suspicion  immediately  fell  upon  Wesley  Johnson,  a  young  man  in  the  employ 
of  John  Williams,  because  of  his  behavior,  and  the  hour  he  retired  two  or  three 


230  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

nights  previously.  He  was  arrested  but  stoutly  maintained  his  innocence.  But 
proof  was  not  lacking,  and  at  the  preliminary  examination,  there  was  proof 
enough  to  bind  him  over.  His  trial  began  in  January,  1884,  and  long  will  it  be 
remembered  as  the  most  exciting  trial  ever  witnessed  in  the  county,  and  during 
the  whole  trial,  Johnson's  demeanor  was  that  of  a  statue,  showing  no  emotion 
or  feeling.  When,  on  the  evening  of  February  12,  1884,  the  jury  brought  in  a 
verdict  of  "guilty,"  there  was  a  general  "amen." 

The  case  was  conducted  for  the  State  by  prosecuting  attorney  R.  W.  Cahill 
and  J.  M.  Haag ;  for  the  defense  Messrs.  Martin  Knupp  and  William  H.  Hub- 
bard. Judge  J.  J.  Moore  presided.  He  was  sentenced  on  the  i6th  of  Febru- 
ary, to  be  hanged  on  the  29th  of  May,  1884. 

The  execution  was  conducted  by  Frederick  Aller,  then  sheriff,  and  took 
place  in  the  jail.  With  the  same  nerve  that  marked  Crowell,  Johnson  dis- 
played, he  ascending  the  scaffold  with  the  same  fearless  step.  When  the  sheriff 
asked  if  his  punishment  was  just,  he  answered  "yes."  At  10  A.  M.  the  trap 
was  sprung,  and  Johnson's  soul  was  dangling  in  the  balance,  and  his  body  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

HISTORY  OF  HARRISON  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  township,  named  in  honor  of  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe  and  Fort  Meigs, 
and  the  ninth  president  of  the  United  States,  when  first  organized,  early 
in  the  forties,  embraced  townships  three,  four  and  five  of  range  seven.  Number 
three  is  now  the  township  of  Marion  ;  four  was,  in  1850,  organized  into  Mon- 
roe. On  the  north  of  the  Maumee  River,  which  is  now  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  township,  sections  one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  six,  most  of  seven  and 
parts  of  eight,  nine,  ten,  eleven  and  twelve  were,  previous  to  1850,  attached  to 
Liberty  township  as  a  convenience  for  voting  purposes.  The  township  lies 
immediately  west  of  Damascus,  and  all  that  has  been  said  of  the  latter  town- 
ship, of  the  general  character  of  the  soil,  drainage,  roads,  early  settlement, 
present  degree  of  improvement,  and  population  may  be  applied  to  Harrison. 

Among  the  earliest  settlers  of  the  county  may  be  named  Hazael  Strong. 
He  came  to  the  county  as  early  as  1833,  '^nd  lived  in  what  is  now  Harrison 
township  for  several  years  before  coming  to  Napoleon  to  take  charge  of  the 
auditor's  office.  The  Sheats  family  came  in  1834;  Alonzo  Packard  in  1843; 
Americus  M.  Spafford,  1845;  Harper  Centre,  1847;  Isaac  Ingle,  1849; 
Noah  Jackson,   1852;    John    C.    Lighthiser,    1853;    Michael   Kryder,   1853; 


Henry  County. 


231 


the  Ritter  family,  as  also  that  of  the  Reiter,  the  Spangler  and  the  Palmer 
families  were  among  the  early  settlers,  as  were  also  Campbell  Wilford  and 
Gideon  G.  Cregen 

In  1847,  according  to  the  oldest  preserved  duplicate  we  have,  there  were, 
on  the  seventy-two  sections  of  land  which  then  constituted  the  township,  only- 
forty-nine  persons  who  paid  personal  tax,  and  the  value  of  all  this  land, — 
69,120  acres, — was  $22,168;  and  the  personal  property  was  valued  at  $5,217. 
The  total  tax  collected  was  $2,071.61.  The  duplicate  for  1887  shows  that  at 
present  this  township,  with  less  than  twenty-eight  sections  remaining  to  it,  has 
a  real  estate  value,  for  taxable  purposes,  of  $323,905,  and  personal  property, 
listed  for  the  same  purpose,  amounting  to  $59,340. 

This  township  was  tardy  in  settlement  and  slow  to  improve.  There  were 
good  reasons  for  this.  The  construction  of  the  canal  and  especially  the  Wa- 
bash Railroad,  on  the  south  of  the  river,  affording  convenient  shipments  to 
market.  The  construction  of  the  dam  at  Providence  had  made  the  river  un- 
fordable  between  that  point  and  the  rapids  at  Florida ;  on  the  south  side  were 
not  only  no  railroads,  but  no  roads  of  any  kind,  and,  in  order  to  reach  a  mar- 
ket of  any  sort,  it  became  necessary  to  ferry  the  river,  which  in  seasons  was 
difficult.  Lands  being  equally  cheap  on  the  north  the  early  settlers  naturally 
secured  homes  there. 

True,  there  were  men  hardy  and  courageous  enough  to  enter  these  dense 
forests,  and,  braving  all  the  difficulties  and  encountering  all  the  inconveniences, 
made  homes  in  the  wilderness.  Along  the  river  bank,  in  section  ten,  was  Sam- 
uel Bowers  ;  in  nine  Hazael  Strong  had  settled  ;  in  section  eight  the  Rugg  farm 
farther  up  the  river  and  nearly  opposite  Napoleon,  in  section  eighteen, 
Charles  and  Reuben  Reiter  had  made  large  clearings;  on  section  fifteen  road 
were  the  Palmers,  John  D.  Thorn  and  a  few  others  ;  John  Sheats  was  in  sec- 
tion twenty-two  ;  and  on  Turkey  Foot  road  were  John  C.  Lighthiser,  Levi 
Spangler  and  others.  There  were  also  a  few  settlers  along  the  banks  of  Tur- 
key Foot  Creek.  G.  G.  Creager  was  on  section  twenty-four,  and  Campbell 
Wilford  on  section  twenty-five.  It  was  not,  however,  until  after  the  construc- 
tion of  the  bridge  across  the  Maumee  at  Napoleon,  in  i860,  that  settlement 
can  be  said  to  have  really  begun  in  earnest  in  Harrison  township.  After  that 
roads  were  cut  out  and  improved  and  a  system  of  drainage  commenced.  This 
led  to  heavy  taxation  and  assessments,  compelling  non-resident  land  owners  to 
dispose  of  the  lands  they  had  purchased  for  speculative  purposes,  and  these 
passed  into  the  hands  of  persons  who  became  actual  settlers  and  made  farms 
from  the  forest.  To  assist  in  this,  and  in  many  cases  to  pay  for  the  land  itself, 
the  giant  oaks,  walnut  and  poplar  were  sold  to  the  ship-timber  and  other  tim- 
ber merchants,  who  brought  great  gangs  of  men  from  Canada,  and  soon  made 
room  for  the  sunshine  to  dry  the  swamps.  Then  came  the  saw-mill  and  the 
stave-factory,  so  that  to-day   Harrison  township  has  no  more  timber  than  is. 


27,2  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

necessary  for  her  fences  and  family  fuel ;  fully  four-fifths  of  hersoil  being  under 
cultivation  and  all  highly  productive. 

The  township  is  well  drained,  naturally,  by  Turkey  Foot  Creek  which  runs 
through  the  south  and  southeastern  part ;  Randall  Creek  through  northeast, 
and  Bowers'  Creek  with  its  branches  runs  through  the  center,  all  emptying 
into  the  Maumee ;  and  by  artificial  surface  and  underground  ditches.  Good 
roads  are  established  and  kept  in  repair  in  almost  every  section  line.  The 
township  is  divided  into  eight  school  districts,  with  a  good  building  on  each, 
most  of  them  brick.  There  are  six  churches,  all  Protestant,  in  the  township. 
The  dwellings  and  farm  buildings  are  new,  large,  convenient  and  well  appointed. 

The  township  is  without  railroads  and  without  villages.  The  Mansfield, 
Coldwater  and  Lake  Michigan  Railroad  bed  was  graded  through  the  township 
and  the  "Clover  Leaf"  route  passed  close  to  the  southeast  corner  where  Har- 
rison, Damascus,  Richfield  and  Monroe  come  together,  and  here  is  laid  out  the 

The  Hamlet  of  Grelleton. 

The  original  plat  of  this  hamlet  was  laid  out  in  the  southeast  corner  of  sec- 
tion thirty-six  in  Harrison,  by  William  Mead,  and  was  recorded  August  14, 
1880.  It  consisted  of  fifteen  lots.  Main  street  on  the  east,  Monroe  street  on 
the  south.  Fourth  street  on  the  west,  Emery  street  on  the  north,  and  three 
alleys.  The  subsequent  additions  to  the  hamlet  were  in  the  adjoining  township, 
mainly  in  Monroe,  and  will  be  treated  of  in  the  history  of  that  township. 

The  Henry  County  Fair  Grounds 

Are  located  on  section  fifteen  in  this  township.  A  short  sketch  of  the  or- 
ganization and  management  of  this  institution  may  not  be  uninteresting: 

In  the  summer  of  1883  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry  decided  to  hold  a  one 
day  fair  at  the  hall  of  Harrison  Grange,  each  member  of  the  order  to  bring 
some  of  their  best  stock  and  farm  products  for  display,  and  to  invite  their  fel- 
low farmers  outside  the  order  to  assist.  The  object  was  to  get  farmers  together 
to  discuss  the  best  methods  of  growing  the  various  kinds  of  crops  adapted  to 
the  climate  and  soil  of  Henry  county,  also  as  to  the  most  profitable  kind  of 
stock  to  raise,  etc.  ;  the  Grange  Hall  being  used  as  a  floral  and  vegetable  hall. 
An  admission  fee  often  cents  was  charged  and  about  five  hundred  tickets  were 
sold.  The  unexpected  success  of  this  the  first  attempt  to  hold  a  fair  encouraged 
the  Grange  to  organize,  for  the  following  year,  what  was  known  as  the  Henry 
County  Grange  Fair.  The  constitution  provided  that  the  officers  of  the 
County  Grange  should  be  the  officers  of  the  fair,  including  a  board  of  ten 
directors  chosen  from  among  its  members.  Under  these  provisions  John 
Garster  was  made  president ;  E.  M.  Hollipeter,  secretary,  and  John  Sheets, 
treasurer.  Under  this  organization  the  ground  was  leased  and  buildings 
erected,  four  miles  east  of  Napoleon  in  Harrison  township,  on  the  farm  of 


Henry  County. 


233 


Mr.  Henry  Blythe,  and  a  very  successful  fair  was  held.  The  following  year 
there  was  a  change  made  in  the  provision  of  the  constitution  for  the  elec- 
tion of  officers  and  the  name  was  changed  and  called  the  Henry  County 
Farmers'  Association,  and  the  following  officers  elected :  E.  M.  Hollipeter, 
president;  John  Ervin,  vice-president;  Eli  Culbertson,  secretary;  John  Gar- 
ster,  treasurer.  There  was  but  one  change  made  in  the  election  of  officers  for 
1886,  the  year  following,  Rufus  Spangler  being  elected  president.  In  1887  it 
was  reorganized  under  a  constitution  according  to  the  provision  of  the  laws  of 
Ohio  regulating  agricultural  fairs,  and  is  now  known  as  the  Henry  County 
Agricultural  Fair. 

Each  year  the  fair  has  proven  a  grand  success  in  the  display  of  the  best 
stock  and  farm  products  of  Henry  and  from  adjoining  counties. 

List  of  officers  of  the  Henry  County  Fair  :  Rufus  Spangler,  president ;  Jo- 
seph Leatherman,  vice-president ;  John  C.  McClain,  treasurer ;  C.  E.  Weaks, 
secretary.  Directors :  Isaiah  Foor,  D.  D.  Myers,  Joseph  Leatherman,  Peter 
Deitric,  Eli  Culbertson,  C.  E.  Weaks,  John  Shelt,  S.  L.  Snyder,  Rufus  Spang- 
ler, Francis  Ginsel,  John  Garster,  J.  C.  McClain. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  in  this  connection  to  give  a  few  facts  pertaining 
to  the  origin  and  history  of  agricultural  associations. 

The  number  of  societies  in  England  holding  fairs  relating  to  agriculture, 
live  stock,  etc.,  is  officially  stated  at  one  hundred  and  ten.  Among  those  are 
the  Bath  and  West  of  England  Society,  organized  in  1777,  the  first  farmers' 
club  in  England.  The  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  whidh  has  exerted  so  wide 
an  influence  upon  improved  processes  and  cultiva'tion  in  soil  and  animal  farm- 
ing of  the  world,  was  founded  in  1838.  Its  motto  was  "Practice  with  Science." 
In  1 8 10  England  had  organized  a  board  of  agriculture,  of  which  Sir  John  Sin- 
clair was  president,  and  Arthur  Young  secretary.  There  were  in  this  year 
eighty-one  agricultural  societies  in  regular  working  order,  and  of  one  of  these 
the  Badenach  and  Strathspey  Society,  the  celebrated  Duchess  of  Gordon  was 
president. 

The  first  agricultural  society  formed  in  America  was  The  Philadelphia 
(Pa.)  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture.  Among  the  awards  of  this  society 
in  1790,  was  a  gold  medal  to  Mr.  Matheson  for  the  best  sample  and  greatest 
quantity  of  cheese. 

The  first  agricultural  society  ever  incorporated  in  America  was  the  Soci- 
ety for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture,  of  South  Carolina,  established  in  1795. 
Its  objects  included,  among  others,  the  institution  of  a  farm  for  experiments,, 
and  the  importation  and  distribution  of  products  suited  to  the  climate  of  that 
State. 

In  New  York,  a  Society  for  the  Advancement  of  Agriculture  was  incor- 
porated in  1 79 1,  but  it  died  at  the  age  of  ten  years. 

The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Useful  Arts,  in  which  agriculture  was 

30 


234  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

first  named,  established  in  1804,  published  seven  volumes  of  transactions  pre- 
vious to  1815.  The  New  York  State  Agricultural  Society  held  its  first  regular 
fair  in  1840,  the  admission  being  twelve  and  one-half  cents. 

In  Massachusetts,  in  1803,  the  trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
Promoting  Agriculture  offered,  among  others,  a  premium  of  one  hundred  dol- 
lars, or  the  society's  gold  medal  for  a  cheap  and  effectual  method  of  destroy- 
ing the  canker  worm.  From  the  beginnings  thus  noted,  agriculture,  horticul- 
ture, pomology,  forestry  and  floriculture  have  gradually  increased.  Agricul- 
tural societies  offering  premiums  are  found  in  every  State  and  most  of  the  Ter- 
ritories. Popular  interest  is  especially  active  in  agricultural  societies  in  the 
West  and  is  constantly  increasing  in  the  South.  It  is  safe  to  say  the  agricultu- 
ral societies  of  the  United  States  have  exercised  a  greater  influence  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  agriculture  than  any  other  means. 

Harrison  township  has  furnished  her  full  quota  of  both  military  and  civil 
officers.  Wm.  A.  Choate  was  not  only  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county, 
but  also  colonel  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.;  L.  G.  Randall  was 
quartermaster  of  the  Sixty-eighth  O.  V.  I.,  and  was  also  postmaster  at  Napo- 
leon; Arthur  Crockett  was  major  of  the  Sixty-eighth  O.  V.  I.;  Benjamin  F. 
Pindar  was  captain  of  Company  B,  Thirty-eighth  O.  V.  I.  Levi  Spangler  was 
a  county  commissioner,  Reuben  Rieter  both  clerk  and  sheriff,  his  brother  Reu- 
ben a  commissioner,  Benjamin  F.  Stout,  auditor;  William  M.  Becknam,  was, 
by  the  appointment  of  the  governor,  probate  judge  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and 
Thomas  Castel  was  infirmary  director. 

Booming  may  do  for  Kansas  and  other  western  States,  for  the  mining, 
the  gas  and  the  oil  regions,  but  he  who  is  content  to  lead  a  quiet,  honest  life 
in  the  quiet  luxuries  and  enjoyments  of  a  home,  need  not  go  beyond  the  boun- 
daries of  Henry  county.  Here  can  be  had  a  cheap,  comfortable  and  produc- 
tive home,  where  the  investment  is  certain,  sure  and  cannot  diminish  in  value, 
but  must  increase;  here  is  education  and  culture,  refinement  and  the  highest 
civilization;  here,  right  at  hand,  are  not  only  the  necessaries  and  comforts, 
but  the  luxuries  of  life.  Many  of  our  people  who  were  induced  to  "go  west" 
by  the  glittering  promises  of  speculators  and  jobbers,  have  been  glad  to  return, 
and  many  more  are  sorry  that  they  have  not  means  left  to  do  so.  Harrison 
township  furnishes  one  notable  example.  We  refer  to  the  Crockett  family,  and 
know  that  we  will  be  pardoned  for  doing  so.  Being  among  the  early  settlers, 
they  had  made  and  owned  a  good  and  valuable  farm  in  the  township.  Se- 
duced by  the  brilliant  pictures  of  the  West,  they  sold  out  and  followed  the 
westward  star.  They  met  with  disappointment;  sickness  and  death  overtook 
them,  and  but  a  year  ago,  the  mother,  aged  and  impoverished,  save  for  a  grate- 
ful government  which  rewarded  her  for  the  patriotism  of  her  sons,  returned  to 
Henry  county  and  purchased  the  old  Rugg  farm  in  her  old  township,  where 
she  now  lives,  happy,  comfortable  and  contented  with  her  only  remaining  son, 
Edward. 


Henry  County.  235 


The  growth  of  this  township,  in  common  with  all  in  the  county,  has  been 
rapid.  In  i860  it  contained  a  population  of  781;  in  1870  it  was  1295  and  in 
1880  it  had  grown  to  1382,  and  by  the  next  census  it  may  be  safely  predicted 
will  amount  to  2,000. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
HISTORY  OF  LIBERTY  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  is  one  of  the  best,  one  of  the  earliest  settled  and  first  improved  town- 
.ships  in  the  county.  It  po,ssesses  more  intrinsic  historic  interest  than  any 
of  the  thirteen.  In  the  government  survey  it  is  known  as  township  six,  north 
of  range  seven,  east.  This  territory  was  reduced  by  the  detachment  of  the  two 
northern  tiers  of  sections  in  the  formation  of  Fulton  county.  It  was,  however, 
increased  by  the  annexation  of  sections  one,  two,  three,  four,  five  and  six,  and 
the  most  of  seven  and  half  of  eight,  nine  and  twelve,  and  a  small  slice  off  the 
northern  part  often  and  eleven  of  township  five  in  the  same  range  (Harrison) 
at  the  time  the  Maumee  River  was  made  the  dividing  line  between  the  town- 
ships. 

The  part  of  section  twelve  taken  from  Harrison,  and  section  seven  of  Wash- 
ington (originally  Damascus)  constituted  what  was  known  to  the  pioneers  as 
Prairie  du  Masque,  having  been  so  named  by  the  early  F"rench  adventurers, 
traders,  or  religious  enthusiasts,  who  were  attracted  to  the  valley  of  the  Mau- 
mee, ambitious  of  conquest,  for  greed  of  gain,  or  desire  for  religious  pros- 
elytism.  This  was  a  camping  ground  for  the  army  of  General  Wayne  on  his 
march  to  the  battle  field  of  Fallen  Timbers. 

Upon  this  division  of  land,  thus  designated  as  Prairie  du  Masque,  and  long 
before  the  division  of  the  northwestern  territory  into  counties,  much  less  town- 
ships, the  white  man  had  dared  to  penetrate.  He  invaded  the  wilderness 
which  then  enshrouded  the  county  of  Henry  and  the  outposts  of  which  were 
guarded  by  the  most  savage  of  the  Indian  tribes,  and  settled  there.  The  names 
of  the  representatives  of  the  white  man  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  were  John 
Butler,  David  and  Jacob  Delong,  Charles  Gunn,  George  Chilson,  David  Buck- 
lin  and  Samuel  Vance.  These  brave  men  located  on  the  prairie  in  18 14,  and 
Elisha  and  Edwin  Scribner  came  in  1818.  These  early  settlers  are,  alas,  all 
dead.  The  ashes  of  some  of  them  rest  in  obscurely  marked  and  almost  for- 
gotten graves  along  the  banks  of  the  Maumee.  The  last  survivor  of  these  pio- 
neers was  Edwin  Scribner,  who  died  during  the  present  (1887)  year,  at  the 
residence  of  his  son-in-law  in  Napoleon. 


236  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

At  a  date  so  early  that  its  date  cannot  now  be  determined  with  certainty, 
but  surely  no  later  than  1820,  Samuel  Vance,  already  mentioned,  erected  on 
section  twelve,  a  double  log  house,  called  it  a  tavern  and  suspended  a  sign  an- 
nouncing "accommodation  for  man  and  beast."  The  cellar  of  this  primitive 
tavern  still  remains  on  the  banks  of  the  Maumee,  close  to  the  "old  orchard" — 
the  first  planted  in  the  connty — near  the  town  of  Damascus.  The  brick  for 
this  cellar  were  boated  from  Toledo  (so  at  present  named)  on  pirogues.  At 
that  time  this  was  the  only  house  between  Defiance  and  the  Rapids,  where 
Peter  Manor  then  lived.  A  short  time  afterwards  Joseph  Cowdrick,  whose  sons 
are  now  residents  of  Napoleon,  built  a  small  house  on  the  river  below 'Vance's, 
but  subsequently  removed  further  up  the  river  about  half  way  between  Da- 
mascus and  Napoleon,  where  Joseph  Rogers  now  lives. 

In  1826,  on  the  17th  of  November,  John  Patrick,  the  father  of  George,  who 
still  resides  on  the  old  place,  settled  on  the  river  three  miles  east  of  Napoleon. 
He  purchased  the  land  of  one  Cornelius  Thompson,  who  obtained  it  from  the 
government  on  land  scrip  issued  to  him  for  services  under  Wayne  in  his  Indian 
campaigns.  Mr.  Patrick  erected  a  large  house  at  this  place,  and  also  opened 
a  house  of  public  entertainment,  and  which  subsequently  became  the  main 
"  tavern,"  as  they  were  called  in  those  days,  between  Defiance  and  Toledo 
during  the  days  of  canal  navigation  and  packet  travel,  which  began  in  1843 
and  remained  brisk   until  the  construction  of  the  Wabash  Railroad. 

Long  before  work  on  the  canal  had  commenced  Edwin  Scribner,  already 
referred  to,  erected  a  "  thunder  gust  "  saw-mill  on  Dry  Creek,  and  this  was 
the  first  saw-mill  in  the  county.  After  the  completion  of  the  canal,  Burlin  & 
Taylor  started  a  mill  at  Damascus,  and  the  mill  has  ever  since  been  retained 
and  is  still  one  of  the  principle  stationary  ones  in  the  county.  Burlin  &  Tay- 
lor also  opened  a  general  store,  the  first  in  the  county,  and  managed  the  tavern 
which  had  been  established  by  Vance.  A  town  was  laid  out  at  this  point,  but 
if  ever  platted  the  plat  was  destroyed  in  the  fire  of  1847.  I"  1859,  however, 
under  direction  of  the  auditor,  the  assessor  made  a  plat  of  the  lots  in  section 
twelve  (Damascus),  which  was  recorded  on  the  5th  of  December  of  that  year. 
By  this  it  is  learned  that  there  were  in  all  seventeen  lots — fifteen  of  which  are 
on  the  north  of  the  canal  and  two  on  the  south.  In  early  days  this  was  the 
most  promising  business  point  on  the  canal  within  the  county  of  Henry,  and  was 
ambitious  enough  to  rival  Napoleon  for  the  county  seat.  The  inability  of  the 
canal  to  compete  with  the  railroads  and  retain  the  carrying  trade,  has  ruined 
Damascus  as  a  town  and  converted  it  into  a  magnificent  farm. 

In  those  early  days,  to  use  pioneer  language,  "it  was  pretty  rough  sledding.' 
When  John  Patrick  came  to  the  river  in  1866,  the  nearest  mill  was  at  Waterville, 
a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles,  and  the  settlers  were  often  compelled  to  go  to 
Brunersburg,  on  Beam  Creek,  in  what  is  now  Defiance  county,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  to  Monroe,  in  Michigaln,  taking  along  an  ax  and  log  chain  to  clear  out 
the  Indian  trail,  the  only  road  to  travel. 


Henry  County.  237 


After  the  completionoE  the  canal,  and  the  commencement  of  navigation  on 
its  muddy  waters,  the  settlers  along  its  banks  began  to  multiply  with  geomet- 
rical progression,  and  in  1 847,  the  earliest  preserved  duplicate  discloses  the  fact 
that  there  were  residing  on  the  territory  which  at  present  is  embraced  within 
the  limits  of  Liberty  township,  sixty-six  persons  who  paid  tax  on  personal 
property.  Among  these  contributors  to  the  public  revenues  who  resided  on 
the  sections  detached  from  Harrison,  were  General  Ezra  S.  Dodd,  whose  ashes 
repose  in  the  Damascus  grave-yard ;  Joseph  Cowdrick,  already  referred  to ; 
Samuel  Bowers,  dead  and  buried  on  the  farm  he  cut  and  cultivated  from  the 
wilderness ;  and  George  Bowers,  who  is  still  living  and  rejoicing  in  great- 
grandchildren;  Judge  Meekison,  a  banker  at  Napoleon,  being  the  father  of  the 
latest  addition.  Prominent  among  those  who  resided  in  the  other  part  of,  or 
rather  the  origrial  township,  may  be  named:  Alonzo,  Lorenzo,  Solomon,  James 
H.,  and  a  large  family  of  Babcocks,  most  of  whom  are  still  living ;  George 
Chroninger,  one  of  the  jolliest  old  men,  surrounded  by  a  happy  family,  who 
still  lives  in  the  township,  having  by  his  industry,  frugal  habits  and  honest 
•dealings,  acquired  a  competency  which  v.'ill  certainly  protect  him  from  the  char- 
ity of  the  infirmary  director;  Hosea  Harrison,  Rensselaer,  and  several  others  of 
the  Hudson  family,  whose  names  have  become  interwoven  into  the  official  his- 
tory and  progress  of  Henry  county ;  John  and  several  others  of  the  Knapp 
family,  still  prominent  in  the  township;  John  M.  Meek,  a  brother-in-law  of 
Judge  Cory,  who  came  to  the  county  at  a  very  early  period,  was  prominent  in 
local  government,  and  whose  only  remaining  descendant  by  his  first  marriage, 
is  the  wife  of  Judge  J.  M.  Haag,  of  Napoleon  ;  the  Redfield  family;  Samuel  H. 
-Steedman,  who  was  the  first  colonel  of  the  Sixty -eighth  O.  V.  Lifantry;  James 
B.  Steedman,  subsequently  the  hero  of  Chickamauga,  and  whose  monument  is 
now  the  chief  ornament  of  the  city  of  Toledo  ;  John  Wright,  sr.,  John  Wright, 
jr.,  and  Nathan  Wright;  Ward  Woodward,  now  of  Liberty  Center,  Samuel 
Winters,  and  George  Crawford,  at  one  time  county  commissioner  and  promi- 
nent in  local  politics,  whose  children  still  reside  in  the  vicinity. 

The  duplicate  of  1847  shows  the  township  charged  with  eighteen  thousand 
four  hundred  and  forty-two  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $38,764.95,  and  chattels 
valued  at  $4,988.  The  total  tax  paid  was  $1,316.66,  with  an  additional  for 
school-house  of  $49.22. 

A  comparison  and  a  calculation  of  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  town- 
ship may  be  made  from  the  following  figures  : 

The  duplicate  of  1887  shows  seventeen  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety- 
one  acres  of  land,  exclusive  of  town  sites,  and  railroad  right-of-ways,  valued 
^t  $330,725  ;  chattels  listed  at  $136,487,  paying  a  total  tax  including  the  vil- 
lage of  Liberty  Center,  of  $10,139.  The  township  had  a  population  of  1,119 
in  i860;  1,766  in  1870;  in  1880  the  population  amounted  to  1,946.  It  may 
'be  safely  estimated  at  present  at  2,400. 


238  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Outside  of  the  town  of  Liberty  Center,  there  are  eight  school-houses,  most 
of  them  brick,  and  all  well  appointed,  with  school  maintained  for  at  least  half 
the  year.  The  Christian  Union  has  a  church  edifice  in  section  thirty- two  and 
also  in  section  fifteen,  and  the  United  Brethren  have  a  chapel  in  section  fifteen. 

The  main  and  several  branches  of  Turkey  Foot  Creek  (north  of  the  Mau- 
mee)  and  Dry  Creek,  afford  the  township  very  good  natural  drainage,  and  ar- 
tificial surface  and  underground  ditches  have  contributed  to  make  this  perhaps- 
the  best  farming  township  in  the  county  ;  and  which,  together  with  good  roads,, 
commodious,  comfortable  and  well-constructed  residences  and  farm  buildings 
give  to  it,  as  a  body,  an  average  value  greater  than  that  possessed  by  any  other 
farming  land  in  northwestern  Ohio. 

The  construction  of  the  Wabash  Railway  did  much  to  develop  the  town- 
ship and  hasten  its  improvement.  While  it  destroyed  the  plant  of  the  towns, 
along  the  canal,  it  converted  the  wilderness  along  its  track  into  many  flourish- 
ing villages.     Among  them  is 

Liberty  Center, 

at  present  a  flourishing  village  with  a  population  between  five  and  six  hun- 
dred. It  was  the  second  village  in  the  county  to  become  incorporated,  and  has- 
taken  advantage  of  its  corporate  franchise  to  secure  good  sidewalks,  streets 
and  drainage.  It  is  located  in  sections  twenty-five  and  thirty-six  of  the  original 
surveyed  township,  is  a  railroad  and  telegraph  station  on  the  Wabash,  has  the 
third  best  post-ofiice  in  the  county,  and  a  printing  office  from  which  the  Liberty 
Press  is  issued  weekly.  The  village  has  a  good  hotel,  a  livery  stable,  a  hard- 
ware store,  a  drug  store,  three  dry  goods  stores,  several  saloons  and  restau- 
rants, several  fine  brick  blocks,  and  the  mechanical  artists  usual  to  all  villages. 
A  handsome  roller  process  grist-mill  is  a  considerable  attraction  to  the  trade 
of  the  village,  and  a  saw-mill  furnishes  a  market  for  the  few  trees  which  re- 
main to  be  converted  into  timber.  It  has  four  churches, — one  Methodist 
Episcopal,  one  German  Reformed,  one  United  Brethren  and  one  Seventh  Day 
Adventist  Its  greatest  ornament,  however,  and  its  chief  pride  is  its  new 
graded  school  building,  erected  during  the  year  1886.  It  is  a  two-story>- 
finely  finished  building,  in  which  is  maintained  one  of  the  best  educational 
schools  in  the  county. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  1863,  Alpheas  Buchanan  first  conceived  the  idea  of 
establishing  a  trading-point  in  Liberty  township,  and  on  that  day  recorded  a 
plat  of  twelve  lots  in  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  twenty-five,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Wabash  Railway.  To  this  was  added  his  first, "second  and  third 
additions. 

January  7,  1867,  Calvin  C.  Young  added  an  addition  of  twelve  lots;  and 
June  7,  1 868,  E,  T.  Coon  contributed  an  addition  often  lots  more,  with  requi- 
site streets  and  alleys;  January  2,  1869,  G.  P.  Parrish  stimulated  the   growth* 


Henry  County.  239 


of  the  village  by  adding  eighteen  more  lots  to  the  town  plat,  being  in  the 
northeast  corner  of  section  thirty-six.  Ward  Woodward,  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  the  township  already  mentioned,  not  wishing  to  be  outdone  by  those  to 
the  manor  born  subsequent  to  himself,  on  the  19th  of  July,  1869,  contributed 
to  the  village  a  triangular  addition  of  ten  lots  and  an  alley,  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Wabash  Railway.  Orle  Buchanan,  awakening  from  a  sort  of  Rip  Van 
Winkle  sleep,  determined  not  to  be  outdone  by  those  whom  he  termed  the 
"boys,"  and,  on  the  24th  of  July,  added  an  addition  of  eight  irregular  lots,  and 
a  street  of  thirty  feet  on  the  north  of  the  railway,  and  caused  the  erection  of  a 
handle  and  excelsior  factory  in  his  addition.  This  enterprise  served  to  again 
arouse  old  "  Uncle  George  "  Parrish,  who,  getting  on  his  muscle,  added  a  sec- 
ond addition  of  four  irregular  lots  on  the  west  of  his  former  addition  and  sepa- 
rated from  it  by  Parrish  street.  On  the  22d  day  of  September,  1882,  Daniel 
Ehrgood  gave  to  the  village  its  last  contribution,  which  consisted  of  sixteen 
lots,  continuing  East  street  and  adding  Garfield,  Lincoln,  Cherry  and  Plum 
and  an  alley,  which  gives  to  the  village  one  hundred  and  forty- one  platted  lots 
upon  most  of  which  are  neat  and  handsome  residences  or  business  buildings, 
and  is  the  site  of  one  of  the  pleasantest,  most  prosperous  and  enterprising 
towns  along  the  line  of  the  Wabash  Railway. 

This  township  is  divided  into  two  voting  precincts.  The  elections  for  the 
eastern  is' held  at  Liberty  Center,  and  that  for  the  western  at  Chroninger's 
school-house. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
HISTORY  OF  MARION  TOWNSHIP. 

MARION  is  the  extreme  southern  township  in  the  county  of  range  seven, 
being  bounded  on  the  south  by  township  two  of  that  range,  the  line  be- 
tween the  two  forming  the  line  between  Putnam  and  Henry  counties. 

There  is  little  to  distinguish  this  township  from  the  balance  of  the  county 
except  the  south  or  (as  named  by  the  geologists  of  the  State)  Belmore  Ridge, 
which  runs  through  it,  entering  the  township  near  the  half  section  line  of  sec- 
tion thirty,  and  running  in  a  winding  track  eastward  through  sections  twenty- 
nine,  twenty- eight  and  twenty-seven,  when  it  turns  southeasterly  through 
sections  twenty-six,  thirty-five  and  thirty-six,  crossing  the  township  Hne  near 
the  southeast  corner  of  the  latter  section.  The  lands  along  this  ridge  are  high 
and  dry.  The  remainder  of  the  township  is,  or  rather  was,  very  wet,  but  ex- 
ceedingly well  timbered  with  burr  and  white  oak,  walnut,  maple,  poplar,  ash 
and  the  softer  woods. 


240  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  settlement  of  the  township  has   been   slow,   and  even  comparatively 
modern.     Located  in  a  dense  forest,  no  roads,  not  even  "  cow  paths,"  and  no 
way  to  reach  market  except  on  foot,  it  was  absolutely  inaccessible,  except  from 
the  ridge,  which  made  a  good  natural  road  to   Defiance.     The  wetness  of  the 
soil,  the  density  of  the   forest  and  the  isolation  of  the  territory  from  market 
and  civilization,  were,  however,  not  the  only  causes  which  retarded  the  settle- 
ment and  improvement  of  the   township.     In  the  years  1850-51,  before  the 
adoption  of  the  new  constitutioti,   Samuel   Medary,  then  editor  of  the  Ohio 
Statesman,  and  other  Columbus   gentlemen  and  capitalists,  conceived  the  idea 
of  founding  a  settlement  in  the  "  Black  Swamp,"  and  laid  out  a  village,  which 
they  named  Medary,  in  township  two  of  this  range  of  land,  in  Putnam  county. 
About  the  same  time  a  scheme  was  formulated  by  John  M.  Palmer,  who  sub- 
sequently became  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  to  construct  a  plank 
road  from  the  above  village,  northward,  to  intersect  the  Kalida  pike  in  section 
thirty,  Monroe  township.     The  road  is  still  known  as  the  Medary  road.     Pal- 
mer, by  some  process  of  manipulation  in  which  rascality  is  ever  fruitful,  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  board  of  stupid   trustees  to   issue   the   bonds  of  Marion 
township,  which  at  that  time  had  scarcely  any  population,  in  the  sum  of  five 
thousand  dollars  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  building  this  plank  road.     Hav- 
ing secured  the  bonds  Palmer  negotiated  them  at   once,  put  the  proceeds  in 
his  pocket,  and  the  road  was  never  built.     The  debt,  however,  was  entailed  on 
the  township,  and  to  that  extent  was  a  mortgage  on  all  the  land.     The  lands 
were  valued  very  low,  and  the  duplicate  being  small,  the  tax  was  correspond- 
ingly high,  and  the  debt  was  not  finally  paid  until  1864.     This  aided  materi- 
ally in  preserving  Marion  as  the  camping  and  squatting  ground  of  the  hunter, 
and  gave  to  it  the  name  of  "Big  Woods." 

The  township  was  organized  in  the  spring  of  1847,  at  which  time  there 
were  but  ten  voters  living  in  it.  ,  The  duplicate  of  that  year  shows  but  seven 
chattel  tax  payers:  John  Hamler,  Samuel  H.  Harshberger,  Daniel  Harshberger, 
William^Pales,  William  Rayle,  S.  K.  Warnick  and  W.  M.  Warner.  The  value 
of  the  personal  property  was  $680;  that  of  the  land,  there  being  but  9,266 
acres  listed  for  taxation,  was  $13,031.15,  and  the  total  tax  paid  was  $480.45. 
Most  of  the  persons  named  are  either  dead  or  removed.  The  descendants  of 
Samuel  H.  Harshberger  and  of  WilHam  Rayle  still  reside  in  the  township  and 
are  the  owners  of  some  of  the  best  farms  in  Marion-,  well  improved,  good,  and 
large  buildings  erected,  and  the  land  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  W.  M. 
Warner  soon  tired  of  wood  life  and  sold  out  to  Casper  Zeirolf,  now  dead,  but 
the  old  farm,  perhaps  in  all  respects,  being  situated  on  the  ridge,  the  best  in 
the  township,  is  owned  and  occupied  by  his  son  William,  at  present  one  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  county.  Samuel  Harshberger,  son  of  Samuel  H.,  was  the 
first  white  child  born  in  the  township,  and  inherited  from  his  ancestors  one  of 
the  best  farms  in  the  township,  upon  which  he  now  resides. 


^^'C 


0 


Henry  County.  241 


Of  these  pioneers  John  Hamler  deserves  more  than  a  passing  notice,  al- 
though" he  is  elsewhere  spoken  of  in  this  book.  He  was  the  first  settler  in  the 
township,  having  entered  land  and  located  in  section  twenty-one,  September 
16,  1846.  The  forest  was  dense,  and  wild  beasts  and  mosquitoes  the  only 
inhabitants.  The  Indians,  a  remnant  of  the  Ottowas,  were  only  twenty-six 
miles  east ;  the  nearest  house  was  fourteen  miles,  twenty  miles  to  the  nearest 
trading  point,  and  thirty  miles  to  mill,  may  give  some  idea  of  the  incon- 
veniences and  hardships  of  frontier  life.  Yet  Mr.  Hamler  says  that  his  life 
was  not  devoid  of  enjoyment,  and  that  he  took  almost  as  much  pleasure  in  the 
rude  and  wild  life  of  the  woods  as  he  does  now  surrounded  by  all  the  com- 
forts and  luxuries  of  civilization. 

The  real  improvement  and  settlement  of  the  township  did  not  commence 
until  1869,  when  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  was  constructed.  This  road 
enters  the  township  at  the  southeast  corner  of  section  twelve  and  runs  north- 
westerly to  the  northwest  corner  of  section  six.  The  construction  of  this  road 
assisted  largely  in  draining  the  lands,  lead  to  the  erection  of  saw-mills  and 
stave  factories  ;  the  cleaning  out  and  deepening  of  the  creeks,  the  main  ones  of 
which  are  Turkey  Foot,  Beaver,  Brush  and  Lost  creeks,  and  to  the  location, 
construction  and  improvements  of  roads.  These  improvements  caused  heavy 
taxation  and  assessments,  and  this  obliged  the  non-resident  land  speculator  to 
dispose  of  his  holdings,  which,  passing  into  the  hands  of  those  who  became 
permanent  settlers,  improvements  seemed  to  spring  up  like  Jack's  bean  pole, 
in  a  single  night,  and  makes  Marion  to-day  as  good  a  township  as  there  is  in 
the  county. 

The  growth  of  the  township  may  be  indicated  by  the  tax  duplicate  and  the 
census  returns.  We  have  already  shown  the  duplicate  of  1847.  That  for 
1887  shows  22,962  acres  of  land  for  taxation  valued  at  $203,035,  and  personal 
property  to  the  amount  of  $130,613,  and  the  amount  of  taxes  paid  to  be 
$7,541.17.  The  population  in  i860  was  only  195  souls;  in  1870  it  amounted 
to  513  ;  in  1880,  to  1,202,  and  at  present  maybe  safely  estimated  at  1,500. 

The  educational  interests  of  the  township  have  been  carefully  provided  for 
and  there  are  at  present,  in  addition  to  the  graded  school  at  Hamler,  nine  good 
and  substantial  schools- houses  erected.  In  each  of  the  villages  and  at  one  or 
two  points  in  the  country,  church  buildings  have  also  been  erected. 

The  growth  of  this  township  has  certainly  been  phenomenal  and  is  owing 
largely  to  foreign  immigration,  the  population  outside  of  the  descendants  of 
the  pioneers  and  the  few  Yankees  who  have  been  attracted  by  the  wealth  to  be 
made  of  the  great  forests  of  timber,  being  composed  mostly  of  industrious,  so- 
ber, quiet  and  rehgious  classes  of  Irish  and  German.  These  people  mixing 
and  inter- marrying,  including  the  native  born,  make  the  progressive  and  ener- 
getic homogeneous  American,  and  indicates  that  our  national  motto,  e  pluribus 
unum,  means  not  only  one  State  for  many  States,  but  one  nation  from  all  the 

31 


242  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

nations  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  motto  has  not  yet  degenerated  into  a  trade 
mark  for  the  standard  dollar,  but  still  deserves  a  place  on  the  broad  standard 
of  human  rights  and  human  hopes.  It  also  indicates  a  population  of  healthy- 
sentiment.  No  agrarian  or  communism  here.  An  honest,  industrious  people 
came  here  into  the  wild  forest,  when  cheap  lands  could  be  obtained,  and  lands 
inexhaustible  in  fertility,  which  by,  hard  work  could  be  converted  into  homes, 
where  old  age  might  rest  in  comfort  and  its  descendants  live  in  luxury.  Men 
like  these,  who  settled  and  peopled  Marion,  were  present  in  the  mind  of  the 
poet  when  he  asked:  "What  constitutes  a  State?"  and  answered: 

"Not  raised  battlement  and  labored  mound. 
Thick  wall  or  moated  gate; 
Not  cities  proud,     .... 
Men,  high-minded  men,  .     . 

yieii  who  their  duties  know. 

But  know  their  rights,  and  knowing,  dare  maintain  — 
Prevent  the  long  aimed  blow. 
And  crush  the  tyrant  while  they  rend  the  chain — 
These  constitute  the  State  !  " 

Edwardsville 

Is  a  triangular  tract  of  land  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  northwest  quarter  of 
section  twenty-eight,  formed  by  the  crossing  of  the  Medary  road  and  the  Ridge 
road.  It  consists  of  seven  lots  and  two  out  lots,  and  was  laid  out  by  George 
W.  Edwards  and  John  Rayle  on  the  6th  of  Septerriber,  1863,  and  recorded  on 
the  7th  of  the  same  month.  A  post-office  was  established  here  as  early  as  1861 
and  named  Ridgeland.  The  post-office  still  remains,  but  the  hamlet  has  not 
grown  beyond  two  or  three  dwellings.  William  P.  Young  has,  however,, 
erected  a  saw-mill,  stave  factory  and  tile  manufactory  within  a  stone  throw, 
and  is  doing  a  thriving  business. 

Hamler. 

This  flourishing  village,  named  in  honor  of  John  Hamler,  is  situated  in  sec- 
tion eleven,  where  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  crosses  the  Turkey  Foot 
road.  It  has  a  population  of  about  five  hundred,  a  post-office,  and  is  a  tele- 
graph and  express  station.  A  large  and  extensive  stave  factory  is  located  here, 
affisrding  a  good  and  profitable  market  for  the  large  quantity  of  soft  wood  still 
growing  in  the  township.  A  fine  two- story  brick  building  affords  excellent 
accommodation  for  the  graded  school  held  in  it.  A  new  commodious  Catho- 
lic church,  and  a  Methodist  Episcopal  furnish  places  of  worship,  and  indicates 
the  religious  leaning  of  those  with  enterprise  sufficient  to  erect  a  building.  The 
various  mechanical  trades  are  represented  ;  three  dry  goods  stores,  doing  a 
general  business ;  one  hardware  store,  an  agricultural  implement  warehouse 
indicate  a  thrifty  business ;  and  a  good  hotel,  two  saloons  and  restaurants  fur- 
nish accommodations  for  the  stranger.  The  Odd  Fellows  have  a  lodge  here 
and  the  Grand  Army  a  post. 


Henry  County.  243 


The  village  was  originally  platted  by  Hon.  William  D.  Hill,  of  Defiance, 
and  his  wife,  Augusta  B.,  on  the  loth  of  July,  1874,  and  recorded  December 
23,  1875.  Five  and  one-third  acres  were  appropriated  to  depot  grounds; 
seventy-five  lots  were  platted  on  the  south  side  of  the  railroad,  and  ninety- six 
on  the  north  ;  there  were  ten  alleys,  and  the  streets  running  east  and  west 
were  named  respectively,  Green,  English,  Edgerton,  Baltimore,  Randolph, 
Benton  and  Cowan ;  and  those  running  north  and  south  were  christened  White, 
Main,  Lee  and  Pendleton.  Turkey  Foot  road,  known  as  Marion  street,  runs 
diagonally  southwesterly  through  the  village.  The  lots  are  four  by  eight  rods, 
except  those  lying  west  of  Marion  street,  which  are  eighteen  links  in  width. 

On  the  6th  of  January,  1875,  J.  W.  Sargent  laid  out  an  addition  of  seven- 
teen lots,  which  was  recorded  on  the  8th  of  the  same  month.  It  comprises 
four  acres  of  land,  including  streets  and  alleys,  and  is  the  east  part  of  the  north- 
east corner  of  the  north  half  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  section  ten. 

Mr.  Hill  and  wife  added  their  first  addition  of  three  out  lots  November  28, 
1 88 1.  It  is  triangular,  west  of  Marion  street,  south  of  the  railroad  and  east  of 
the  west  section  line  of  section  eleven. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  1887,  recorded  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month,  Mr. 
Hill  and  wife  added  a  second,  addition  of  ninety-six  regular  lots,  six  irregular, 
and  blocks  A  and  B.  Chestnut,  Cleveland,  Blaine  and  Hubbard  streets  run 
east  and  west,  and  First,  Second,  Third,  Fourth  and  Fifth  north  and  south  ; 
there  are  seven  alleys.  This  addition  is  in  the  southwest  corner  of  section 
eleven  and  southwest  of  the  original  plat. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
HISTORY  OF  ilONROB  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  is  another  township  which  has  recently  been  cut  out  of  the  "  Big 
Woods,"  and  thus  destroyed  a  large  part  of  the  happy  hunting  ground  of 
the  sportsman.  It  was  organized  as  a  geographical  township  in  1850,  being 
detached  from  Harrison  to  which  it  had  previously  belonged.  In  the  govern- 
ment survey  it  is  known  as  township  four,  north  of  range  seven,  east.  The 
duplicate  of  185 1  shows  only  seven  chattel  taxpayers  resident  in  the  township. 
We  give  the  names  with  the  amount  of  tax  paid  by  each :  Samuel  E.  Ed- 
wards (author  of  the  "  Ohio  Hunter,"  who  then  resided  on  the  farm  now  owned 
and  occupied  by  Philip  Heckler),  $2.40 ;  William  Hill,  $1.89  ;  Michael  Hill, 
$2.02;  Waite  Hill,  jr.,  $1.09;  Christopher  Kemm,  $3-38;  Matthias  Knops- 
ley,$.97;  Amonah  Parkison,  $1.05  ;  Paulus  Quitman,  $1.01.     The  number  of 


244  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

acres  of  land  entered  and  subject  to  taxation  was  14,463,  valued  at  $22,268.21 ; 
while  the  value  of  the  chattel  property  was  only  $476,  and  the  total  tax  paid, 
including  specials,  was  $1,698.35.  In  this  connection  the  duplicate  of  1887 
may  as  well  be  given.  It  shows  22,960  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $233,210, 
subject  to  taxation  ;  the  chattel  property  is  valued  at  $80,376,  and  the  total 
tax  paid  $7,244.62.  The  population  of  the  township  was,  in  i860,  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  souls  ;  in  1870  six  hundred  and  fifty-eight;  in  1880  it  had 
grown  to  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-eight,  and  is  at  present  not  less 
than  fifteen  hundred.  The  township  is  divided  into  nine  school  districts  and 
has  as  many  good  and  commodious  school  buildings ;  and  five  churches,  all 
Protestant, —  one  a  United  Brethren,  near  Levi  •  Dresbeck's  ;  two  Lutheran 
churches.'one  on  section  18,  and  one  on  section  33.  The  others  will  be  spoken 
of  when  we  write  of  the  villages. 

Among  the  early  settlers  of  the  township,  in  addition  to  those  already 
named,  we  may  add  :  David  Latta,  Matthew  Hill,  Daniel  and  W.  H.  Bigford, 
Rev.  Williamson  Barnhill,  Charles  Huber,  John  Bensing,  John  Frankforther, 
Peter  Reimond,  John  B.  Meyers,  Rev.  Frederick  Witzgall,  and  Jacob  Snyder, 
who  made  the  early  improvements  on  the  valuable  farm  now  owned  and  occu- 
pied by  John  Rentz.  All  of  these  persons  or  their  immediate  descendants  or 
families  are  still  living  in  the  township. 

For  many  years  this  township  was  a  stunted  child,  and  its  healthy  growth 
commenced  with  the  construction  of  the  Toledo,  Delphos  and  Burlington  Rail- 
road, a  narrow  guage,  but  which  has  in  the  present  year  been  extended  to  a 
standard  guage,  and  is  now  known  as  the  "Clover  Leaf"  route.  The  road 
enters  the  township  at  the  northeast  corner  of  section  one,  on  the  east  line,  runs 
in  a  southwest  direction,  leaving  the  township  in  the  northwest  quarter  of  sec- 
tion thirty- one,  on  the  west  line. 

The  lands  in  this  township,  as  in  the  whole  county  with  the  exception  of 
the  ridge,  are  low,  flat,  level,  and  were  wet,  requiring  considerable  drainage. 
This  has  been  accomplished  and  three-fourths  of  the  township  is  now  under  a 
good  state  of  cultivation.  The  drainage  is  accomplished  by  the  cleaning  out, 
widening  and  deepening  of  the  natural  water  courses,  the  main  one  of  which  is 
Turkey  Foot.  This  creek  enters  the  township  in  the  south  at  the  line  between 
section  thirty-five  and  thirty-six,  running  north  in  a  winding  direction  through 
sections  thirty- five,  twenty- six,  twenty-three,  twenty-two,  fourteen,  fifteen,  ten, 
three,  four  and  five,  entering  Harrison  township  near  the  center  of  the  latter 
section  on  the  south  township  line.  School  Creek  enters  the  township  in  the 
west  near  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  nineteen,  and  runs  northerly,  wind- 
ing through  sections  eighteen  and  eight,  emptying  into  Turkey  Foot  in  section 
four.  Lost  Creek  and  Ash  Creek  also  run  from  the  south  to  the  north,  both 
adding  their  waters  to  Turkey  Foot.  Into  these  several  streams  artificial 
drainage,  both  surface  and  sub-soil,  have  been  constructed,  pretty  thoroughly 


Henry  County.  245 


draining  the  township  and  fitting  it  for  cultivation.  Good  roads  have  been 
constructed  on  almost  every  section  line,  both  north  and  south  and  east  and 
west,  many  of  which  have  by  the  county  commissioners  been  improved  under 
the  laws  of  the  Legislature  enacted  for  that  purpose,  and  the  township  to-day 
ranks  among  the  best  and  wealthiest  in  the  county. 

The  hamlets  and  villages  in  the  township  are  Ellery  (or,  as  known  on  the 
plat  book,  Herrtown)  Grelleton  and  Malinta.      Of  these  in  order  : 

Herrtown  or  Ellery. 

On  the  plat  book  this  hamlet  is  known  as  Herrtown,  but  the  postofifice 
located  there  having  been  named  Ellery,  the  latter  has  become  the  accepted 
name.  It  is  situated  in  the  south  part  of  the  east  half  of  the  southwest  quarter 
of  section  sixteen  on  the  "  Clover  Leaf"  route.  It  consists  of  seventeen  lots; 
is  a  railway  station,  has  a  postoffice  and  small  store.  It  was  platted  by  Peter 
Ritter,  January  29,  1881.  It  may  be  said  to  be  extensively  laid  out  but  thinly 
settled. 

Grelleton. 

This  village,  or  more  properly  hamlet,  is  located  where  the  township  of 
Harrison,  Damascus,  Richfield  and  Monroe  corner.  It  is  also  on  the  "  Clover 
Leaf"  route.  On  the  23d  of  March,  1881,  EH  C.  Clay  laid  out  an  addition  of 
seventeen  lots  and  erected  a  saw- mill  in  the  northeast  corner  of  section  one  in 
the  latter  township.  On  the  lOth  of  May,  1884,  Mr.  Clay  platted  another 
addition  in  this  township,  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  northwest  quarter  of 
the  same  section.  It  consists  of  thirteen  lots,  and  was  recorded  December  27, 
1884.  The  hamlet  has  a  good  school-house,  two  dry  goods  stores,  a  meat 
market,  restaurant,  a  saw-mill,  hoop  factory,  stave  factory,  a  railroad  depot, 
express,  telegraph  and  post-offices,  and  contains  a  population  of  from  three  hun- 
dred to  three  hundred  and  fifty.  Among  the  first  settlers  and  present  resi- 
dents of  the  place  may  be  enumerated  Thomas  B.  Emery,  Joseph  B.  Ward^ 
Eli  C.  Clay,  William  Mead,  C.  H.  Thompson,  Jonathan  Scheidler,  Leroy 
Thompson,  Randall  &  Hughes,  hoop  factory,  and  the  Dewey  Stave  Company. 

Malinta. 

This  is  the  principal  village  in  the  township.  It  is  also  on  the  line  of  the 
"  Clover  Leaf,"  and  is  located  in  sections  ten  and  eleven.  It  contains  a  popu- 
lation of  from  four  hundred  to  four  hundred  and  fift}'.  It  has  four  dry  goods 
and  general  stores,  two  hardware  stores,  two  saloons  and  restaurants,  one  saw- 
mill, stave  factory,  tile  and  brick  factory,  picture  gallery,  blacksmith  shops, 
shoemaker,  etc.  It  is  a  railroad  station  and  has  an  express,  telegraph  and  post- 
office.  Two  churches,  one  Lutheran  and  one  United  Brethren,  are  erected 
here. 


246  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  village  was  first  platted  and  laid  out  by  John  Bensing,  September 
21,  1880,  in  the  west  part  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  eleven,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  railroad.  Turkey  Foot  avenue  bounded  it  on  the  west,  Main 
street  on  the  north,  an  alley  on  the  east,  and  an  alley  between  the  plat  and  the 
railroad  on  the  south.  It  was  constituted  of  twenty  lots,  with  Center  street 
running  east  and  west,  and  Henry  street  and  an  alley  north  and  south.  De- 
pot grounds  were  also  laid  out  on  the  south  of  the  railroad. 

Mr.  Bensing  platted  and  recorded  his  first  addition  to  the  village,  April, 
1 88 1.  It  is  in  the  west  part  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  eleven,  south 
of  the  railroad,  west  of  the  depot  grounds  and  east  of  Turkey  Foot  avenue.  It 
consists  of  twenty-six  lots.  Washington  and  Adams  streets  and  one  alley  run 
east  and  west;   Henry  street  continued  and  two  alleys  run  north  and  south. 

May  28,  1 88 1,  L.  and  L.  Horn  added  an  addition  to  the  village,  located  in 
part  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  ten.  It  em- 
braced four  and  a  half  acres  west  of  Turkey  Foot  avenue.  It  consists  of  twelve 
lots,  two  alleys  running  east  and  west  and  one  north  and  south,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  railroad;  and  seventeen  lots,  Monroe  street  and  three  alleys,  east 
and  west  and  one  alley  north  and  south,  on  the  north  of  the  railroad. 

The  town  is  thrifty,  the  population  enterprising,  and  it  will  doubtless,  before 
many  years,  rank  among  the  foremost  villages  in  the  county. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  a  word  should  be'said  in  memory  of  the  men 
who  first  undertook  the  task  of  making  delightful  homes  of  the  "tangled  for- 
ests." 

The  Sturdy  Pioneer. 

"Peace  has  her  victories  as  well  as  war;"  with  equal  truth  may  civil  life  be 
said  to  have  its  heroes  as  well  as  the  tented  field,  and  if  ever  man  deserved  the 
title  of  hero,  that  man  is  the  pioneer.  Language  cannot  be  woven  into  a 
fitting  uniform  for  this  hero;  he  was  not  an  adventurer;  he  possessed  all  the 
elements  of  the  true  soldier;  courage,  fortitude,  determination,  endurance, 
self-reliance,  perseverar^ce  were  his  characteristics.  He  went  forth,  venturing 
where  no  other  white  foot  had  ever  trod,  a  colonist,  founding  new  homes  and 
building  new  States.  The  race  of  pioneers  was  a  constructive  one,  and  its 
conquests  were  pushed,  not  only  beyond  the  mountains,  but  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  and  where  its  seeds  of  thought,  religion  and  civilization  were  once 
planted,  there  they  grew  and  flourished. 

Time  too  readily  blots  from  the  memory  of  the  rising  generation  the  glori- 
ous achievements  of  their  ancestors,  and  the  hardships,  trials  and  deprivations 
suffered  by  them  that  they  might  crown  "a  youth  of  labor  with  an  age  of  ease" 
and  leave  behind  them  homes  of  comfort  as  inheritances  to  their  posterity;  and 
the  bravest,  the  best  and  the  noblest  are  laid  away,  in  a  few  years  to  be  for- 
gotten. 


Henry  County.  247- 


There  is  something  grand  in  the  gradual  development  of  human  history 
and  human  progress.  The  actors  at  any  period  may  wholly  fail  to  appreciate 
the  effect  of  their  action  on  the  future,  and  be  ignorant  of  the  links  and  succes- 
sion of  events  which  connect  past,  present  and  future.  The  actor  knows  only  to 
face  and  to  do  his  duty  as  day  by  day  it  is  presented  to  him,  and  he  too  often  re- 
mains unconscious  of  his  relation  to  predecessor  and  successor  and  of  the  grad- 
ual unfolding  of  the  great  plan  of  human  development  and  progress.  In  all 
human  movements  we  have  the  temporary  and  the  permanent,  the  transient 
form  and  non-essential  incident  with  the  permanent  substance  and  the  essen- 
tial truth.  There  must  be  personal  actors,  as  well  as  potential  causes  and  irre- 
sistable  current.  Every  age  has  its  heroes,  martyrs  and  victims,  and  every 
cause  its  defenders,  advocates  and  enemies,  and  to  the  heroic  men  who  preceded 
us  to  the  pathless  wilderness  we  owe  the  heritage  we  now  enjoy,  and  it  is 
proper  that  to  them  honor  be  paid  and  their  memories  cherished.  No  nation 
ever  did  anything  worth  remembering  that  failed  to  honor  its  heroic  dead  and 
count  among  its  national  treasures  the  fame  of  its  illustrious  ancestors. 

As  we  gaze  over  the  expansive  and  fertile  fields  and  see  the  comfortable 
and  pleasant  homes  of  Henry  county,  reflect  that  but  a  few  years  ago  it  was 
but  a  "matted  woods,  where  birds  forget  to  sing,"  and  recall  the  labors,  toils, 
sacrifices  and  dangers  which  made  up  the  life  of  the  pioneer  heroes  whose 
graves  indent  our  soil,  and  as  we  appreciate  the  triumphs  won  by  them  which 
have  given  to  us  the  noble  heritage  we  now  enjoy,  and  cast  ourselves  into  the 
beckoning  future  which  these  men  and  their  labors  made  possible,  our  hearts- 
cannot  fail  to  fill  with  pride,  and  love  and  gratitude,  and  in  the  sight  of  coun- 
try and  of  the  world  we  lift  up  their  honored  names,  and  ask  posterity  to  em- 
ulate the  pioneer. 

There  seems  to  be  a  neglect  of  duty  on  the  part  of  the  children  of  the  pi- 
oneer. There  should  be  monuments  erected  to  commemorate  the  achieve- 
ments of  these  brave  and  great  men.  Monuments  are  the  links  which  connect 
names  and  events  to  fame.  Let  monuments  be  built  in  each  township  and 
stand  as  a  silent,  but  eloquent  witness,  not  only  to  the  devotion  and  daring, 
but  as  a  constant  witness  that  we,  the  sons  and  daughters  of  these  pioneers,, 
hold  in  greatful  recollection  those  to  whom  we  are  so  largely  indebted  for  the 
blessings  we  to-day  enjoy. 


248  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
HISTORY  OF  NAPOLEON   TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  township  was  organized  in  the  spring  of  1835,  soon  after  the  full  organi- 
zation of  Henry  county.  The  population  in  1880  was  1,472  not  including 
the  town  of  Napoleon  ;  this  has  increased  considerably.  The  township  con- 
tains thirty-six  square  miles,  without  deducting  the  space  covered  by  the  Mau- 
mee  River.  The  larger  portion  of  this  area  is  in  an  advanced  state  of  cultiva- 
tion. It  lies  near  the  middle  of  the  famous  Black  Swamp,  which  was  formerly 
such  a  terror  to  emigrants,  and  which  caused  it  to  be  passed  by  by  early  settlers, 
who  were  seeking  homes,  in  what  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  century,  the  "  far 
west."  Its  surface  is  remarkably  even,  except  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  its 
water  courses,  where  the  surface  drift  has  been  washed  away,  during  and  since 
the  glacial  epoch.  The  soil,  like  that  of  the  Black  Swamp  generally,  is  remark- 
able for  its  great  fertility.  It  is  underlaid  by  what  is  known  as  the  Erie  clay, 
which  was  deposited  during  the  long  ages  when  the  township  formed  a  portion 
■of  the  bed  of  Lake  Erie.  This  clay  on  account  of  its  great  tenacity,  furnishes 
the  best  possible  foundation  for  a  fertile  soil.  In  itself  it  furnishes  a  large 
amount  of  plant  food,  and  after  being  exposed  to  the  disintegrating  effects  of 
frost  and  heat,  becomes  a  very  productive  soil.  The  great  growth  of  vegeta- 
tion, previous  to  its  discovery  and  settlement  by  the  white  man,  gave  it  a  rich 
coat  of  soil,  which  the  retentiveness  of  the  clay  preserved  for  future  use. 

The  beautiful  Maumee  River  furnishes  the  great  center  of  drainage  to  the 
township,  as  well  as  to  the  greater  portion  of  the  county.  The  general  trend 
of  the  surface  is  towards  the  Maumee  River,  and  Lake  Erie,  i.  c,  on  the  north- 
ern side  of  the  river  the  slope  is  toward  the  southeast,  while  that  of  the  south- 
ern side  of  the  river  is  at  right  angles,  or  towards  the  northeast. 

The  rate  of  descent  is  between  four  and  six  feet  to  the  mile,  which  gives 
sufficient  fall,  when  skillfully  distributed,  to  secure  the  benefits  of  thorough  un- 
derdraining,  which  in  the  Black  Swamp  is  the  one  great  necessity  in  securing 
the  conditions  of  successful  agriculture.  There  are  five  small  streams  with  their 
branches,  that  empty  into  the  river  from  the  northern  side,  while  there  are  none 
of  importance  in  that  small  portion  of  the  township  lying  south  of  the  river. 

Much  time,  labor  and  money  have  been  expended  in  bringing  the  township 
out  of  its  original  condition  of  a  dense  swampy  forest,  to  its  present  advanced 
state  of  productiveness.      Much,  however,  remains  to  be  done. 

It  took  no  small  amount  of  courage  to  attack  the  swamps  and  forests  of  this 
locality  half  a  century  ago.  More  hardships  were  endured,  and  more  lives  lost 
in  the  work  of  clearing  up  and  preparing  the  conditions  which  now  exist  in  the 
form  of  beautiful  productive  farms,  which  are  to  be  seen  throughout  the  town- 


Henry  County.  249 


ship,  than  were  endured  to  subdue  the  hostile  and  treacherous  Indians  which 
once  occupied  the  country. 

We  have  here  no  early  history  of  Indian  or  other  wars,  through  which  the 
earlier  settlers  of  this  region  had  to  pass.  The  battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers  at 
Presque  Isle,  on  the  Maumee  River,  three  miles  above  Maumee,  so  broke  the 
power  of  the  Indians,  that  no  further  trouble  was  had  with  them.  As  that  mem- 
orable battle  occurred  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  there 
was  probably  not  a  single  white  resident  (unless  it  may  have  been  the  renegade 
Simon  Girty),  in  the  whole  county,  we  have  therefore  no  blood-curdling  stories 
of  hair-breadth  escapes  from  the  Indians,  or  of  ambuscades  or  battles.  All  has 
been  peaceful  since  the  organization  of  the  county.  Our  modest  story  will 
therefore  lack  interest  to  those  who  require  something  of  a  blood-curdling  na- 
ture. The  early  settlers  here  had  enough  to  contend  with  in  the  shape  of  inhos- 
pitable nature,  and  were  very  well  satisfied  with  the  fact,  that  the  lives  of  their 
wives  and  little  ones,  as  well  as  their  own  scalps  were  in  no  danger  from  the 
savage  Indians. 

We  see  around  us  now  many  of  the  aged  pioneers  both  male  and  female, 
who  took  part  in  this  great  contest  with  savage  nature,  whose  tottering  frames 
show  very  clearly  that  they  have  endured  great  privations,  such  as  but  few  of 
their  children  would  undertake.  Fortunately  for  the  children,  they  have  noth- 
ing to  do  but  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  parents  indomitable  pluck  and  persever- 
ance. 

These  old  pioneers  are  rapidly  passing  away,  and  soon  will  be  only  known 
by  the  works  they  have  done.  Yet,  before  passing  away  they  have  had  the 
great  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  they  have  left  a  heritage  for  their  children, 
where  they  may  enjoy  all  the  comforts  of  Hfe  without  enduring  the  trials,  pri- 
vations and  inconveniences  they  were  compelled  to  endure. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  children  will  continue  to  develop  the  resources 
of  the  land  their  parents  have  done  so  much  to  make  ready  for  their  occupa- 
tion. In  the  very  nature  of  things  the  future  resources  of  this  township  will 
mainly  depend  upon  agriculture.  There  seems,  at  present,  to  be  little  else  upon 
which  the  people  of  Napoleon  township  can  depend  except  that  which  may  be 
gained  from  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  This  is  not  a  cause  for  discouragement. 
We  have  the  city  of  Toledo,  with  its  phenomenal  growth,  which  may  fairly  en- 
title it  to  the  appellation  of  the  "  Future  Great ;"  also  the  embryo  cities  of 
Findlay,  Bowling  Green  and  Lima,  with  their  great  flow  of  oil  and  gas,  which 
cannot  help  making  them  great  manufacturing  centers.  All  of  these  are  our 
near  neighbors,  and  they  will  need  everything  we  can  produce,  and  will  there- 
fore furnish  a  market  at  our  very  doors,  and  at  remunerative  prices.  The  early 
settlers  of  the  township  are  rapidly  passing  over  to  the  majority  beyond  the 
river,  therefore  it  is  well  to  place  on  record  their  early  trials  and  privations,  and 
their  heroic  struggles  with  poverty  and  disease  ;    in  their  efforts  to  subdue  the 

32 


250  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

unbroken  wilderness ;  in  the  process  of  developing  its  resources  to  the  present 
condition.  This  furnishes  a  reason  for  the  existence  of  this  volume.  It  is  in- 
tended to  be  a  memorial  of  inestimable  value  to  the  descendants  of  these  worthy 
pioneers,  as  well  as  to  all  who  may  hereafter  partake  of  the  benefits  of  their 
indomitable  industry  and  perseverance. 

We  had  almost  neglected  to  speak  of  our  beautiful  Maumee  River,  the  pride 
of  northwestern  Ohio.  The  dam  built  by  the  State  to  feed  the  Miami  and  Erie 
canals,  backs  the  water  more  than  twenty-five  miles,  extending  nearly  to  the 
western  line  of  the  county,  thus  giving  us  a  beautiful  and  placid  stream  which 
is  a  marvel  of  beauty.  It  furnishes  navigation  for  pleasure  boats  of  all  kinds  ; 
and  excursions  up  and  down  the  river  are  of  almost  daily  occurrence  through 
the  summer  season,  and  in  winter  gives  our  young  people  the  best  of  skating, 
which  they  are  not  slow  to  utilize.  Accomplished  skaters  are  very  numerous 
among  those  who  live  along  its  beautiful  banks. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  chattel  taxpayers  of  Napoleon  township  in 
1837,  viz. :  Amos  Andrews,  Samuel  Bowers,  Catharine  Belong,  Jesse  Essex, 
John  Glass,  Henry  Leonard,  George  Bowers,  Alexander  Craig,  Frederick 
Lord,  James  Magill,  Jonathan  Kneely,  Lorenzo  Patrick,  Adolphus  Patrick, 
John  Patrick,  John  Powell,  Edwin  Scribner,  George  Stout,  Hazael  Strong, 
Reuben  Straight,  Israel  Wait  and  J.  P.  Whipple, — twenty-five  names  in  all. 
We  believe  all  of  them  are  dead  with  the  exception  of  Frederick  Lord,  who,  at 
last  account,  was  living  at  Paw  Paw,  Mich.  Among  our  best  citizens  many  of 
these  names  are  found,  showing  that  they  are  well  represented. 

The  value  of  the  real  estate  in  the  township  at  that  time  was  $18,792  ;  25 
horses  valued  at  $1,000  ;  88  head  of  cattle  valued  at  $700  dollars  ;  money  and 
merchandise  to  the  amount  of  $425,  making  a  total  valuation  of  $20,941,  on 
which  was  assessed  a  tax  of  $286.97.8.  In  the  present  year,  1887,  just  fifty 
years,  the  same  items  are  as  follows : 

Religion  is  also  not  neglected.  Besides  the  numerous  church  edifices,  filled 
with  attentive  congregations,  in  the  county  seat,  there  are  two  Lutheran  and 
one  United  Brethren  churches  outside  of  the  town  of  Napoleon,  where  neigh- 
bors can  attend  worship  nearer  home. 

Okolona  is  a  small  village  with  post-office  on  the  Wabash,  St.  Louis  and 
Western  Railway,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  township.  It  has  considera- 
ible  local  trade,  and  is  a  convenience  to  the  people  in  that  locality. 

Sketches  of  Pioneer  Residents  of  Napoleon  Township. 

Hazael  Strong  was  born  in  Vermont,  March  23,,  1804.    'He  was  married  to 
Sabrina  Garrey  in  1833.       Mrs.  Strong  was  also  born  in  1804.     They  settled' 
in  Henry  county  and  Napoleon  township  in  the  same  year  they  were  married. 
Mr.  Strong  was  the  first  auditor  of  Henry  county,  having  been  appointed  to 
that  position  by  the  associate  judges  at  the  time  the  county  was  organized- 


Henry  County.  251 


He  held  the  office  until  his  successor  was  elected  at  the  first  general  election. 
He  afterwards  held  the  office  of  county  recorder;  he  was  clerk  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  Court  fourteen  years  ;  he  also  held  the  office  of  county  surveyor,  for 
which  office  he  was  peculiarly  well  fitted,  as  he  took  great  pride  in  doing  his. 
work  with  the  greatest  possible  accuracy ;  he  also  served  as  deputy  treasurer 
of  the  county  during  the  term  for  which  Israel  Wait  was  elected,  doing  the 
greater  portion  of  the  work  of  the  office.  They  had  only  one  child,  a  son,  who 
died  in  1861.  Hazael  Strong  died  in  1877.  His  widow  still  survives  at  the 
ripe  age  of  eighty-three  years. 

Hon.  John  Powell  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Henry  county,  having  per- 
manently located  here  in  1835.  He  was  born  in  Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  Dec. 
14,  1806  ;  was  married  in  Erie  county,  O.,  Jan.  9,  1831,  to  Esther  Magill,  who 
was  born  in  Huron  county,  O.,  Dec.  7,  181 1.  They  had  a  family  of  twelve 
children,  five  of  whom  are  dead  ;  one  of  them,  Volney  Powell,  having  been 
murdered  in  a  South  Carolina  massacre,  Oct.  20,  1870.  Four  of  their  sons 
served  their  country  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Samuel  Powell  belonged  to 
Co.  B,  38th  Regiment  O.  V.  I.,  of  which  regiment  Hazael  B.  Powell,  M.D., 
then  quite  a  young  man,  was  surgeon.  Volney  Powell  belonged  to  the  14th 
Regiment  0.  V.  I.,  and  was  afterwa^rds  in  the  one  huudred  day  service.  George 
Powell  was  also  in  the  one  hundred  day  service.  When  Mr.  Powell  settled  in 
this  county  Napoleon  consisted  of  one  log  house,  owned  by  a  man  named  An- 
drews. Several  log  houses  were  added  to  the  place  during  the  summer  of 
1835.  In  the  same  year  Mr.  Powell  was  elected  township  clerk,  and  in  1837 
was  elected  county  auditor.  After  serving  two  terms,  he  served  as  deputy 
sheriff.  He  was  then  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  1840  was,  by  the 
Legislature,  appointed  associate  judge  of  Henry  county,  which  office  he  held 
one  term.  He  also  filled  the  office  of  county  commissioner,  three  terms.  He 
began  business  in  Napoleon,  as  a  shoemaker  ;  in  1836  he  began  merchandising, 
which  vocation  he  followed  until  185 1.  He  then  kept  a  hotel  or  tavern,  as  it 
was  then  called,  but  soon  again  entered  the  mercantile  business  which  he  con- 
tinued until  1862.  After  the  first  court-house  burned,  in  1847,  the  question  of 
removing  the  county  seat  to  the  town  of  Texas,  a  few  miles  farther  down  the 
river,  in  Washington  township,  arose.  The  people  of  the  county  were  divided 
on  the  question,  and  upon  that  issue  Mr.  Powell  was  elected  county  commis- 
sioner, which  fixed  the  county  seat  at  Napoleon.  Mr.  Powell  died  July  27» 
1886,  and  his  aged  wife  followed  him  in  December  of  the  same  year. 

Edwin  Scribner,  was  born  in  New  York  in  1808,  and  brought  to  Henry 
county  when  a  lad  of  eight  years  old,  in  1816.  There  was  not  at  that  time  a 
wagon  road  in  the  county,  nothing  but  Indian  trails.  Flour  and  meal  could 
only  be  obtained  by  taking  wheat  to  mill  at  Monroe,  Mich.  When  a  lad  of 
thirteen  years  of  age,  he  rode  on  horseback  and  alone,  to  Greenville,  Darke 
county,  O.,  and   brought  back  with  him  a  bundle  of  rolls  of  wool  to  be  spun 


252  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

and  woven  into  clothing  for  the  family.  Mr.  Scribner  erected  the  first  saw- 
mill in  Henry  county  in  1838,  on  Dry  Creek,  in  what  is  now  Washington  town- 
ship.     He  died  May  16,  1887. 

Allen  B.  Scribner,  a  son  of  the  above,  was  born  in  Henry  county  May  25, 
1825.  He  was  married  in  Delaware  county,  O.,  August  24,  1863,  to  Mary  C. 
Potter,  who  was  born  in  that  county  in  1841.  They  have  had  four  children. 
Mr.  S.  is. at  present  engaged  in  the  sale  of  hardware  and  agricultural  imple- 
ments in  Napoleon. 

George  Stout  came  to  Napoleon  in  the  autumn  of  1834.  Napoleon  town- 
ship was  then  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness.  He  purchased  a  town  lot  in 
Napoleon  and  built  the  second  log  cabin  in  the  place.  He  lived  in  this  cabin 
while  he  built  a  public  house  or  tavern,  into  which  he  moved  his  family  in 
March,  1835.  This  he  opened  for  the  entertainment  of  guests  as  soon  as  it 
could  be  made  ready.  The  first  two  or  three  terms  of  the  Common  Pleas 
Court,  was  held  in  the  dining  room  of  this  hostelry,  and  the  first  grand  jury  of 
Henry  county  slept  in  the  hay-mow  in  the  barn.  At  this  time  there  were  but 
few  settlers  in  the  county.  Those  nearest  were  Hazael  Strong,  John  Patrick, 
and  Amos  Andrews,  who  lived  four  miles  down  the  river,  and  Elijah  Gunn, 
who  lived  on  Girty's  Island,  five  miles  above  town.  For  a  distance  of  fifteen 
miles  from  the  river,  on  both  sides,  the  county  was  a  vast  unbroken  wilderness. 
As  an  inducement  to  settlers,  a  town  lot  was  offered  by  the  original  proprietors 
of  the  town,  Messrs.  Phillips,  Cory  and  Level,  to  the  first  permanent  settler. 
Upon  this  lot  a  log  cabin  had  been  built  by  a  man  named  HoUoway,  being 
the  first  erected  in  the  place.  It  was  quit- claimed  by  Mr.  Holloway,  and  also 
afterwards  by  several  others,  none  of  whom  remained  long  enough  to  entitle 
them  to  a  deed,  and  was  finally  deeded  to  Mr.  Stout  as  the  first  actual  settler 
in  the  town.  This  was  lot  No.  25  on  the  original  plat  of  Napoleon.  The  house 
was  somewhat  pretentious  for  those  days,  as  it  was  built  of  hewed  logs,  the 
greater  portion  of  the  buildings  of  that  day  being  of  round  logs.  It  was  after- 
wards weather- boarded  and  plastered,  and  is  still  standing,  being  the  oldest 
house  in  town. 

Joseph  A.  Stout,  a  son  of  the  above,  was  born  in  Holmes  county,  0.,  July 
13,  1 8 19.  He  was  married  to  Sarah  C.  Palmer.  They  raised  two  children, 
Albert  T.  and  Ella  A.  Stout.  The  latter  married  Johnson  N.  High,  and  re- 
sides with  her  husband  in  Kansas.  Mr.  Stout  came  to  Henry  county  with  his 
parents  in  1834,  and  had  with  all  the  settlers  of  that  early  period  an  abundant 
experience  of  the  trials  of  pioneer  life. 

John  G.  Stout,  a  brother  to  the  above,  came  to  Henry  county  with  his 
parents  in  1834.  He  was  at  one  time  a  superintendent  of  public  works  in 
Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois.  He  was  married  to  Sarah  Ryan  January  24,  1841, 
They  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  one  of  whom,  John  P.  Stout,  is  an  exam- 
iner of  pensions  in  Washington. 


Henry  County.  253 


Adam  Stout  was  born  in  Richland  county,  O.,  September  29,  18 19.  He 
was  married  to  Mary  J.  Barnhart,  who  was  born  in  Maryland,  O.,  in  1826. 
They  had  eight  children.     He  moved  with  his  parents  to  this  county  in  1833. 

Hon.  James  G.  Haly  was  born  in  Holmes  county,  O.,  Dec.  6,  18 16.  He 
was  married  August  12,  1845,  to  Harriet  Conkling,  who  was  born  in  Mont- 
gomery county,  O.,  February  3,  1821.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Ohio 
in  the  summer  of  1840;  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  for  the  county  in 
the  same  year.  He  served  four  years  by  election  and  one  year  by  appoint- 
ment of  the  court.  He  served  six  years  as  justice  of  the  peace  of  Napoleon 
township,  was  elected  county  auditor  in  1845,  and  served  four  years.  In  1851 
he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  from  Putnam  and  Henry  counties,  and  sat 
during  the  first  session  of  that  body  under  the  present  constitution.  He  was 
appointed  collector  on  the  Miami  and  Erie  Canal,  and  was  stationed  at  Junc- 
tion, in  Paulding  county,  where  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal  joins  the  Miami 
and  Erie.  He  filled  the  position  for  a  term  of  three  years,  during  which  he 
collected  and  paid  over  to  the  State  of  Ohio,  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dollars.  He  then  entered  into  partnership  at  Napoleon  with  Edward  Sheffield 
(since  deceased)  in  the  practice  of  law.  This  partnership  continued  until  the 
beginning  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  in  1861.  He  recruited  and  organized 
Company  D,  Sixty-eighth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  and  was  appointed  quarter- 
master of  the  regiment,  in  which  capacity  he  served  one  year,  when  he  resigned 
on  account  of  failing  health.  He  then  formed  a  law  partnership  with  J.  M. 
Haag  and  William  Sheffield  (since  deceased),  which  continued  until  he  was 
elected  probate  judge  of  Henry  county,  which  office  he  held  twelve  years. 
Since  his  retirement  from  the  judgeship  he  has  retired  from  active  life  and  oc- 
cupies himself  superintending  his  farm  near  town.  Six  children  were  born  to 
them. 

Hon.  Alexander  Craig  settled  in  Napoleon  township  in  1835.  He  and  his 
wife  were  both  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1800,  and  1 801,  respectively.  They 
were  married  in  1827.  Mr.  Craig  held  the  office  of  sheriff  two  terms,  and  that 
of  associate  judge  of  Henry  county  one  term.  They  had  a  family  of  four  chil- 
dren.    Mr.  C.  is  now  dead. 

William  C.  Brownell,  with  his  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Lydia  Osborn, 
came  to  Henry  county  in  the  autumn  of  1835,  and  settled  in  what  is  now  known 
as  Flat  Rock  township,  and  came  to  Napoleon  in  1842  or  '43  ;  was  elected 
sheriff  of  the  county  in  1843,  and  served  one  term  ;  was  school  examiner  sev- 
eral years,  and  was  also  county  surveyor  for  a  longtime,  doing  a  larger  amount 
of  surveying  in  the  county  than  any  other  man.  They  had  seven  children. 
He  lived  and  died  a  consistent  member  of  the  society  of  Friends. 

William  H.  Brownell,  a  son  of  the  above  couple,  was  born  in  Rensselaer 
county,  N.  Y.,  September  6,  1832,  and  was  brought  to  this  county  in  1835 
with  his  parents.     He  remembers  seeing  many  Indians  in  his  boyhood,  as  they 


254  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

frequently  stayed  all  night  at  his  father's  house.  Mr.  B.  held  the  office  of  county 
surveyor  one  term.  He  was  a  farmer  in  his  early  life,  then  learned  the  trade 
of  carpenter,  which  he  followed  until  the  Rebellion.  He  enlisted  in  Napoleon 
in  Company  F,  Fourteenth  Regiment,  Ohio  three  months  men,  and  served 
the  time  in  West  Virginia.  He  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Phillippi,  Laurel 
Hill  and  Carrick's  Ford.  After  their  term  of  enlistment  expired  the  regiment 
re- enlisted  and  reorganized  as  the  Fourteenth  Regiment  O.  V.  I.,  for  three 
years.  He  was  appointed  first  lieutenant  of  Company  D  ;  was  in  the  fight 
at  Wild  Cat,  Ky.,  and  in  numerous  skirmishes  between  Ringgold  and  Atlanta. 
When  he  reached  Atlanta  he  was  compelled  to  resign  on  account  of  his  health. 
When  he  arrived  home  he  weighed  only  115  pounds.  He  has  since  filled  many 
responsible  positions,  and  is  now  cashier  of  Meekison's  bank.  He  has  had  six 
children. 

John  O.  Palmer  settled  with  his  parents  in  Henry  county  in  1837.  He  was 
born  in  New  York  June  22,  1832,  and  married  in  Napoleon,  O.,  September 
24,  1857,  to  Margaret  Tressler,  who  was  born  in  Ohio  August  19,  1837.  They 
had  three  children.  Mrs.  Palmer's  mother  came  to  Henry  county,  a  widow, 
in  1849. 

James  Shasteen  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  the  county.  He  came 
with  his  parents  in  1826.  He  filled  the  offices  of  justice  of  the  peace  and 
assessor.  He  furnished  three  sons  to  the  Union  army.  Peter  Shasteen  be- 
longed to  the  Fourteenth  Regiment  O.  V.  I.;  was  wounded  at  Chickamauga,. 
and  died  from  the  effects  of  the  wound  soon  after.  Emanuel  Shasteen  belonged 
to  the  artillery  corps,  and  died  in  the  service.  James  Shasteen,  jr.,  belonged 
to  the  One  Hundred  and  Eighty- fourth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  and  survived  the 
war. 

S.  L.  Curtis  was  born  in  Java  Lake,  N.  Y.,  October  11,  1836,  was  married 
to  Mary  Chapman,  who  died  in  1872  leaving  two  children.  He  married  Mar- 
garet A.  Guaintance,  in  Napoleon  July  i,  1874.  He  settled  in  Henry  county 
in  1838. 

William  Dodd  was  born  in  New  Jersey  June  18,  1810.  He  was  married  to 
Mary  Thompson  in  Henry  county  about  the  year  1837.  When  quite  young 
Mr.  Dodd  enlisted  in  the  U.  S.  Army,  then  stationed  at  Fort  Leavenworth. 
During  the  three  years  he  served  in  the  army  they  were  engaged  in  a  very 
active  campaign,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Dodge,  against  the  Comanche 
Indians,  near  the  Rocky  Mountains.  After  his  term  of  enlistment  expired  he 
returned  to  the  States  in  1836.  He  also  took  part  in  the  Canadian  Rebellion 
in  1837.  He  held  a  colonel's  commission  from  the  Provincial  Congress  of 
Upper  Canada.  He  was  a  contractor  during  the  construction  of  the  Miami 
and  Erie  Canal.  He  held  the  office  of  sheriff,  and  also  that  of  treasurer  of 
Henry  county.  He  died  April  22,  1859.  Mrs.  Dodd  was  brought  to  the 
Maumee  Valley  in  182 1,  when  she  was  four  years  old.     She  is  believed  fo 


Henry  County,  255 


have  taught  the  first  school  in  Henry  county.  The  school  room  was  in  the 
residence  of  John  Patrick,  three  miles  below  Napoleon  on  the  river.  She 
also  taught  at  Independence,  six  miles  below  Defiance  on  the  river.  Many  of 
our  oldest  citizens  attended  her  school  in  their  early  days.  She  also  taught 
at  Waterville,  in  Lucas  county  and  the  Indian  mission  school,  near  Water- 
ville.  She  is  now  spending  the  evening  of  her  days  with  her  children  in 
this  vicinity.  She  has  spent  sixty-nine  years  of  her  life  on  the  Maumee  river  ; 
the  greater  portion  of  this  time  she  resided  in  Napoleon.  This  couple  had  six 
children.  Their  eldest  son,  Ezra  S.  Dodd,  was  attending  school  in  St.  Louis 
when  the  war  began.  He  at  once  enlisted  in  the  First  Missouri  Regiment  of 
Infantry  for  one  year.  At  the  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek  he  was  taken  prisoner 
and  was  held  eighteen  months.  After  his  release  he  came  to  Napoleon,  and 
raised  Company  B,  One  Hundred  and  Eighty- fourth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  and 
was  appointed  captain.  He  was  in  numerous  engagements,  and  was  on  board 
of  the  first  gunboat  that  passed  the  gauntlet  at  Vicksburg.  He  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  major  of  the  regiment,  and  held  that  position  when  mustered 
out  of  the  service.     He  now  resides  in  Toledo,  O. 

William  Dodd,  jr.,  was  a  member  of  Company  I,  Sixty-eighth  Regiment, 
0.  V.  I.,  and  died  in  the  service  October  12,  1862. 

Edwin  C.  Dodd,  another  son,  was  a  member  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Eighty-fourth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  Company  B,  and  served  to  the  end  of  the 
war. 

George  Frease  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  August  20,  1812.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Summit  county,  O.,  June  7,  1835,  to  Elizabeth  Willard,  who  was  born 
in  Ohio,  December  10,  1812.  They  had  eight  children,  several  of  whom  are 
prominent  in  business  circles  at  this  time.  Mr.  Frease  settled  in  Henry  county 
in  1843. 

Thomas  Brown,  a  millwright,  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1845.  Nativity, 
Ohio. 

S.  F.  Hamlin,  a  millwright,  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1849.  Nativity, 
Ohio. 

Charles  Sweet,  a  millwright,  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1858.  Nativity, 
New  York. 

D.  W.  Frease  was  born  in  Stark  county,  O.,  July  28,  1837,  's  a  son  of 
George  and  Elizabeth  Frease,  who  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  born  in  the 
year  18 12,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1842,  where  they  still  reside.  Henry 
Willard,  the  father  of  Elizabeth  Frease,  died  in  Henry  county  at  the  advanced 
age  of  ninety-four  years.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  married  at  Napoleon 
February  16,  1871,  to  Julia  Feighner,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  March 
15,  1845.  Mr.  Frease  enlisted  February  14,  1864,  in  Company  B,  Thirty- 
eighth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  in 
the  following  battles  and  campaigns,  viz.:  The  campaign  of  Atlanta,  campaign 


256  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

of  Georgia,  siege  of  Savannah  and  campaign  of  North  and  South  Carolina,  and 
served  until  the  end  of  the  war.  He  is  now  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  Napoleon 
township.      He  came  to  the  county  with  his  parents  in  1842. 

A.  H.  Tyler  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1847.  He  was  the  first  county  clerk 
ever  elected  in  Henry  county.  That  officer,  previous  to  the  present  con- 
stitution, was  appointed  by  the  court.  He  has  since  filled  the  offices  of  justice 
of  the  peace,  county  school  examiner,  and  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional 
convention  that  framed  the  present  constitution,  which  was  adopted  in  the 
year '1851.  Dr.  Tyler  was  born  in  New  Haven,  N.  Y.,  January  27,  1819. 
He  was  married  to  Elizabeth   B.  Grannis,  in  Huron  county,  O.,  October  29, 

1846.     They  had  four  children  born  to  them.      Mrs.  Tyler  died  in . 

Dr.  Tyler  served  as  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Sixty-eighth  Regiment  O.  V.  I.  for 
two  years.      He  married  again,  and  is  now  residing  on  his  farm  near  Napoleon. 

Bennett  Stenbird  was  born  in  1822,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1847. 
He  enlisted  in  Company  C,  Fourteenth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  at  Toledo,  Sep- 
tember 17,  1861,  and  received  his  discharge  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  September  12, 
1864. 

Herman  A.  Myerholtz  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  June  17,  1835,  and 
settled  in  Henry  county  with  his  parents  in  1848.  He  was  married  in  Defi- 
ance county,  O.,  March  17,  1864,  to  Louisa  Shults,  who  was  born  in  Prussia 
in  1844.  They  have  several  children.  He  has  held  several  ofifices  of  trust  in 
the  county  and  township.  He  was  township  trustee,  and  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  treasurer  of  Napoleon  township.  He  was  the  first  infirmary  director  of  the 
county.  He,  with  his  brother  Henry,  have  carried  on  the  business  of  grocers 
and  provision  dealers  for  many  years.  They  also  have  been  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  brick  and  tile  for  a  number  of  years. 

H.  F.  Myerholtz,  a  brother  of  the  above,  was  born  in  Germany  June  24, 
1844,  and  married  to  Mary  Gilson  September  15,  1868.  He  came  to  Henry 
county  with  his  parents  in  1848.  He  enlisted  in  Company  F,  Sixty-eighth 
Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  and  served  until  January  27,  1863,  when  he  was  discharged 
at  Cincinnati,  O.  He  re- enlisted  February  9,  1865,  and  served  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  Although  in  active  service  from  the  time  of  enlistment  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  he  escaped  without  the  slightest  wound. 

W.  Linn  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1849. 

Reuben  P.  Calkins  was  born  in  New  York  April  2,  1821.  He  was  married 
in  Ohio  to  Annie  E.  Thompson,  daughter  of  William  and  Rebecca  Thompson, 
of  Stark  county,  O.  Four  children  were  born  to  them.  Mr.  Calkins's  parents 
settled  in  Henry  county  in  1836.     Mr.  C.  himself  came  in  1856. 

Christian  H.  Helberg  was  born  in  Germany  November  li,  1833.  He  was 
married  in  Henry  county  November  17,  1865,  to  Anna  Drewes,  whose  parents 
were  natives  of  Germany,  and  who  settled  in  Henry  county,  where  Mrs.  H.  was 
born.     Mr.  H.  settled  in  Henry  county  in   1848,  and  suffered  the  privations. 


Henry  County.  257 


common  to  the  settlers  of  that  period.  In  early  times  in  this  county  it  was  not 
an  uncommon  thing  for  the  farmer  to  shoulder  a  bag  of  grain  and  carry  it  to 
mill,  as  that  was  frequently  the  easiest  way  to  get  it  there.  The  forests  at  that 
time  were  full  of  game.  Squirrels  were  very  numerous,  and  materially  assisted 
the  farmer  in  gathering  his  corn  crop.  Mr.  Helberg  enlisted  in  the  Sixty- 
eighth  Regiment  O.  V.  I.,  October  15,  1861.  He  took  part  in  the  siege  of 
Vicksburgj  battle  of  Atlanta,  and  marched  with  Sherman  to  Atlanta.  He  was 
wounded,  and  the  ball  was  never  extracted. 

John  Dancer  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  O.,  June  3,  1823.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  Margaret  Huston  in  Ashland  county,  O.,  November  5,  1849.  Mrs. 
Dancer  was  born  in  Columbiana  county  O.,  May  28,  1827.  They  had  six 
children.  Their  son  George  was  a  member  of  the  Seventy-seventh  Regiment, 
0.  V.  I.,  and  served  three  years  and  ten  months.  Mr.  Dancer  settled  in  Henry 
county  in  1848. 

William  Mason  was  born  in  Milan,  O.,  April  12,  18 17.  He  married  Eliza- 
beth Smith,  who  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  O.,  September  23,  1824.  They 
had  four  children,  and  were  early  settlers  in  the  county. 

Hon.  William  A.  Tressler  was  born  March  19,  1824;  was  married  Jan.  23,. 
1845,  ill  Frederick  county,  Md.,  to  Anna  Elliott,  who  was  born  Jan.  14,  1823. 
They  came  to  Henry  county  in  the  spring  of  1849.  Mrs.  Tressler  died  Nov. 
II,  1881.  Mr.  Tres.sler  has  lived  in  the  county  ever  since  his  first  arrival.  He 
has  held  the  office  of  State  Senator  two  years,  was  county  treasurer  four  years, 
was  mayor  of  Napoleon  four  years,  marshal  of  the  town  two  years,  and  justice 
of  the  peace  eight  years,  which  office  he  now  fills. 

George  Daum  is  the  son  of  George  and  Margaret  Daum,  both  of  whom  are 
deceased.  They  were  born  in  France,  in  1798,  in  the  same  town  and  on  the 
same  day  and  hour.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  France,  Jan.  12, 
1834,  and  married  in  Napoleon,  O.,  in  the  autumn  of  1 871,  to  Rachel  Spieth, 
whose  parents  were  Germans.  They  have  a  large  family  of  children.  He 
settled  in  Henry  county  in  1846.  He  was  at  one  time  clerk  of  Pleasant  town- 
ship, was  elected  sheriff  in  1872,  which  office  he  held  four  years,  was  elected 
county  commissioner  in  18.76  and  served  one  term,  was  again  elected  sheriff 
and  again  served  two  terms,  or  four  years.  He  was  again  elected  county  com- 
missioner in  1886,  which  office  he  now  holds.  Mr.  Daum  enlisted  in  Cleve- 
land Oct.  I,  1862,  in  Company  D,  124th  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.  He  was  pro- 
moted from  second  lieutenant  to  captain  of  the  company,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Nashville, 
in  the  second  day's  fight.  He  also  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Chickamauga, 
Resaca,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Peachtree  Creek  and  Atlanta. 

Henry  E.  Gary  was  born  in  Huron  county,  O.,  Jan.  14,  1838,  and  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Henry  county  in  1846.     His  father,  Joel  Cary,  was  born  in 
Vermont  in  18 14,  and  died  Sept.  21,  1849.     His  mother,  Harriet  W.  C.  Gary,. 
33 


258  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

was  born  in  Connecticut,  in  18 18,  and  still  resides  in  Napoleon.  Mr.  Cary 
was  married  in  Napoleon,  Dec.  27,  1886,  to  Amelia  M.  Roach,  who  was  born 
in  Providence,  Lucas  county,  O.,  Jan.  22,  1845.  They  have  three  children. 
Mr.  Cary  enlisted  in  Company  G,  163d  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.  as  lieutenant,  and 
served  ninety  days.  His  brother,  Harlem  P.  Cary  was  a  member  of  the  68th 
Regiment,  O.  V.  I.  On  his  way  home  he  died  with  small-pox,  at  Chatta- 
nooga, Tenn.      Mr.  Cary  claims  to  have  the  oldest  grocery  house  in  Napoleon. 

Homer  P.  Hopkins  was  born  in  Erie  county,  O.,  May  29,  1837,  and  was 
married  Oct.  i,  1867,  to  Mary  A.  Neidhamer,  who  was  born  in  Michigan,  in 
1847.  Mr.  Hopkins  enlisted  in  Company  H,  First  Regiment,  M.  V.  I.,  at 
Adrian,  Mich.,  July  25,  1861.  The  regiment  was  assigned  to  Hooker's  brig- 
ade, and  during  the  winter  oi  1 86 1  was  kept  as  guard  at  Annapolis,  Md.  He 
witnessed  the  celebrated  contest  between  the  Moniter  and  Merrimac  in  Chese- 
peake  Bay.  He  was  in  the  battle  of  Mechanicsville,  and  was  shot  through  the 
arm  at  Gaines's  Mills.  He  took  part  in  the  siege  of  Richmond  ;  at  Chancellors- 
ville  he  narrowly  escaped  death;  while  lying  flat  on  the  ground  a  shell  burst 
and  a  piece  struck  the  ground  between  his  arm  and  head  as  he  lay  with  his 
arm  bent,  and  buried  itself  eight  inches  in  the  hard  earth.  After  he  was 
wounded  he  lived  six  days  without  food  except  a  few  berries  He  was  in  sev- 
eral of  the  hard-fought  battles  of  the  war,  was  with  Burnside  in  the  march 
from  Falmouth,  Va.  He  was  honorably  discharged  at  the  close  of  the  war- 
He  has  removed  from  the  county. 

Mrs.  Eliza  Hill  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  O.,  Feb.  16,  1825,  was  mar- 
ried in  Holmes  county,  Aug.  16,  1844,  to  a  son  of  Abraham  and  Sarah  Hill, 
in  Holmes  county,  O.     They  had  nine  children. 

Edward  Lingle  was  born  in  Butler  county,  O.,  June  21,  1818,  and  was  mar- 
ried in  the  same  county  to  Margaret  Weaver,  Dec.  3,  1846.  Six  children 
were  born  to  them.  The  parents  of  this  couple  were  all  from  Pennsylvania. 
Mr.  L.  held  the  office  of  coroner  six  years,  and  that  of  infirmary  director,  three 
years.      He  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1850. 

Jacob  Bales  was  the  son  of  David  and  Ann  Bales,  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
moved  to  Ohio  in  1812.  He  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  O.,  Sept.  27,  1821, 
and  was  married  in  the  same  county,  in  1841,  to  Salome  Sidle,  who  was  born 
in  Pennsylvania,  Dec.  9,  18 19.  They  had  eleven  children.  Mr.  Bales  filled 
the  office  of  assessor  and  township  trustee. 

Conrad  Clay  was  born  in  Stark  county,  O.,  April  20,  1822.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Defiance  county,  O.,  Oct.  9,  185  i,  to  Julia  A.  Stoddard,  who  was  born 
in  Connecticut,  Feb.  17,  1834.  They  had  nine  children.  He  lost  a  valuable 
mill  by  fire  in  1871.  He,  together  with  his  parents,  John  and  JuHa  Clay,  set- 
tled in  Henry  county  in  1850,  as  also  did  William  H.  and  Abigail  Stoddard, 
the  parents  of  Mrs.  Clay. 

Andrew  Sherman  was  born  in  Germany,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in 


Henry  County. 


259 


1852.     He  was  married  in   Sandusky  City,  O.,  May  9,  1849,  to  Eva  Walter, 
also  a  German.     He  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1852. 

Henry  Panning  was  born  in  Germany,  February  21,  1821.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Henry  county,  O.,  January  28,  1851.  Miss  Othnar  was  also  born  in 
Germany,  December,  1824.  They  had  nine  children.  Mr.  P. 's  parents  settled 
in  this  county  in  1854.  His  wife's  parents  came  in  1858.  Mr.  Panning  set- 
tled in  this  county  in  1851. 

Henry  Dachenhaus  settled  with  his  parents,  who  are  Germans,  in  Henry 
county  in  1850.  He  was  born  January  5,  1825,  and  married  in  Henry  county, 
October  18,  1854,  to  Sophia  Precht,  also  of  Germany,  where  she  was  born  in 
1828.     Seven  children  were  born  to  them. 

Henry  Buhlart  was  born  in  Germany  May  15,  1844.  He  was  married  May 
30,  1867,  to  Eliza  Ludeman,  who  was  born  in  Cleveland,  April  i,  1844.  Mr. 
Buhlart,  with  his  parents,  Henry  and  Louisa  Buhlart,  settled  in  Henry  county, 
in  1849.  Mi's.  Buhlart's  parents,  Frederick  and  Catharine  Ludeman,  settled  in 
Henry  county,  in  1845.  Mr.  Buhlart  was  a  member  of  the  Sixty-eighth  Regi- 
ment 0.  V.  Infantry,  and  was  in  a  number  of  battles  during  his  term  of  service. 

Robert  K.  Scott  was  born  in  Armstrong  county.  Pa.,  in  1826,  and  settled 
in  Henry  county  in  185  i.  He  practiced  medicine  five  years,  then  engaged  in 
merchandising.  In  1861  he  was  appointed  major  of  the  Sixty- eighth  O.  V. 
Infantry,  which  he  recruited.  He  was  promoted  to  lieutenant- colonel  Novem- 
ber 29,  1861;  was  at  the  battles  of  Fort  Donaldson,  Pittsburgh  Landing,  then 
at  the  siege  of  Corinth.  He  commanded  a  brigade  in  the  battle  of  Hatchie 
River.  His  regiment  was  placed  in  the  command  of  Major- General  McPher- 
son.  He  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Port  Hudson,  Raymond,  Jackson,  Cham- 
pion Hills  and  Big  Black.  He  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Second  Brigade, 
Seventeenth  Army  Corps.  He  was  taken  prisoner  during  the  investment  of 
Atlanta,  was  exchanged  and  returned  to  his  brigade,  with  which  he  accompa- 
nied Sherman  in  his  famous  march  to  the  sea.  His  brigade  was  mustered  out 
of  service  July  10,  1865.  He  was  made  a  brigadier-general  January  12,  1865, 
and  before  the  close  of  the  war  was  made  a  major-general  by  brevet.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1866,  he  was  ordered  to  take  charge  of  the  Freedman's  Bureau,  in  South 
Carolina.  In  1868  he  was  elected  governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  again  in 
1870.  He  returned  to  Henry  county  in  1876.  He  married  Jane  Lowry,  by 
whom  he  has  one  son,  R.  K.  Scott,  jr.,  who  was  for  some  time  captain  of  Com- 
pany F,  O.  N.  G.     The  governor  is  now  engaged  in  manufacturing. 

William  McHenry,  the  son  of  Dr.  McHenry  mentioned  above,  was  born  in 
Seneca  county,  O.,  May  21,  1845.  He  was  married  September  3,  1873,  to 
Anna  M.  Reiter,  who  was  born  in  Henry  county,  January  15,  1855.  They  have 
two  children.  He  enlisted  in  Company  D,  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth 
Regiment  O.  V.  Infantry,  October  8,  1862.  He  was  transferred  to  Company  I, 
in  the  same  regiment,  June  15,  1863.     He  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Chicka- 


26o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

mauga,  Mission  Ridge,  Dandridge,  Kenesaw  Mountain  and  Lovejoy  Statiori. 
He  received  a  wound  at  Dandridge,  and  another  at  Lovejoy  Station,  and  was 
honorably  discharged  on  account  of  disability,  November  15,  1864.  He  served 
five  years  as  guard  at  the  Ohio  Penitentiary,  during'a  part  of  which  time  he 
filled  the  position  of  instructor  of  schools  and  librarian.  He  came  to  Henry 
county  with  his  parents  in  1850. 

David  Meekison  was  born  in  Forfarshire,  Scotland,  in  1812,  and  came  to 
Henry  county  in  1853.  He  was  married  in  1835,  in  Dundee,  Scotland.  They 
had  eight  children.  Mrs.  Meekison  died  June  3,  1875.  He  married  again  and 
still  lives  in  Napoleon. 

David  Meekison,  jr.,  a  son  of  the  above,  was  born  in  Scotland,  November 
14,  1849.  He  was  married  August  24,  1881,  to  Clara  E.  Bowers,  who  was  born 
in  Henry  county,  August  4,  i86o.  Three  children  have  been  born  to  them. 
Mr.  Meekison  made  the  first  start  in  public  life  by  joining  the  Fourth  U.  S. 
Artillery,  in  which  he  served  three  years  as  a  private.  He  then  returned  to 
Napoleon,  and  received  the  appointment  of  clerk  of  the  town,  to  fill  an  unex- 
pired term,  after  which  he  was  elected  and  served  two  terms.  His  second  term 
as  probate  judge  will  expire  in  December,  of  this  year,  1887.  He  is  an  active 
and  public-spirited  citizen,  and  is  foremost  in  all  enterprises  that  tend  to  ad- 
vance the  well-being  of  the  place.      He  came  to  Henry  county  in  1855. 

Julius  Chappnis  was  born  in  France,  August  6,  1841.  He  was  married  at 
Texas,  in  Henry  county,  in  September,  1861,  to  Ann  Hardy,  who  was  born  in 
Virginia,  December  24,  1837.  They  have  six  children.  Mr.  Chappnis  settled 
in  Henry  county  in  1853. 

Abraham  L.  Willard  was  born  in  Stark  county,  O.,  April  12.  18 19,  and 
came  to  Henry  county  in  1852.  He  owned  and  ran  a  boat  on  the  canal  for  ten 
years.      He  was  never  married.      He  still  lives  in  Napoleon. 

Henry  Otte  was  born  in  Germany,  in  1831  ;  was  married  in  1855  to  Elsie 
Myer,  who  was  also  born  in  Germany.  They  had  seven  children,  and  were  early 
settlers  in  the  county. 

Jo.  Christ  Buchele  was  born  in  Germany,  June  18,  1838,  and  was  married  in 
Henry  county,  in  1854,  to  Christina  Singer,  who  was  also  born  in  Germany, 
July  20,  1832.    They  had  nine  children.    They  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1853. 

John  F  Oberhaus  was  born  in  Germany,  July  18,  1842,  and  was  married  in 
Henry  county,  April  19,  1872,  to  Sophia  M.  Beaderstat,  who  was  also  born  in 
Germany,  Dec.  12,  185  I.  Mr.  Oberhaus  had  a  brother  in  the  Sixty- eighth  0. 
V.  Infanty,  in  1851,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war.  They  had  several 
children. 

Julius  Van  Hyning  was  born  in  Summit  county,  O.,  January  3,  1822,  and 
was  married  in  the  same  county  January  19,  185  i,  to  Sarah  Willard,  who  was 
born  in  Stark  county,  January  i,  1822.  They  had  six  children.  Mr.  Van 
Hyning  belonged  to  the  Sixty-eighth  O.  V.  I.,  and  took  part  in  the  battles  of 


Henry  County.  261 


Fort  Donaldson,  Pittsburgh  Landing,  Fort  Henry,  and  was  wounded  at  the 
battle  of  Crump's  Landing,  Tenn.  He  was  honorably  discharged  from  the 
service  for  disabiHty.  He  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1858,  and  still  resides  on 
his  farm  near  Napoleon. 

Nathaniel  Hartman  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1835,  and  was  married  in 
Henry  county  November  2,  1856,  to  Lydia  R.  Ritter,  who  was  born  in  Ohio 
in  1838.  Seven  children  were  born  to  them.  Mr.  H.  was  a  member  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Sixty-third  O.  V.  I.  during  the  "  late  unpleasantness,"  and 
died  in  Napoleon  in  1886.      He  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1850. 

John  Wait  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  March  3,  1826,  and  married  to  his 
second  wife  in  Henry  county,  September  5,  1871,  to  Annie  M.  Strole,  who 
was  the  widow  of  Milton  Atkinson,  who  enlisted  in  Company  B,  One  Hun- 
dredth Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  in  1862,  and  was  lost  in  the  battle  of  Limestone 
Ridge,  Tenn.,  in  1863.  His  real  fate  is  not  known,  but  he  is  supposed  to  have 
been  killed.  Mr.  Atkinson  left  four  children.  Mr.  Wait  had  one  child  by  his 
first  wife,  and  two  by  his  second  wife.  He  belonged  to  the  Ninety-sixth  Regi- 
ment O.  V.  I.;  was  in  several  battles  and  escaped  unharmed.  He  settled  in 
Henry  county  in  1867. 

H.  H.  Fast  was  born  in  Ohio,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1852. 

William  F.  Daggett  was  born  in  Lucas  county,  O.,  May  24,  1830.  He  was 
married  in  Washington  township,  Henry  county,  December  25,  1855,  to  Al- 
vira  L.  Scribner,  who  was  born  in  the  same  township  January  24,  1833.  They 
had  eight  children.  He  was  recorder  of  the  county  six  years  and  auditor  three 
years.     He  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1852. 

Charles  E.  Reynolds  was  born  in  Massachusetts  June  15,  1844.  He  was 
married  at  Napoleon  September  12,  1866,  to  Sarah  E.  Parker.  Two  children 
were  born  to  them.  He  served  as  auditor  for  several  years ;  also  as  county 
school  examiner  for  many  years,  which  office  he  now  fills.  He  also  served  as 
clerk  of  Napoleon  township  ten  years.  He  enlisted  in  the  fall  of  1861  in 
Company  F,  Sixty-eighth  Regiment,  O.  V.  I.,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  He  entered  the  service  as  a  private,  and  was  promoted  to  quartermas- 
ter-sergeant. He  was  in  the  battle  of  Little  Hatchie.  At  the  siege  of  Rich- 
mond he  was  taken  prisoner  and  sent  to  Libby  prison,  where  he  remained  one 
month,  when  he  was  exchanged,  but  was  afterwards  again  taken  prisoner  while 
on  Sherman's  raid,  near  Norton,  Miss.  He  was  confined  first  at  Mobile,  then 
at  Cahaba,  Ala.,  and  lastly  at  that  shed  on  earth  —  Adersonville  —  where  he 
spent  thirteen  months,  until  the  final  exchange.  Like  all  the  unfortunates 
who  entered  that  worse  than  hell,  he  suffered  such  tortures  and  privations  as 
no  pen  has  yet  been  able,  adequately,  to  describe.  The  close  of  the  war  re- 
leased him,  with  such  of  his  comrades  as  had  survived.  He  now  resides  in 
Napoleon,  and  is  engaged  in  the  business  of  insurance.  He  came  to  Henry 
county  in  1854. 


262  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Patrick  Ragan  was  born  in  1800,  in  County  Cork,  Ireland  ;  was  married  in 
1844  in  Canada  to  Norah  Hagerty,  who  was  born  in  St.  Johns,  New  Bruns- 
wick, in  1822.  They  had  six  children.  Mrs.  Ragan  died  in  1856;  Mr.  Ragani 
in  1866.     They  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1854. 

James  P.  Ragan,  a  son  of  the  above,  was  born  in  Gilead,  near  Grand  Rapids, 
in  Wood  county,  O.,  March  17,  1852,  and  came  with  his  parents  to  Henry 
county  in  1854.  After  teaching  school  a  number  of  years  he  studied  law,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  March  16,  1878.  He  resides  in  Napoleon  and  is 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  partnership  with  Hon.  J.  M.  Haag.. 

John  Diemer  was  born  in  Bavaria,  February  2,  1837.  He  was  married  in 
Napoleon,  in  i860,  to  Josephine  Greber,  who  was  born  in  Bavaria  in  1840. 
They  had  twelve  children.  Mr.  Diemer  enlisted  in  the  Fourteenth  Ohio  three 
months  troops,  and  served  four  months.  He  was  honorably  discharged  and 
returned  to  Napoleon.  He  was  in  many  skirmishes  and  battles  during  his 
term  of  service,  among  which  were  Philippi,  Laurel  Hill,  Cheat  River  and  Car- 
rick's  Ford.  Since  the  war  he  has  continued  to  reside  with  his  family  in  Na- 
poleon. He  has  kept  a  meat  marrket  for  many  years.  He  came  to  Henry 
county  in  1850. 

John  D.  Belknap  came  to  Henry  county  in  1850,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
men  to  enlist  in  the  Fourteenth  Regiment,  three  months  men,  and  was  in- 
stantly killed  at  Laurel  Hill.  He  was  married  before  coming  to  this  county. 
They  had  three  children.  His  son,  J.  P.  Belknap,  is  the  editor  and  proprietor 
of  .the  Henry  County  Signal. 

Jonas  Shumaker  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  O.,  October  26,  1821.  He 
was  married  in  Crawford  county,  O.,  May  25,  1847,  to  Esther  Speigle,  who 
was  born  in  Stark  county,  O.,  December,  1829.  They  had  seven  children. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  education  nine  years.  He  settled  in  Henry 
county  in  1850. 

Joseph  Shumaker,  brother  to  the  above,  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0., 
May  13,  1828.  He  was  married  in  Crawford  county,  O.,  October  18,  1853,  to 
Mary  A.  Weiler,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  of  German  parentage.  They 
had  seven  children.      Mr.  S.  came  to  Henry  county  in  1858. 

Jeremiah  J.  Thompson  was  born  April  12,  1850,  in  Holmes  county,  0.; 
was  married  in  Henry  county  September  3,  1871,  to  Mary  Foncannon,  who 
was  born  in  Seneca  county,  O.,  May  21,  1853.  They  had  two  children.  Mr. 
Thompson  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1853. 

George  Stoner  was  born  in  Maryland,  July  16,  1828.  He  was  married  in 
Seneca  county,  O.,  November  16,  1852,  to  Louisa  Wilkins,  who  was  born  in 
Ohio,  January  31,  1830.  They  have  a  family  of  eleven  children.  He  settled- 
in  Henry  county  in  1866. 

Thomas  J.  Howell  was  born  in  Ohio,  Februar)'  15,  1850.  He  was  married 
in  Henry  county   November  4,  1870,  to  Eliza  Elarton,  who  was   born  in  Sen- 


%%ra«wms  a*" »' 


J^^i.  ^Z. 


Henry  County.  263 


€ca  county,  O.,  October  15,  1852.  Mr.  Howell  settled  in  Henry  county  in 
1867.  Mrs.  Howell's  father,  Samuel  Elarton,  enlisted  in  the  looth  Regiment 
O.  V.  I.,  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  He  served  his  country  three  years, 
and  died  in  Libby  prison.  Richard  Howell,  a  brother  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  belonged  to  the  113th  Regiment  O.  V.  I.,  and  served  three  years. 

John  Snyder  was  born  in  Ohio,  August  13,  1841,  of  German  parentage. 
He  was  married  in  Henry  county  October  31,  1864,  to  Catharine  Leifer,  who 
was  born  in  Richland  county,  O.,  August  8,  1841.  They  had  five  children 
born  to  them.  Mr.  Leifer,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Snj  der,  settled  in  Henry  county 
in  1853. 

William  M.  French  was  born  in  Licking  county,  O.,  July  18,  1847,  3-"d 
was  married  in  Henry  county  March  31,  1868,  to  Sarah  E.  Miller,  who  was 
born  in  Marion  county,  O.,  January  24,  1850.  The  parents  of  Mr.  French, 
WilUam  S.  and  Mary  G.  French,  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1862. 

Henry  H.  Freytag  was  born  in  Germany,  in  1845  ;  was  married  in  Henry 
county  June  24,  1869,  to  Catharine  Rohrs,  who  was  born  in  Germany  in  1849. 
Mr.  F  settled  with  his  parents  in  Henry  county,  in  1851.  His  wife's  parents, 
John  and  Mary  Rohrs,  came  to  the  county  in  1858. 

Justin  H.  Tyler  was  born  November  15,  18 15,  in  Massachusetts,  and  was 
married  June  21,  1847,  to  Alice  Olmsted,  who  was  born  in  New  York  city,  in 
1825,  and  died  in  Napoleon,  January  2,  i860,  leaving  two  children.  Mr.  Ty- 
ler was  married  the  second  time,  on  February  21,  1 861,  to  Hattie  M.  Peck,  at 
Shelbourne,  Mass.,  where  she  was  born  June  21,  1832.  Four  children  were 
born  to  them.  Mr.  Tyler  was  admitted  to  practice  law  in  1841.  He  first  lo- 
cated at  Huron,  O.,  where  he  held  the  office  of  township  clerk,  and  also  was 
clerk  of  the  village  of  Huron,  three  years.  He  then  came  to  Henry  county, 
where  he  has  held  the  office  of  prosecuting  attorney  four  years.  He  was  also 
a  member  of  the  Ohio  Legislature  two  years ;  he  was  also  school  examiner  for 
several  years,  and  was  the  first  mayor  of  the  village  of  Napoleon,  which  office 
he  held  three  terms.  When  he  first  came  to  the  county,  in  1852,  Napoleon 
was  a  village  of  about  three  hundred  inhabitants,  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
county  was  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness.  He  has  practiced  law  in  the 
county  thirty-five  years.  He  does  not  now  engage  actively  in  the  duties  of 
his  profession,  leaving  the  bulk  of  the  work  to  be  performed  by  his  son,  Juhan 
H.  Tyler,  who  promises  to  fill  with  credit  the  position  so  long  held  by  his 
father.  Although  Mr.  Tyler  is  not  a  member  of  any  church,  he  has  been  a 
most  liberal  contributor  to  the  construction  of  church  buildings,  claiming  that 
he  has  contributed  to  nearly  every  church  built  in  the  county.  Mr.  Tyler  was 
originally  a  Whig  in  politics  ;  and  after  the  disruption  of  that  party  he  became 
an  ardent  Republican,  and,  although  always  in  the  minority,  he  continues  firm 
in  his  allegiance  to  that  party.      He  resides  in  Napoleon. 

Lewis  Y.  Richards  was  born  December  20,  183 1,  in  Greene  county,  O.;  was 


264  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

married  November  8,  i860,  to  Harriet  Augusta  Brancher,  who  was  born  in 
1839,  at  Defiance.  They  had  two  children.  He  came  to  Defiance  county  in 
1846,  and  removed  to  Henry  county  in  1853.  He  enlisted  October  3,  1861^ 
in  Company  A,  68th  O.  V.  I.,  as  second  lieutenant.  He  was  soon  promoted 
to  first  lieutenant,  and  afterwards  became  captain  of  his  company.  He  was  in 
the  battles  of  Pittsburgh  Landing,  Fort  Donaldson,  Siege  of  Corinth,  Hatchie 
River,  Port  Hudson,  Raymond,  Jackson,  Champion  Hills  and  Big  Black.  He 
was  offered  a  commission  as  major,  in  1863,  but  declined,  and  was  mustered 
out  of  service  at  the  expiration  of  his  period  of  enlistment,  November  24,  1864, 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.     Since  that  time  he  has  resided  at  Napoleon. 

Christian  E.  Axe  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  O.,  September  16,  1837,  and 
was  married  in  Henry  county  December  9,  i860,  to  Mary  A.  Freysinger,  who 
was  born  in  Wayne  county,  O.,  May  31,  1840.  They  had  three  children.  Mr. 
Axe's  parents  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1849,  ^"d  those  of  his  wife  in  1859. 

Thomas  W.  Durbin  was  born  in  Maryland,.  August  24,  1822,  and  was  mar- 
ried May  22,  1850,  to  Lucinda  King,  who  was  born  in  Perry  county,  O.,  July 
8,  1832.  They  had  five  children.  Mr.  Durbin  was  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  for  Henry  county  during  one  term  of  three  years  ;  he  also  held  the 
office  of  county  commissioner  during  one  term,  and  has  been  county  recorder 
since  January  7,  1884,  being  now  in  his  second  term.  He  came  to  Henry 
county  in  1843. 


CHAPTER  XXVI.i 
HISTORY  OF  PLEASANT  TOWNSHIP. 

OF  the  early  organization  of  this  township  it  appears  that  no  written  records 
are  preserved,  but  in  common  with  many  other  of  the  county's  civil  divi- 
sions, the  early  records  have  been  neglected  and  allowed  to  become  destroyed 
or  lost. 

The  township  occupies  a  position  in  the  extreme  southwestern  part  of  the 
county  and  its  territory  was  formerly  embraced  within  Flat  Rock.  The  earli- 
est settlers  in  this  locality  were  George  A.  Hofricker,  Henry  Saur,  Frederick 
Loesch,  George  jDirr,  Andrew  Gardner  and  Peter  Grimm,  who  came  here  in 
the  year  1836.  The  following  year,  1837,  there  were  others,  some  of  whom 
can  be  recalled.  They  were  John  P.  Hornung,  George  A.  Young,  Adam  Min- 
sell,  John  Friberger  and  Paul  Renolet.  From  this  time  down  to  1 844  there 
were  Casper  Mangas  and  his  sons  Peter,  Jacob   and  Henry;   Paul  Eding  and 

1  By  James  E.  Scofield. 


Henry  County.  265 


his  sons  Gerhart  (Jared)  and  Harmon;  Theobold  Bolley,  George  and  Daniel 
Wolfe,  John  Bates,  John  Helrich,  Stephen  Byal,  John  Wilhelm,  Daniel  Des- 
granges,  Frederick  Martz,  James  Shasteen  (the  first  justice  of  the  peace),  Henry 
Schall  and  John  Diemer,  all  heads  of  families,  with  exception  of  the  sons  of 
Mangas  and  Eding.  About  1840  Mr.  Easterbrook,  an  Englishman,  taught  the 
first  school  in  the  settlement  and  continued  three  or  four  winter  terms  of  three 
months  each.  While  thus  engaged  he  wrote  a  pamphlet  biography  of  his  life, 
styhng  himself  David  Crocket  second.  Among  other  things  it  contained  rem- 
iniscences of  his  teaching  among  the  "benighted  beings,"  as  he  styled  them, 
of  the  wilds  of  Henry  county.  James  E.  Scofield,  the  writer  hereof,  followed 
him  as  teacher  of  the  same  school  in  1844-5,  two  winter  terms,  of  three  months 
each,  and  remembers  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  time,  together  with  many 
of  his  pupils,  including  his  wife,  then  a  school  girl  ten  years  his  junior.  Here 
may  be  given  the  names  of  the  younger  heads  of  families,  some  of  whom  have 
married  daughters  of  the  first  settlers  :  John  Hofrieter,  Joseph  Schneider  (a 
shoemaker),  Henry  Dirr,  George  Dirr,  John  Bawman,  Charles  Kesselmeyer 
(a  wagon  maker),  and  perhaps  other  names  not  remembered.  The  following 
are  names  of  remembered  pupils,  now  old  men  and  women,  having  well  im- 
proved farms  and  families  of  grown  up  children,  some  of  whom  are  settled  for 
themselves  on  farms  and  others  in  villages  and  cities,  in  business;  George  N. 
Wolf,  Harmon  Eding,  Henry  Grimm,  Peter  Grimm  (deceased),  William  Saur, 
John  Loesch,  Henry  Loesch,  Meni  Loesch,  Adam  Loesch  (deceased),  Andrew 
Loesch,  Margaret  Saur,  Caroline  Wolf,  Elizabeth  Wolf  Daniel' Wolf  Phil- 
lip Dorider,  John  M.  Young,  Elizabeth  Grimm  (deceased),  Henry  Bates 
(deceased),  Paul  Heisch  and  others  perhaps  whose  names  are  not  remembered, 
children  then  between  the  ages  of  four  and  twenty  years,  and  attending  school. 

It  is  supposed  this  township  was  detached  from  Flat  Rock  in  the  year  1843. 
It  was  then  a  howling  wilderness  of  water,  frogs,  wolves,  bear,  deer,  turkeys, 
coon  and  other  animals  of  various  kinds,  all  of  which  have  now  disappeared, 
and  this  vast  wilderness,  by  the  energy  of  its  inhabitants,  made  to  blossom  like 
the  rose.  The  records  of  Flat  Rock  township  show  names  of  heads  of  families 
residing  in  town  three,  north  of  range  six,  east,  now  Pleasant  township,  then 
attached  to  Flat  Rock.  Their  children,  that  is,  of  the  families,  enumerated  for 
the  public  schools  in  the  year  1838,  were  as  follows:  Joseph  Waddel,  i 
male;  Casper  Mangas,  4  males;  Peter  Hornung,  i  male  and  i  female;  Peter 
Hornung,  jr.,  i  female;  March,  4  males;  G.  A.  Hofrickter,  2  males,  i  fe- 
male; George  Dirr,  i  female;  Peter  Grim,  2  males,  i  female;  Andrew  Gardner, 
2  males,  5  females;  John  Friberger,  i  male,  4  females;  David  Dorider,  2  males, 

2  females;  John  Bates,  2  males,  i  female;  Helrich,  i  male,  i  female;  in 

all  22  males  and  19  females;  total,  41  children  between  the  ages  of  four  and 
twenty  years. 

In  the  four  original  surveyed  townships,  three  and  four  north  of  ranges  six 
3i 


266  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

and  seven,  east,  Flat  Rock,  Pleasant,  Marion  and  Monroe,  all  these  included  in 
Flat  Rock,  contained  56  male  and  51  female  schoolchildren;  total  107.  None 
of  these  children  were  then  enumerated  in  three  and  four,  north  of  range  7, 
east,  now  Marion  and  Monroe.  After  the  detachment  of  Pleasant  and  Marion 
from  Flat  Rock,  Marion  remained  in  Pleasent  for  a  time  (from  recollection  of 
the  oldest  inhabitants).  It  is  known  that  James  Shasteen  was  the  first  justice 
of  the  peace  and  officiated  as  such  in  1844.  Who  were  the  first  trustees  and 
clerk  is  not  certainly  known,  but  it  is  supposed  that  Henry  Schall  was  first 
clerk,  and  continued  for  several  terms.  A  few  years  later  Charles  Hornung- 
was  clerk,  and  also  justice  of  the  peace  for  thirty-nine  years  in  succession.  It 
is  also  supposed  that  Theobold  Bolley  was  first  treasurer.  The  writer  well  re- 
members that  he  was  treasurer  in  1844-5,  from  the  fact  of  drawing  his  wages 
as  school  teacher  from  him. 

The  village  of  New  Bavaria  was  known  by  that  name  from  the  name  of  a 
post-office  situated  on  the  Ridge  road  as  early  as  1844-5.  Charles  Hornyng 
was  postmaster,  who  has  been  continued  since,  with  the  exception  of  one 
year  (i860),  when  he  acted  with  the  Republicans  in  the  Lincoln  and  Hamlin 
campaign  of  that  year,  for  which  he  was  beheaded,  and  Henry  Schall  appointed 
to  fill  the  vacancy.  Immediately  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration  Mr.  Hor- 
nung   was  reinstated  and  has  been  continued  since. 

New  Bavaria  was  surveyed  and  platted  in  the  year  1882,  a  short  distance 
west  of  the  old  post-office  site,  at  the  crossing  of  the  Ridge  road  and  the  To- 
ledo, St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  Railroad,  and  estimated  to  contain  about  one 
hundred  inhabitants.  This  railroad  gives  it  an  outlet  for  the  products  of  an 
excellent  farming  country  surrounding  it.  Messrs.  Charles  Hornung  8e  Sons, 
for  a  number  of  years,  have  been  engaged  in  merchandising,  together  with 
farming  and  stock  raising.  Recently,  Charles  Hornung  has  retired  from  the 
mercantile  business,  leaving  that  branch  with  his  sons,  Jacob  and  John  H.,  but 
attends  to  his  farm  and  stock,  of  which  he  has  a  fine  herd.  Jacob  Hornung  is 
also  engaged  in  extensive  manufacturing,  using  steam  power.  He  manufac- 
tures heading,  hoops,  lumber  and  staves,  for  which  he  finds  a  ready  market. 
The  firm  of  the  store  have  a  warehouse  connection,  and  buy  all  kinds  of  pro-, 
duce.  This  makes  a  home  market  for  the  products  of  the  farms  in  the  vicinity. 
J.  Hammerer  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and  repair  of  boots  and  shoes. 
About  two  miles  south,  on  the  same  railroad,  is  located  Pleasant  Bend,  a  sta- 
tion established  at  or  about  1879,  at  the  time  of  the  completion  of  said  railroad, 
with  a  post-office  of  that  name.  Jacob  J.  Fraker  is  the  postmaster.  The  vil- 
lage was  surveyed  and  platted  in  1882.  It  is  estimated  to  contain  about  one 
hundred  inhabitants.  Jacob  J.  Fraker,  in  connection  with  the  post-office,  is 
dealer  in  general  merchandise  and  grain,  also  all  kinds  of  country  produce. 
Being  only  a  short  distance  from  New  Bavaria,  the  trade,  from  necessity,  is  di- 
vided, both  places  doing  a  thriving  business,  and  each  having   the  trade  of  an 


't**"^ 


■S^Sf^ 


v-\ 


ia^  fuPn^yiunri 


Henry  County.  267 


excellent  farming  community.  J.  W.  Jones  &  Co.,  general  merchandisers,  to- 
gether with  factory  (steam  power),  manufacture  lumber,  hoop  and  heading. 
The  village  contains  two  saw-mills,  owned  by  Philip  Burrel  and  William  Martz, 
both  doing  a  thriving  business,  and  will,  no  doubt,  so  long  as  the  timber  lasts. 
There  are  no  churches  in  either  of  these  villages,  but  in  the  vicinity  near, 
erected  before  their  existence.  The  German  Methodist,  a  fine,  roomy  frame 
building,  situated  a  short  distance  north  of  Pleasant  Bend  and  northwest  of 
New  Bavaria,  near  to  both  places,  and  well  attended.  The  German  Reformed, 
a  larger,  more  expensive  and  commodious  brick  building,  is  located  on  the 
Ridge  wagon  road,  about  one  mile  west  of  New  Bavaria.  It  is  accessible  from 
both  villages  and  vicinity.  It  has  a  large  membership  and  is  well  attended. 
It  has  mounted  in  its  belfry  a  large,  expensive  bell  of  modern  manufacture. 

Nicholas  Laubenthal,  the  present  clerk  of  the  township,  lives  about  two 
miles  east  from  New  Bavaria,  along  the  Ridge  wagon  road.  He  is  engaged  in 
merchandising  and  the  sale  of  agricultural  machinery  and  wagons ;  also,  he  is 
■engaged  in  farming  and  saw-milling, — the  latter  when  water  is  plenty,  which  is 
not  in  good  supply  only  part  of  the  year.  A  little  farther  east  of  him  is  now 
being  erected  a  Catholic  church  edifice,  of  brick,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  twen- 
ty-four thousand  dollars.  This  building  is  to  replace  the  old  one  destroyed  by 
fire  some  time  ago.  The  society  have  a  large  membership,  many  of  whom 
come  from  a  long  distance. 

Peter  Mangus,  one  of  the  foremost  farmers  and  stock  dealers  of  the  town- 
ship, commenced  business  for  himself  about  the  year  1844;  then  a  poor  young 
man,  without  any  capital  except  his  hands  and  energy.  Now  he  has  one  of  the 
finest  of  farms,  of  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres,  with  good  buildings 
and  al!  necessary  implements  for  modern  farming  ;  besides  this  he  has  other 
wild  lands.  In  about  185  i-2^he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Sarah  Jack- 
man.  They  have  raised  a  large  family  of  boys,  who  have  left  the  parental  roof, 
except  the  three  younger  ones,  whose  ages  range  from  fourteen  to  eighteen 
years,  and  are  yet  under  the  care  of  kind  and  indulgent  parents.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  Henry  Dirr  and  family.  These  gentlemen  and  the  writer  were 
much  together  m  the  early  days  of  settlement  of  this  township.  Much  might 
be  said  of  many  others  of  later  date. 

Pleasant  township  is  traversed  from  northwest  to  southeast  by  a  beautiful 
ridge,  which  enters  on  the  west  line  of  section  seven,  one  and  a  half  miles  south 
of  the  northwest  corner  ;  thence  passing  through  the  central  part  through  sec- 
tions seven  to  seventeen,  part  of  sixteen,  through  twenty-one  and  twenty-two, 
and  corners  of  twenty- three  and  twenty-seven,  through  twenty- six  and  twenty- 
five,  where  it  passes  out  some  distance  north  of  southeast  corner  into  Marion 
township.  At  a  very  early  time  there  was  a  wagon  road  survey  along  this 
ridge  for  ingress  and  egress,  which  extended  from  Defiance  and  Independence, 
— the  latter  a  small  village  four  miles  east  of  Defiance, — to  Maderia,  in  Putnam 


268  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

county,  where  was  erected  a  steam  flouring-mill.  Maderia,  like  Independence, 
is  among  the  things  of  the  past.  Settlement  was  first  made  along  the  ridge. 
From  this  ridge  the  land  immediately  descends  into  lowlands  on  either  side, 
which  is  of  very  rich  soil.  The  ridge  was  crossed  in  many  places  by  swales 
and  rivulets  which  are  now  made  into  artificial  creeks,  thereby  making  an  ex- 
cellent drainage  outlet,  thus  rendering  available  an  immense  quantity  of  as 
good  farming  land  as  is  in  this  or  any  other  State.  Along  this  road  the  very 
first  settlements  were  made,  as  the  vicinity  afforded  very  passable  roads.  The 
land  had  also  dry  places  enough  for  immediate  farming,  as  fast  as  the  woods 
could  be  cleared  away,  thereby  giving  the  settler  an  early  crop. 

Holgate. 

This  village  is  situated  in  the  northeast  portion  of  the  township,  the  corpora- 
tion line  being  on  the  township  line  between  the  townships  of  Pleasant  and 
Flat  Rock,  in  sections  one  and  two,  at  the  junction  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio, 
and  Toledo,  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  Railroads,  and  crossed  by  the  Napo- 
leon and  Kalida  pike,  a  wagon  road  much  used  for  many  years  before  Holgate 
was  known.  The  village  having  six  directions  for  ingress  and  egress, — four  by 
rail  and  two  wagon  roads,  makes  it  a  desirable  place  for  business.  It  contains 
about  thirteen  hundred  inhabitants,  including  about  three  hundred  school  youth 
between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty  one-years,  within  the  school  limits,  which 
includes  something  more  than  the  corporate  limits  of  Holgate.  It  has  also  a 
large  and  commodious  school-house,  brick  structure,  which  is  presided  over  by 
Professor  William  E.  Decker  (editor  of  the  Holgate  Times),  as  principal,  to- 
gether with  his  assistant,  Miss  Tillie  Eager.  This  school  has  a  large  attend- 
ance. 

Andrew  J.  Weaver  commenced  general  merchandising  here  in  the  autumn 
of  1873,  at  the  time  of  completion  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  and 
laying  out  and  platting  the  place.  He  has  recently  retired  from  business  on 
account  of  failing  health,  and  is  now  erecting  a  fine  residence.  The  present 
business  houses  are  those  of  E.  W.  Poe  &  Co.,  general  merchandising;  Daniel 
Fribley,  general  groceries,  flour  and  feed ;  Valentine,  Kimmick  and  Frederick 
Spicer,  boots  and  shoes,  connected  with  making  and  repairing ;  B.  W.  Justice 
and  Ed.  Swartout,  barbers  and  hair-dressers;  Isaac  Sadesky,  general  clothing; 
Roller,  tin  and  hardware ;  Newton  S.  Cole,  general  hardware,  includ- 
ing stoves,  farming  utensils,  wagons,  buggies,  and  general  farming  machinery 
of  all  kinds.  He  commenced  there  in  the  spring  of  1874,  and  is  now  erecting 
a  large  and  commodious  building  of  brick,  for  the  accommodation  of  his  exten- 
sive and  increasing  business.  Henry  H.  Fast,  general  hardware,  farming  uten- 
sils, machinery,  etc.  He  has  only  been  in  the  business  about  four  years,  but 
has  recently  erected  a  fine  residence.  L.  Gillet,  general  merchandise ;  Henry 
Voigt,  meat  market;   F.  H.  Voigt,  general  druggist  and  pharmacist.     In  coHt 


Henry  County.  269' 


nection  with  his  drugs  he  keeps  clocks,  w-atches  and  jewelry.  L.  M.  Turney, 
general  druggist  and  pharmacist ;  William  S.  Schuyler,  general  merchandise  in 
two  separate  buildings ;  Joseph  Voigt,  furniture  and  undertaking;  physicians, 
Drs.  J.  Townsend,  J.  C.  Becker,  J.  B.  Archer  and  James  M.  Stout;  Braver 
Brothers,  manufacturers  of  staves  and  heading ;  Shelly  Brothers,  manufacture 
staves  and  hoops;  Jacob  Laubenthal,  saw  and  planning  mill,  and  sash  and  door 

factory;  Gates,  saw-mill,  sawing  only  sycamore  for  tobacco  boxes  ;   G> 

W.  Walker,  general  saw-mill ;  E.  L.  Hartman,  flouring  mill ;  William  Kauf- 
man, postmaster  and  proprietor  of  the  Kaufmanville  portion  of  the  city,  origi- 
nally known  as  an  ashery.  In  connection  with  his  business  as  postmaster  he 
manufactures  black  salts.  F.  Buchenberg,  merchant  tailor  and  ready  made 
clothing;  Jesse  Ware,  blacksmith;  Harman  Binger,  blacksmith;  Mrs.  Harris, 
milliner;  Mrs.  Mangas,  milliner;  Christ  Brickie  and  Hartwick,  wagon-makers 
and  blacksmithing;  J.  M.  McEwing,  groceries;  H.  D.  Tripp,  bakery  and  canned 
goods;  Frank  Edwards,  groceries;  William  Edwards,  dentist;  E.  E.  Nothstine,. 
photographer.  The  present  officers  of  the  corporation  are  as  follows :  Dr. 
James  M.  Stout,  mayor;  Ed.  Swartout,  marshal;  B.  T.  Burrin,  William  Ritz,^ 
Henry  Bortz,  Valentine  Kimmick,  Henry  Meyer  and  Jacob  Laubenthal,  coun- 
cilman ;  William  E.  Decker,  clerk.  The  latter  person,  William  E.  Decker,  is- 
editor  of  the  Holgate  Times,  published  weekly. 

The  village  has  five  livery  stables  and  seven  saloons ;  E.  Minsor  is  a  paper- 
hanger  and  painter.  There  are  two  hotels,  the  Holgate  House,  L.  Heacock, 
proprietor,  and  the  Forest  House,  S.  Margrat,  proprietor ;  other  business  inter- 
ests are,  E.  B.  Linde,  dealer  in  organs  and  pianos;  G.  Zachreck,  carpenter, 
builder  and  general  contractor;  William  Retz,  Christian  Stauber  and  Phillip 
Fahrer,  general  carpenters  and  builders;  Lot  Barter  and  Izadon  Hurr,  masons 
and  plasterers. 

Holgate  was  surveyed  and  platted  in  the  year  1873.  The  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  was  completed  in  the  same  year.  The  Toledo,  St.  Louis  and 
Kansas  City  Railroad,  built  as  a  narrow  guage  in  1880,  but  changed  to  stand- 
ard in  1887.  George  W.  Edwards,  proprietor  of  one  of  the  liveries  with  his 
father  (now  deceased)  settled  near  the  vicinity  about  1836,  and  has  resided  here 
ever  since.  The  father  was  known  as  "Edwards,  the  bear  hunter  of  Henry 
county."  Mrs.  Edwards  is  a  daughter  of  Michael  Hill  (deceased),  a  settler  of 
about  the  same  time,  and  who  opened  up  a  farm  on  the  banks  of  Turkey  Foot 
Creek,  northeast  of  Holgate.  The  writer  well  remembers  these  families  as  they 
obtained  their  mail  as  late  as  1846  at  Florida,  he  being  a  clerk  in  the  post-office 
and  store  of  that  village  at  that  time,  and  later  was  postmaster  and  proprietor 
of  a  store ;  he  also  surveyed  the  road  along  Turkey  Foot  Creek,  through  this 
settlement. 

The  progress  of  opening  up  this  wilderness  was,  of  necessity,  slow  and  tedi- 
ous, taking  many  years.      After  Napoleon,  the  beautiful  county-seat,  loomed 


270  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

up  to  pretentious  proportions,  equal  to  or  in  excess  of  Florida,  this  settlement, 
with  its  increasing  numbers,  used  Napoleon  for  mail  and  other  supplies,  there- 
fore, the  acquaintance  became  limited,  and  finally  ceased  almost  entirely.  The 
first  settlers  of  Pleasant  township  in  1836,  were  of  foreign  birth,  mostly  from 
Bavaria,  Germany,  and  some  from  Baden,  and  later  from  France.  From  these 
parents  the  present  population,  American  born,  are  descendants,  and  are  in 
active  business,  although  many  of  the  parents  are  yet  living.  Since  the  early 
settlement  many  relatives  and  their  acquaintances  have  immigrated  here,  and 
settled  the  vacant  lands  in  this  and  adjoining  townships.  They  show  much  en- 
^^Sy>  '^"d  are  law-abiding,  industrious  citizens  of  which  any  township  or  county 
may  feel  proud.  They  speak  the  English  language  equal  with  any  other 
American  citizen,  but  retain  their  own,  which  is  handed  down  to  their  offspring. 
Their  native  tongue  is  taught  in  their  churches  and  Sunday-schools,  and  they 
are  also  taught  to  read  and  write  their  own  language,  which  is  invariable  in 
religious  worship  of  all  denominations. 


CHAPTER  XXVn. 

HISTORY  OF  RICHFIELD  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  was  one  of  the  five  townships  originally  organized  in  the  territory 
at  present  embraced  in  Henry  county.  We  know  that  it  was  organized  as 
early  as  1837,  but  the  misfortune  of  the  fires  makes  it  impossible  to  even  ap- 
proximate its  limits  at  that  time,  it  certainly  included,  as  late  as  1854,  the 
township  of  Bartlow,  which  in  that  year  was  detached  and  given  an  indepen- 
dent organization.  The  township,  as  now  organized,  embraces  the  thirty-six 
sections  of  land  contained  in  the  government  survey  of  township  four,  north  of 
range  eight,  east.  The  growth  and  improvement  of  these  sections  were  very 
slow  and  limited,  and  became  marked  only  in  the  last  few  years,  and  it  re- 
mained among  the  last  of  the  hunting  grounds  reluctantly  surrendered  by  the 
professional  hunter  and  the  delighted  sportsman.  The  onward  march  of  pro- 
gress, however,  compelled  these  men,  step  by  step,  like  the  poor  Indian,  to 
turn  their  footsteps  westward,  or  yield  and  adopt  the  habits  of  civilization  and 
the  customs  of  social  life. 

The  fragment  of  the  duplicate  which  remains  of  the  year  1837,  shows  that 
at  that  time  there  was  but  one  piece  of  land  listed  for  taxation — the  east  half 
of  section  one — in  the  name  of  Dewald  Macklin,  valued  at  $321.  Buildings 
were  assessed  at  $321.  There  were  four  horses,  forty-six  head  of  cattle.  The 
total  value  of  chattel  property  was  $328,  and  the  aggregate  tax  $6.70.     The 


Henry  County. 


211 


personal  taxpayers  were  Angel  Arnold,  Peter  Hewit,  Joseph  Macklin,  John 
Mason,  David  Murdock,  William  Piper,  John  Rowland,  Jacob  Sowers  and 
John  Sturgeon.  In  1839,  came  Silas  and  Robert  Rowland.  The  dupHcate  of 
that  year  shows  1,281  acres  of  land  valued  at  $3,042,  subject  to  a  tax  of 
$53.23,  and  chattel  property  worth  $720,  taxed  with  $12.60.  A  few  of  these 
early  comers,  a  few  only  hunters,  left  as  civilization  and  cultivation  arrived, 
the  majority,  however,  died  on  their  first  settlements,  which  are  now  con- 
verted into  fine  and  valuable  farms,  and  occupied  by  their  descendants.  We 
believe  there  is  not  one  of  the  original  stock  now  living. 

A  contrast  will  show  the  rapid  growth  an,d  improvement  of  this  township. 
In  i860  its  population  was  only  277;  this,  in  1870,  had  increased  to  396,  and 
in  1880  to  857,  and  may  at  present  be  safely  estimated  at  1,200.  The  dupli- 
cate of  1887  shows  23,003  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $179,870,  and  $41,190 
worth  of  personal  property  subject  to  a  tax  of  $5,194.94.  The  township  is 
divided  in  eight  school  districts,  and  contains  in  each  a  good,  comfortable 
school  building.  There  is  but  one  church  in  the  township,  and  this  belongs  to 
the  denomination  of  United  Brethren.  The  township  has  no  railroads  and  no 
villages,  except  in  the  northwest  corner  of  section  six  were  the  "Clover  Leaf" 
nips.  At  this  point  Peter  Brillhart,  on  the  19th  of  May,  188 1,  laid  out  an  ad- 
dition to  the  hamlet  of  Grelleton,  platted  into  twelve  lots  and  four  alleys,  and 
four  acres  for  stave  factory  grounds.  The  southeast  corner  of  section  sixteen 
has  been  named  West  Hope,  and  a  post-office  of  that  name  is  established  there  ; 
there  is  also  a  small  country  store,  but  no  plat  has  ever  been  made,  nor  any 
division  of  lots  laid  out. 

For  many  years  the  roads  in  this  township  were  in  a  miserable  condition,^ 
and  during  the  wet  seasons  of  the  year  ingress  and  egress  were  almost  impos- 
sible. This  was  due  mainly  to  the  absence  of  drainage,  the  natural  facilities  for 
which  were  not  good.  Beaver  Creek  is  the  principal,  in  fact  the  only,  natural 
water  course.  The  west  branch  of  this  creek  enters  the  township  in  the  cen- 
ter of  section  thirty-four,  running  northeasterly  to  the  center  of  the  south 
side  of  section  twenty-four.  The  east  branch  enters  at  the  center  of  section 
thirty-five,  winds  through  sections  thirty-five,  thirty-six  and  twenty- five,, 
uniting  with  the  west  branch  at  twenty-four,  and  then  northeasterly  through 
sections  twenty- four,  thirteen,  twelve  and  one.  The  artificial  drainage,  both 
surface  and  sub-soil  is  now  good,  and  money  and  labor  expended  on  the  roads 
have  made  them  very  fair  and  passable  during  the  greatest  part  of  the  year. 

There  is  yet  considerable  very  good  and  fertile  lands  to  be  obtained  in  this 
township  at  a  moderate  price.  They  are,  however,  being  rapidly  taken  up  by 
actual  settlers,  and  as  the  valuable  timber  is  about  used  up,  these  lands  must 
be  converted  into  farms,  and  in  a  few  years  Richfield  will  rank  among  the  best 
agricultural  parts  of  Henry  county. 

When  these  lands  are  once  improved  and  brought  under  cultivation,  as 


2/2  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

many  acres  already  are,  the  owner  and  occupant  should  indeed  be  a  happy, 
and  contented  man.  There  is  certainly  no  happier  or  more  independent  life 
than  that  lived  by  the  farmer.  No  worry  of  business,  no  fear  of  bankruptcy, 
no  bills  to  meet  need  disturb  his  sleep  when  his  day's  toil  is  ended.  He,  too, 
has  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  he  is  a  producer,  adding  daily  to  the  ne- 
■cessities  and  comforts  of  his  fellow  man  and  to  the  substantial  wealth  of  the 
world.  The  soil  and  the  muscle  of  labor  must  produce  all  the  wealth  that  is 
possessed,  and  he  who  cultivates  a  hill  of  potatoes,  raises  a  bushel  of  grain, 
fashions  the  product  of  the  mine  into  a  useful  implement  of  husbandry  has  done 
more  for  his  fellow  than  all  the  millions  who  ever  lived  since  the  accumulation 
of  wealth  began. 

And  think  of  the  improvements  which  then  and  since  have  been  made,  and 
the  aid  they  have  rendered  to  agricultural  labor.  Farming  has  almost  ceased 
to  be  labor  and  has  become  pleasure.  Every  day  something  new  is  intro- 
duced into  farming  and  yet  old  things  are  not  driven  out.  Every  one  knows 
that  steam  is  now  used  on  the  farm  for  plowing  and  threshing  and  working  ma- 
chinery, and  one  would  have  thought  that  by  this  time  it  .would  have  super- 
seded all  other  motive  powers.  But  while  new  things  come  the  old  do  not  go 
away.  One  life  is  but  a  summer's  day  compared  with  the  long  cycle  of  years 
of  agriculture,  and  yet  it  seems  that  a  whole  storm,  as  it  were,  of  innovation 
has  burst  upon  the  fields  ever  since  we  can  recollect. 

The  sickle  was  in  use  in  Roman  times  and  no  man  knows  how  long  before 
that.  With  it  the  reaper  cut  off  the  ears  of  the  wheat,  only  leaving  the  tall 
straw  standing,  much  as  if  it  had  been  a  pruning  knife.  It  is  the  oldest  of  old 
implements  —  very  likely  it  was  made  of  a  chip  of  flint  at  first,  and  then  of 
bronze,  and  then  of  steel.  Then  came,  in  England,  the  reaping  hook,  which 
is  still  used  there  on  small  farms,  and  to  some  extent  on  large  ones,  to  round 
off  the  work  of  the  machine.  The  reaping  hook  is  only  an  enlarged  sickle. 
The  reaper  takes  the  hook  in  one  hand  and  a  bent  stick  in  the  other,  and  in- 
stead of  drawing  the  hook  toward  him,  the  reaper  chops  at  the  straw  as  he 
might  at  an  enemy.  In  America  we  had  the  cradle ;  then  came  the  reaping 
machines,  which  simply  cut  the  wheat  and  left  it  lying  on  the  ground.  Now 
there  are  the  wire  and  string  binders,  that  not  only  cut  the  grain,  but  gather 
it  together  and  bind  it  in  sheaves,  a  vast  saving  in  labor. 

On  the  broad  page  of  some  ancient  illuminated  manuscript,  centuries  old, 
you  may  see  the  churl,  or  farmer's  hired  man,  knocking  away  with  his  flail  at 
the  grain  on  the  threshing  floor.  The  knock,  knocking  of  the  flail  went  on 
through  the  reigns  of  how  many  kings  and  queens  we  do  not  know  (they  are 
all  forgotten,  God  wot),  down  to  the  edge  of  our  own  times.  The  good  old  days 
when  comets  were  understood  as  fate,  and  witches  were  drowned  or  burned — 
those  were  the  times  of  the  flail.  The  flail  is  made  of  two  stout  staves  of  wood 
joined  with  leather.     They   had   flails   of  harder   make  than  that  in  those  old 


Henry  County. 


273 


times  —  hunger,  necessity,  fate,  to  beat  them  on  the  back  and  thresh  them  on 
the  floor  of  the  earth. 

There  was  an  old  wagon  shown  at  the  Royal  Agricultural  show  in  London 
said  to  be  two  hundred  years  old.  Probably  it  had  had  so  many  new  wheels 
and  tongues  and  other  parts  as  to  have  completely  changed  its  constitution  — 
still  there  were  wagons  in  those  days,  and  there  are  wagons  now.  Express 
trains  go  by  in  a  great  hurry,  slow  wagons  gather  up  the  warm  hay  and  the  yel- 
low wheat  just  as  they  did  hundreds  of  years  since.  You  may  see  men  sowing 
broadcast  just  as  they  did  a  thousand  years  ago  on  the  broad  England  acres. 
Yet  the  light  iron  plow,  the  heavy  drill,  the  steam  plow,  are  manufactured  and 
cast  out  into  the  fields  and  machinery,  machinery,  machinery,  still  increases. 

Machinery  has  not  altered  the  earth,  but  it  has  altered  the  conditions  of 
men's  lives.  New  styles  of  hats  and  jackets,  but  the  same  old  faces.  The 
sweet  violets  bloom  afresh  every  spring  on  the  mounds,  the  cowslips  come,  the 
wild  rose  of  mid-summer  and  the  golden  wheat  of  August.  It  is  the  same 
beautiful  country,  always  new.  Neither  the  iron  engine  nor  the  wooden  plow 
alter  it  one  iota,  and  the  love  of  it  rises  as  constantly  in  our  hearts  as  the  com- 
ing of  the  leaves.  The  wheat,  as  it  is  moved  from  field  to  field,  like  a  quarto 
folded  four  times,  gives  us  in  the  mere  rotation  of  crops  a  fresh  garden  every 
year.  You  have  scented  the  bean  field  and  seen  the  slender  heads  of  barley 
droop.  The  useful  products  of  the  field  are  themselves  beautiful,  while  there 
are  pages  of  flowers  that  grow  at  the  edge  of  the  plow. 


CHAPTER  XXVni. 
HISTORY  OP  RIDGEVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  township  is  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  county,  and  the  only  one 
remaining  of  range  five,  being  township  number  six,  the  balance  of  this 
range  having  been  detached  and  given  to  Defiance  at  the  time  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  that  county. 

The  area  of  the  township  is  the  same  as  that  of  Freedom,  the  two  northern; 
tiers  of  sections  having  been  taken  to  form  Fulton  county. 

Of  the  civil  organization  of  the  township  little  is  known,  the  records  having 
been  destroyed  in  the  fire  of  1847.  However,  it  is  known  that  it  was  prior  to 
1840. 

The  topography  of  the  township  varies  slightly  from  the  balance  of  the 
county,  inasmuch   that  through   the   township,  from   north  to  south,  runs  the 
Belmore  Ridge,  and  from  this  fact  the  township  derives  its  name.     The  Ridge 
35 


274  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

is  first  noticeable  at  or  near  Lake  Ridge,  Mich.,  and  then  runs  in  a  semi-circu- 
lar shape,  continues  through  the  northwestern  part  of  Henry  county,  touching 
Defiance  county,  then  back  into  Henry  county  through  the  southwestern  part 
of  the  county,  and  finally  emerging  into  the  Black  Swamp.  The  Ridge  is  well 
defined,  being  from  three  to  ten  feet  higher  than  the  adjoining  country.  At 
many  places  along  the  upper  part  of  it  are  found  huge  bowlders,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  theory  of  Dr.  Newberrj',  were  deposited  there  by  icebergs,  at  a 
very  remote  period,  when  this  locality  was  the  bed  of  a  lake. 

The  township  is  devoid  of  natural  v/aterways,  with  the  exception  of  a  couple 
of  small  creeks,  or  rather  apologies  for  creeks.  The  bed  of  the  Coldwater  and 
Mansfield  Railroad  cuts  the  farms  diagonally  in  the  northeastern  part. 

The  principal  thoroughfares  are  the  Bryan  and  Napoleon  pikes,  and  what 
is  called  the  Ridge  road.  The  latter  runs  nearly  north  and  traverses  the  Bel- 
more  Ridge.  The  first  one  is  merely  a  continuation  of  the  second  one,  which 
runs  from  Napoleon  to  the  hamlet  of  Ridgeville.  This  is  one  of  the  main  roads 
of  the  county,  and  is  now  one  of  the  best,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  being 
graveled.  It  was  laid  out  by  one  Barton  Palmer,  at  an  uncertain  but  early 
■date.  Previous  to  this  time  all  travel  between  Napoleon  and  localities  north- 
west, was  done  by  way  of  Gilson's  Creek  (which  is  about  a  mile  west  of  Napo- 
leon). The  creek  bed  was  followed  up  to  where  the  creek  branches,  in  section 
nine,  town  five,  north,  in  Napoleon  township,  then  along  a  bridle  path  which 
is  now  the  pike. 

From  the  duplicate  of  1847  the  following  names  are  found:  George  and 
John  Tubbs,  Joseph  Bear,  J.  Fenton,  George  Harmon,  Adam  Rowe,  Lorenzo 
Higby  and  Barton  Palmer.  These  were  the  oldest  settlers  in  Ridgeville  town- 
ship. A  few  of  them  were  here  before  Defiance  county  was  organized,  and 
when  the  county  was  organized,  land  that  originally  laid  in  Henry  county  was 
given  to  it,  and  thus  a  few  of  them  live  at  present  in  Defiance  county,  although 
they  never  changed  their  residence.  They  have,  however,  sons  who  are  now 
classed  among  the  best  and  most  thrifty  farmers  in  Ridgeville  township. 

Near  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  township  is  situated  the  hamlet  of 
Ridgeville  Corners.  The  place  was  originally  laid  out  by  Barton  Palmer,  at  a 
very  early  but  uncertain  date.  He  was  also  the  projector  of  the  several  roads 
that  lead  into  the  hamlet.  At  a  certain  point  in  Ridgeville  Mr.  Palmer  owned  ' 
and  conducted  a  tavern,  and  at  that  time  it  was  the  only  house  of  accommoda- 
tion for  miles  around.  Mine  host  Palmer  conceived  the  brilliant  idea  of  hav- 
ing all  the  roads  of  this  immediate  section  center  at  his  place  of  accommoda- 
tion ;  (heretofore  bridle  paths  were  the  only  thoroughfares).  He  began  imme- 
diately to  set  his  plan  into  execution,  and,  as  a  consequence,  Ridgeville  Corn- 
ers is  one  of  the  main  road  centers  of  Henry  county.  It  is  at  present  a  thriv- 
ing little  place  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants,  and  has  a  furniture 
and  undertaking  store,  two  dry  goods   stores,  and  two  groceries,  one  black- 


s   / 


Henry  County.  275 


smith  shop,  two  saw-mills  and  a  tile  yard.  Mail  is  received  daily  by  the  some- 
what antiquated  "  overland  mail."  There  are  two  churches,  a  Methodist  and 
a  Congregationalist.  The  latter  was  the  first  church  established  in  the  town- 
ship, and  was  in  the  year  1846.  Previous  to  this  time  services  were  held  semi- 
occasionally,  and  at  uncertain  places.  No  regular  preacher  was  here,  and 
some  minister  from  an  adjoining  settlement  would  make  "  an  appointment "  at 
a  certain  house,  and  then  the  settlers  would  gather  for  religious  worship  and 
also  for  a  "visit."  Visiting  was  begun  at  an  early  period, — in  fact  in  1836. 
In  this  year  George  Tubbs  and  wife  moved  to  this  township,  and,  as  soon  as 
they  were  settled,  two  ladies  from  near  Wauseon,  having  heard  of  them,  came 
to  see  them,  riding  along  what  is  now  the  Ridge  Road,  but  then  only  a  bridle 
path.  On  the  following  Sunday  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tubbs, — the  former  on  foot  and 
the  latter  on  horse-back,  returned  the  visit,  also  expecting  to  hear  a  sermon 
from  an  itinerant  preacher,  but  who  failed  to  appear,  and  the  people  where 
they  visited  promised  to  send  him  over  the  following  Sunday.  He  started, 
but  before  arriving  he  ate  some  cheese  made  from  sour  milk,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  turn  back,  and  shortly  after  reaching  the  starting  place  was  gathered 
to  his  fathers. 

The  township  is  distinguished  as  the  home  of  a  large  denomination  of 
Mennonists,  followers  of  Simon  Menno,  their  founder  in  Germany.  They  have 
some  peculiar  notions,  and  "  believe  that  the  New  Testament  is  the  only  true 
rule  of  faith,  that  the  terms  Person  and  Trinity  ought  not  to  be  applied  to  the 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost;  that  there  is  no  original  sin  ;  that  infants  should 
not  be  baptized  ;  and  that  Christians  ought  not  to  take  oath,  hold  office,  or 
use  physical  force."  They  do  not  exercise  the  elective  franchise,  and  take  no 
part  whatever  in  politics.  They  are  distinguished  for  their  sterling  honesty  and 
fair  dealing,  punctually  fill  every  engagement,  respect  every  promise,  and  be- 
Ueve  in  strictly  minding  their  own  business.  They  have  many  peculiar  customs ; 
are  simple  in  dress  and  manner  of  living ;  abstain  from  litigation ;  deal  cau- 
tiously with  those  not  of  themselves  ;  their  general  business  is  usually  advised 
and  directed  by  one  man  selected  for  that  purpose ;  they  are  frugal,  industrious 
and  though  exclusive,  are,  as  a  rule,  good  citizens. 

The  township  has  very  strong  surface  indications  of  natural  gas,  sufficient 
certainly,  to  justify  more  extensive  investigation  than  has  yet  been  had.  In  the 
summer  of  1881  Herman  A.  Meyerholtz  commenced  boring  a  well  for  water 
on  his  farm  near  the  Corners,  when  reaching  the  depth  of  about  one  hundred  feet, 
a  vein  of  gas  was  struck  powerful  enough  to  expel  the  drilling  tools  from  the 
well,  and  greatly  frightened  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  people  employed  in 
the  work;  and  upon  light  being  applied  to  the  combustible,  a  flame  of  twenty 
feet  shot  into  the  air.  Haste  was  too  slow  to  enable  them  to  get  away  in  time 
to  escape  the  perils  of  what  they  supposed  to  result  from  a  trespass  upon  the 
domain  of  the  prince  of  darkness.     The  terror  of  the  simple  and  superstitious 


2/6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

residing  in  the  neighborhood  was  so  great  as  to  compel  Mr.  Meyerholtz  to  fill 
up  the  well,  which  he  did  with  considerable  difficulty.  Several  wells  have  since 
been  bored  with  similar  results. 

This  township  has  had  some  regard  for  her  educational  interest.  Its  graded 
school  is  maintained  at  Ridgeviile  Corners,  and  the  balance  of  the  territory  is 
divided  in  six  districts,  in  each  of  which  a  first-class  common  school  is  con- 
ducted, and  where  are  taught  arithmetic,  English  grammar,  penmanship, 
geography  and  American  history. 

The  material  condition  of  the  township  may  be  ascertained  by  the  duplicate 
of  1887.  Then  we  find  that  there  were  nineteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  acres  of  land  listed  for  taxation,  valued  in  1880  at  $31,840,  but 
which  has  greatly  increased  in  value.  The  chattel  property  is  assessed  at  $65,- 
140,  and  the  total  tax  paid  is  $6,441.96.  The  census  of  i860  showed  a  popu- 
lation of  four  hundred  and  twenty-four  souls,  which  in  1870  amounted  to  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-four,  and  in  1880  had  increased  to  eleven  hundred  and  nine- 
teen.    A  proportionate  increase  has  been  made  since. 

This  township  is  fortunate  in  the  recent  discovery  of  valuable  gravel  pits, 
which  will  enable  its  citizens  to  not  only  get,  at  a  comparatively  trifling  cost, 
the  best  of  roads,  but  to  contribute  materially  to  the  roads  of  the  whole  county, 
and  the  township  is  certainly  to  be  congratulated  on  the  enterpising  character 
of  its  electors  who  were  the  first  to  follow  the  example  of  Napoleon  township 
and  vote  upon  themselves  a  tax  to  apply  this  gravel  "where  it  will  do  the  most 
good" — on  the  roads. 

Ridgeviile  is  excellently  ditched  and  drained,  its  farms  well  improved  and 
under  high  cultivation;  its  residences  and  farm  buildings  well  befitting  every 
agricultural  country,  and  it  will  ever  rank  as  one  of  the  most  prosperous  and 
thrifty  townships  in  Henry  county. 

In  addition  to  the  post-office  at  the  Corners,  Uncle  Sam  has  provided  an- 
other office  named  Tubbsville,  on  the  Pettisville  road  about  half  way  between 
the  Corners  and  the  latter  place.  A  daily  mail  is  received  and  the  master, 
William  B.  Tubbs,  keeps  the  office  at  his  residence. 

The  population  of  the  township  is  mixed.  Besides  the  Mennonists  already 
mentioned,  there  is  a  large  population  of  Germans,  a  few  English,  and  the  ma- 
jority of  those  residing  at  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Corners,  have 
come  from  the  Western  Reserve. 


Henry  County.  277 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

HISTORY  OF  WASHINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  is  the  last  township  in  alphabetical  order,  and  possesses  more  intrin- 
sic historic  interest  than  any  other  of  the  townships  of  Henry  county.  It 
was  the  hunting  ground  of  the  last  of  the  Ottawas,  from  which  three  chiefs 
and  a  small  band  of  followers  were  reluctant  to  retreat  from  the  advancing 
feet  of  Caucasian  civilization.  These  three  chiefs  were  Oxinoxica,  Wauseon 
and  Myo,  the  latter  ranking  third  in  the  Indian  degree  of  power.  He  was  a 
small,  but  exceedingly  wise,  or  more  properly,  cunning  Indian.  He  died  on 
the  Maumee  and  his  skull  was  for  a  number  of  years  preserved  by  Dr.  L.  L. 
Patrick,  one  of  the  pioneer  physicians  who  had  the  courage  to  combat  with 
the  malaria  and  bilious  fever  of  the  Maumee,  and  who  was  an  uncle  of  George 
Patrick,  now  residing  in  Liberty  township  and  well  known  as  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  agriculturists  of  the  Maumee  valley,  also  an  uncle  of  the  first  wife 
of  O.  E.  Barnes  who  is  well  known  to  the  citizens  of  Henry  county  as  sheriff 
and  clerk,  for  many  years. 

This  township  was  originally  named  Myo,  in  honor  of  the  chief  so  called  — 
"Little  Chief" — but  possessed  of  more  judgment  and  distinction  than  the 
two  who  ranked  him  in  authority. 

At  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  township  there  were  but  eleven  vot- 
ers and  their  names  may  be  recorded  among  the  pioneers.  These  were  Ed- 
ward Murphy,  Noah  HoUoway,  James  O'Niel,  Michael  Connelly,  sr.,  the  father 
of  Michael  and  James  Connelly,  who  still  reside  on  the  old  homestead,  Ed- 
ward Scribner,  whose  descendants  still  reside  in  the  county,  William  Angle- 
meyer,  some  of  whose  descendants  still  reside  in  the  township,  John  Lamphier, 
now  a  well-to-do  and  prosperous  farmer  residing  in  Liberty  township,  on  the 
west  line  of  Washington,  David  Edwards,  whose  sole  surviving  representative, 
Martha,  is  now  married  to  Robert  Showman  and  now  lives  upon  the  old  home- 
stead, David  J.  Cory,  who  was  one  of  the  first  associate  judges  of  Henry  county 
and  who  died  childless  at  Findlay  at  a  ripe  old  age,  having  a  large  fortune,  and 
was  universally  respected. 

The  first  voting  place  was  in  an  unhewed  log  school-house,  known  as  Mur- 
phy's school-house,  situated  near  where  the  fine  brick  residence  of  Michael 
■Connelly,  jr.,  now  stands.  Abraham  Snyder,  now  of  Damascus  township,  was 
,at  that  time,  (1839)  then  a  hunter  in  what  was  then  the  wilds  of  northwestern 
Ohio. 

The  last  known  of  Myo  as  a  township  on  the  duplicate  of  the  county  was 
in  1847.  Then  there  were  7,975  acres  of  land  valued  at  $23,016.45,  paying  a 
-total  tax  of  $518.85,  and  an  additional  tax  of  $112.23  for  school-houses. 


278  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

At  this  time  John  Biggins,  still  living;  Dennis  Bresnahan,  dead;  Peter 
Donnelly,  living;  August  Groff,  dead ;  John  Grumling,  living;  Ephraim  Hy- 
ter,  living;  Daniel  Hartnell,  sr.,  deceased;  John  Kettering,  now  of  Harrison 
township ;  Daniel  Moore,  dead  (sons  living  on  homestead),  and  Nelson  Poison,, 
had  moved  and  settled  in  the  township. 

Between  the  making  of  the  duplicates  of  1847  and  that  of  1848  the  Mau- 
mee  river  was  made  the  southern  boundary  of  the  township,  and  sections  six,, 
and  parts  of  one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  seven  and  eight  of  Damascus  attached,, 
and  the  name  changed  to  Washington. 

We  then  find  on  the  duplicate  of  1848  the  additional  names  of  Charles 
Bucklin,  David  Mohler,  William  Anglemeyer,  James  Durbin,  Thomas  W.  Dur- 
bin  (present  recorder),  David  Edwards,  Edward  O'Hearn,  John  Lamphier,. 
John  H.  Poison,  A.  Smith,  Michael  White,  all  of  whom  are  still  living,  or  leave 
descendants. 

This  township  was  the  last  of  the  hunting  grounds  of  the  Indians  in  Henry 
county,  and  in  fact]  in  northtvestcrn  Ohio  ;  a  reservation  for  the  last  of  the 
Ottowas  having  been  retained  in  the  possession  of  that  tribe  for  many  years 
after  the  whites  had  obtained  a  majority  of  population.  The  reservation  set 
aside  for  the  Ottowas  extended  into  Henry  county  at  the  northeast  corner,  and 
was  situated  as  follows :  Commencing  a  little  north  of  the  half  section  line  of 
twenty-four  east,  running  southwest  with  the  west  line  of  the  northeast  one- 
fourth  of  section  thirty-four,  thence  in  a  southeastern  course  to  the  Maumee 
River  in  the  north  half  of  the  southeast  one-fourth  of  section  two,  in  the  gov- 
ernment-surveyed township,  five  north  of  range  eight,  east.  This  is  still  one 
of  the  best  sporting  fields  in  the  county.  Game,  however,  is  limited  to  the 
smaller  class — pheasants,  quail,  rabbits  and  squirrel.  The  time,  however,  has- 
certainly  come  to  hang  up  the  rifle  and  the  'trap,  and  the  rapidly  disappearing 
forest  also  suggests  putting  aside  the  ax  and  the  saw,  and  picking  up  the 
shovel^and  the  hoe,  and  learn  that, 

"  He  who  by  the  plow  would  thrive, 
Himself  must  either  hold  or  drive." 

The  topography  of  this  township  differs  materially  from  all  others  in  the 
county.  The  southeastern  part  consists  of  what  is  known  as  "  openings,"  i.  e.y 
quick-sand  swamps — very  wet,  where  nothing  but  swamp  grasses,  shaking 
asps,  and  bull-rushes  grow,  and  of  sand  knolls  covered  with  "scrub  oak."  A 
few  years  ago  this  part  of  the  township  was  not  considered  worth  the  widow's- 
mite,  but  by  thorough  ditching,  and  at  considerable  expense,  has  been  con- 
verted into  productive  and  valuable  farms.  The  balance  of  the  township  was 
more  like  the  other  parts  of  the  county — very  heavily  timbered.  But  the  tim- 
ber has  gone,  and  it  is  too  late  to  say,  "  woodman,  spare  that  tree.'' 

What  sad  havoc  was  wrought  in  the  early  days  when  the  "  clearings  ''  were 
being  made,  and  when  trees  had  no  positive  value  and  no  market.  It  is  only 
in  later   days  that  the  value  of  forest  or   timber  lands  has  been  appreciated^ 


Henry  County. 


279 


Think !  The  forest  lands  of  the  United  States,  excluding  Alaska,  embrace 
500,000,000  acres,  or  twenty-eight  per  cent,  of  the  entire  area.  The  farmers 
own  about  thirty-eight  per  cent,  of  the  forest  area,  or  185,000,000  acres.  The 
rest  is  owned  by  railroad  corporations,  mine  owners,  charcoal  burners,  tanners, 
lumbermen  and  speculators.  The  farmers  are  the  most  desirable  class  of  own- 
ers, and  they  begin  to  learn  the  value  of  their  wood,  and  devote  time  and 
thought  to  its  preservation.  Now  they  begin  to  cherish  their  woodlands,  and 
add  millions,  yearly,  of  trees  for  shelter  and  beautification,  and  for  subsequent 
profit  to  those  who  will  come  after  them.  The  farmers'  area  of  forest  is  in- 
creasing in  all  the  Western  States,  and  groves  are  plentiful  as  in  the  days  of 
the  Druids  in  England,  or  of  the  classic  deities  of  Greece  and  Italy,  and  are  put 
to  much  better  purpose.  One  thing  is  to  be  noted,  that  trees  will  flourish  on 
lands  that  will  not  return  a  remunerative  crop.  The  conifers  will  thrive  under 
apparently  most  inhospitable  conditions.  Forest  trees  return  to  the  soil  the 
nutriment  they  take  from  it,  thus  maintaining  its  productive  power  and  en- 
couraging their  own  growth.  The  routes  of  transportation  now  render  access 
to  market  easy,  by  land  or  water,  and  these  facihties,  with  the  extension  of 
railroads,  grow  better  every  year.  The  railroads  need  many  hundreds  of  ties 
for  each  mile  (6o,000,000  a  year  in  all,  at  an  average  of  two  ties  to  a  tree), 
and  these  ties  must  be  renewed  every  seven  or  ten  years.  One  acre  of  land 
may  contain  and  perfect  from  four  to  six  hundred  trees.  In  a  few  years  these 
trees  will  produce  a  rich  harvest  of  ties,  and  the  surplus  wood  will  give  an  im- 
mense supply  of  fuel  and  fencing.  The  farmer,  with  a  big  wood  lot,  may  well 
ask,  "What  shall  the  harvest  be  ?"  and  then  look  out  for  a  rich  profit.  As 
matters  go,  the  thirty-eight  per  cent,  owned  by  the  farmers  now  will  soon  be 
seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  tree  area,  and  forestry  is  commanding  the  atten- 
tion of  our  most  thoughtful  and  considerate  men. 

The  duplicate  of  1887  indicates  the  material  wealth  of  the  township,  and 
shows  18,178  acres  of  land,  valued  in  1880  at  $219,175,  and  chattel  property 
valued  at  $130,854,  listed  for  taxation,  and  a  tax  of  $8,190.72  paid.  The  edu- 
cational interests  have  not  been  overlooked,  and  the  township  is  divided  into 
ten  districts,  with  good,  well-provided  buildings  in  each.  The  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  people  is  attended  to  in  three  churches;  one,  a  Protestant  Methodist,  at 
Texas,  and  two  at  Colton, — a  Church  of  God,  and  one  Methodist  Episcopal.  ^ 

The  population  in  i860  was  894;  in  1870,  1,141,  and  in  1880  amounted  to 
1,249.     A  proportionate  increase  has  been  maintained  since  that  time. 

The  township  is  situated  in  the  same  tier  of  townships  with  Freedom, 
Ridgeville  and  Liberty,  and  like  these  townships  has  contributed  its  twelve 
northern  sections  to  the  formation  of  Fulton  county.  It  is  in  the  eighth  range, 
^nd  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  county,  having  had  a  settlement  long  before  Na- 
poleon was  thought  of  as  a  county  seat,  and  contained  a  hamlet  of  good  size 
before  the  woodman's  ax  had  begun  gnawing  at  the  pillars  of  God's  first  tern- 


28o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

pies  in  any  other  part  of  the  county.  It  had  an  important  trading  post  before 
the  surveyor's  chain  was  stretched  and  the  streets  of  the  present  county  seat 
were  marked,  although  it  was  not  platted  until  many  years  later.  Texas  was, 
and  is,  the  principal  village  of  the  township,  and  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the 
county.  It  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  north  side  of  the  Miami  and  Erie 
Canal,  and  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Maumee  River.  A  ravine  runs  around 
the  north  and  west  sides,  so  that  the  town  plat  lies  high  and  dry.  The  outlet 
lock  of  the  twenty-four  mile  level  of  the  canal  is  at  this  place  ;  and  the  slack- 
water  in  the  Maumee  River,  caused  by  the  dam  at  Providence,  gives  the  river 
a  great  depth  and  a  width  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  rods.  A  public  ferry 
connects  the  banks,  the  expense  being  paid  by  the  county. 

The  village  was  recorded  April  2,  1849,  by  James  Durbin,  the  proprietor. 
The  streets  were  laid  out  to  the  cardinal  points;  those  running  from  north  to 
south  are  named  mainly  from  the  timber  natural  to  the  soil,  and  those  running 
from  east  to  west  are  named  numerically,  beginning  at  the  canal.  Through 
the  eastern  part  of  the  town  runs  what  is  called  a  hydraulic  canal.  It  leads  from 
the  canal  and  was  built  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  motive  power  for  the  mills 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  town,  which  were  the  first  erected  in  the  county.  The 
first  brick  burned  in  the  county  was  made  here,  and  the  first  brick  court-house, 
the  one  destroyed  by  fire  in  1879,  was  constructed  of  brick  manufactured  at 
this  point,  being  transported  from  there  by  canal  to  Napoleon.  The  village, 
in  its  early  days,  was  the  most  important  trading  point  in  Henry  county,  being 
the  best  market  for  miles  around.  It  was  also  a  formidable  rival  of  Napoleon 
for  the  county-seat. 

In  1865  Captain  George  Carver  conceived  the  idea  of  boring  for  oil,  and  a 
company  was  formed  in  February,  1866,  under  the  name  of  the  Henry  &  Lu- 
cas Co.,  Oil  and  Mining  Company.  Work  was  at  once  begun,  and  at  a  depth 
of  about  four  hundred  feet  a  vein  of  gas  was  struck  of  sufficient  force  to  blow 
the  tools,  which  weighed  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  clear  out  of  the  well.  A 
stream  of  water  shot  into  the  air  for  twenty  feet,  and  continued  to  spout  for  a 
couple  of  days.  At  last  it  subsided  and  work  was  resumed.  Their  method  of 
boring  was  very  primitive,  for  instead  of  casing  the  hole,  they  continued  tO' 
bore  in  the  water ;  reaching  a  depth  of  over  eleven  hundred  feet  they  discon- 
tinued, thinking  there  was  nothing  any  farther  down,  not  at  that  time  knowing 
anything  of  the  purposes  to  which  natural  gas  could  be  converted. 

The  vein  of  water  which  was  struck  was  of  a  strong,  sulphurous  kind,  and 
heavily  charged  with  gas.  By  taking  a  glass  of  it  fresh  from  the  well,  it  is 
noticed  to  sparkle  like  champagne.  It  is  impossible  to  fill  a  bottle  of  fresh 
water  and  then  cork  it  lightly,  as  the  generated  gas  will  surely  break  the  bot- 
tle. After  the  futile  attempt  to  strike  oil,  the  land  was  sold  to  Captain  J.  W. 
Geering,  who,  thinking  that  there  was  an  opportunity  to  start  a  sanitarium, 
built  a  large  hotel  on  the  grounds,  and  thoroughly  equipped  it  with  all  modern 


Henry  County.  281 


conveniences.     But  alas !  for  human  fancies!  his  dreams  were  doomed  to  be 
blasted,  and  now  the  hotel  is  a  huge  residence. 

At  present  the  town  presents  an  aspect  that  dimly  recalls  to  mind  the 
Sleepy  Hollow  of  Irving's  creation.  There  are  a  few  stores  here,  but  the 
weather-beaten  siding,  dingy  inside  and  general  look  of  dilapidation  leads  one 
to  believe  thats  its  peaceful  inhabitants  are  enjoying  the  sleep  of  Rip  Van  Win- 
kle, or  are  soothing  themselves  with  the  fumes  of  tobacco  which  gave  to  Wou- 
ter  Van  Twiller  his  sublime  indifference.  They  are  still  smoking,  and  the  world 
wags  on  as  they  remain  in  a  semi-morbid  state,  not  caring,  and  much  less  think- 
ing of  what  goes  on  around  them — a  veritable  Knickerbocker  settlement  minus 
the  scheming  "yank." 

The  next  and  only  remaining  hamlet  in  the  county  is  called  Colton,  and  lies 
at  the  center  of  section  twenty-one  on  the  line  of  the  Wabash,  St.  Louis  &  Pa- 
cific Railroad ;  is  twenty- six  miles  west  of  Toledo,  and  ten  miles  east  of  Napo- 
leon. The  town  plat  was  recorded  July  14,  1855,  and  by  John  R.  Osborn,  the 
proprietor.  At  present  it  is  a.  thriving  hamlet  of  about  two  hundred  inhabit- 
ants, and  with  a  good  hotel,  express  office,  post-office,  and  does  a  comparatively 
thriving  business.  The  population,  like  that  of  all  the  other  townships  of  the 
county  is  small.  The  southeastern  part  is  settled  mostly  by  Irish  or  their  de- 
scendants, who  came  here  during  the  construction  of  the  canal,  and  locally  is 
known  as  "  Ireland."  The  north  is  mostly  German  or  of  German  extraction. 
A  good  sprinkling  of  the  Yankee  is  also  found  here.  The  whole  population  is 
honest,  industrious,  thrifty  and  enterprising,  except  in  the  villages  where  a  little 
energy,  capital  and  modern  attachments  would  certainly  do  good. 

36 


HISTORY  OF  FULTON  COUNTY. 


HISTORY  OF  FULTON  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  FULTON  COUNTY. 

Erection  of  Fulton  County  — Act  Creating  It —  Fixing  the  Seat  of  Justice  —  Naming  It  — 
The  First  Court-House  —  First  Term  of  Court  Held  in  Pike  Township  —  The  First  Jail — Propo- 
sitions to  Change  the  County  Seat  —  Burning  of  the  Oourt-House  at  Ottokee  —  New  Court- 
House  Erected  —  Eemoval  of  County  Seat  to  Wauseon — ■  The  New  Court-House  —  The  Jail  — 
The  Infirmary  —  List  of  County  Officials. 

THE  growth  and  development  of  the  country  in  this  section  of  the  State  had, 
about  the  year  1850,  become  so  marked,  that  it  was  deemed  prudent  that 
a  new'county'should  be  erected  out  of  parts  of  the  counties  in  the  northwest 
territory.  Furthermore,  the  county  of  Lucas  embraced  a  very  large  tract  of 
land,  and  in  the  more  remote  portions  thereof,  especially  in  the  west  and  south- 
west portions,  the  convenience  of  the  people  demanded  the  erection  of  a  new 
county.  In  this  locality  then,  as  well  as  now,  resided  men  of  energy,  integrity 
and  determination,  who  not  only  felt  the  necessity  of  a  new  county  organiza- 
tion in  this  region,  but  who  saw  the  great  advantages  to  the  country  by  such 
a  movement  in  case  it  could  be  carried  out  successfully.  Among  those  who 
took  an  active  interest  in  the  project  may  be  recorded  the  names  of  Nathaniel 
Leggett,  William  Hall,  A.  C.  Hough,  Stephen  Springer,  Michael  Handy,  Mor- 
timer D.  Hibbard  and  a  few  others.  These  not  only  discussed  the  project,  but 
gave  such  substantial  assistance  as  finally  completed  and  consummated  the 
work,  and  made  the  erection  of  the  county  of  Fulton  not  only  possible,  but  an 
established  fact. 

There  has  been,  perhaps,  no  event  of  greater  importance  to  the  county,  or 
its  people,  than  that  which  gave  it  an  existence,  and  it  is  therefore  pardonable 
that  the  full  text  of  the  act  creating  it  should  be  set  forth.     It  is  as  follows: 

An  Act  to  Create  the  County  of  Fulton. 

"Sec.  I.  Beit  enacted,  etc.,  That  such  parts  of  the  counties  of  Lucas,, 
Henry  and  Williams,  as  are  embraced  in  the  boundaries  hereinafter  described, 
be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  created  into  a  separate  and  distinct  county,  which 


286  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

^hall  be  known  by  the  name  of  Fulton,  to  wit :  Beginning  on  the  State  line  be- 
tween the  States  of  Ohio  and  Michigan,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  township 
nine,  south  of  range  four,  east  of  the  Michigan  meridian  ;  thence  south  on  the 
township  line  to  the  southeast  corner  of  town  ten,  south  of  range  four,  east,  on 
the  Fulton  line  ;  thence  west  on  said  Fulton  line  to  the  northeast  corner  of 
town  eight,  north  of  range  eight,  east ;  thence  south  to  the  southeast  corner  of 
section  number  twelve  in  township  six,  north  of  range  eight,  east;  thence  west 
on  section  lines  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  number  seven  in  township 
six,  range  five,  east,  on  the  county  line  between  the  counties  of  Henry  and 
Williams;  thence  north  on  said  line  to  the  southeast  corner  of  town  seven,  north 
of  range  four,  east;  thence  west  on  said  township  line  to  the  southwest  corner 
of  section  number  thirty-five  in  said  town  seven,  north  of  range  four,  east; 
thence  north  on  the  section  lines  to  the  Fulton  line ;  thence  west  on  said  Ful- 
ton line  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  number  eleven,  in  town  ten,  south 
of  range  one,  west  of  the  Michigan  meridian ;  thence  north  on  section  lines  to 
said  State  line;  thence  easterly  with  said  State  line  to  the  place  of  beginning." 

Thus  having  erected  and  described  the  boundaries  of  the  county  of  Fulton 
on  the  28th  day  of  February,  1850  (the  same  being  so  named  in  honor  of 
Robert  Fulton),  provision  was  next  made  for  the  administration  of  its  affairs 
by  section  two  of  the  act,  as  follows:  All  suits,  whether  of  a  civil  or  criminal 
nature,  which  shall  be  pending  within  those  parts  of  the  counties  of  Lucas, 
Henry  and  Williams,  so  sefc  off  and  erected  into  a  new  county  previous  to  the 
first  Monday  in  April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty,  shall  be  prose- 
cuted to  final  judgment  and  execution  within  the  counties  of  Lucas,  Henry 
and  Williams,  respectively,  in  the  same  manner  as  though  the  said  county  of 
Fulton  had  not  been  erected,  and  the  ofiicers  of  said  counties,  respectively, 
shall  execute  all  such  process  as  shall  be  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  such 
suits,  prosecutions  and  judgments  ;  and  the  collectors  of  taxes  for  the  coun- 
ties, respectively,  shall  collect  all  taxes  that  shall  be  levied  and  unpaid  within 
the  aforesaid  portions  of  their  respective  counties  at  the  time  of  the  passage 
of  this  act. 

By  section  three  it  was  provided  :  That  all  justices  of  the  peace  and  other 
township  officers  within  those  parts  of  the  counties  of  Lucas,  Henry  and  Will- 
iams, which  are,  by  this  act,  erected  into  the  county  .of  Fulton,  shall  continue 
to  exercise  the  functions  and  discharge  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices  until 
their  term  of  service  shall  expire,  and  until  their  successors  shall  be  elected 
and  qualified,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  they  had  been  elected  or  commissioned 
for  the  county  of  Fulton  ;  and  all  writs  and  other  legal  process  within  the  ter- 
ritory hereby  erected  into  the  county  of  Fulton,  shall  be  styled  as  of  the 
county  of  Fulton,  on  and  after  the  1st  day  of  April,  1850. 

The  election  of  officers  for  the  county  was  provided  for  as  follows : 

Sec.  4.  The  legal  voters  residing  within  the  limits  of  the  county  of  Fulton 


Fulton  County.       •  287 


shall,  on  the  first  Monday  in  April,  in  the  year  1850,  assemble  in  their  respec- 
tive townships,  at  the  usual  places  of  holding  elections  (the  voters  residing  in 
each  of  the  fractional  townships  taken  from  the  counties  of  Henry  and  Will- 
iams, shall  assemble  in  the  township  immediately  adjoining  such  fractional 
township  and  lying  towards  the  center  of  said  county  of  Fulton),  and  proceed  to 
elect  the  different  county  officers  in  the  manner  prescribed  in  the  act  to  regu- 
late elections,  who  shall  hold  their  oflSces  until  the  next  annual  election,  and 
until  their  successors  are  elected  and  qualified. 

The  succeeding  section  (5)  provides  for  the  annexing  of  the  fractional 
townships  not  taken  for  the  new  county,  and  annexing  the  same  to  adjoining 
townships,  or  creating  new  townships  out  of  them,  as  the  commissioners  of  the 
counties  of  Henry  and  Williams  may  deem  expedient;  also,  empowering  the 
commissioners  of  the  county  of  Fulton  to  annex  the  fractional  parts  taken 
from  Henry  and  Williams  counties  to  the  adjoining  townships  already  estab- 
lished within  Fulton  county,  or  to  erect  them  into  new  townships  as,  in  their 
judgment,  shall  seem  prudent. 

Section  six  of  the  act  provides  that  the  county  of  Fulton  shall  be  attached 
to,  and  made  a  part  of  the  Thirteenth  Judicial  Circuit  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  and 
the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  and  Supreme  Court  of  the  county  of  Fulton, 
shall  be  holden  at  some  convenient  house  in  the  township  of  Pike,  until  the 
permanent  seat  of  justice  shall  be  established  within  and  for  said  county. 

The  next  section  (7),  provides  "  That  Laurin  Dewey,  of  Franklin  county, 
Mathias  H.  Nichols,  of  Allen  county,  and  John  Riley,  of  Carroll  county,  be 
appointed  commissioners  to  fix  upon  and  locate  the  seat  of  justice  of  said  new 
county  of  Fulton,  agreeably  to  the  provisions  of  the  act  entitled"  an  act  for  the 
establishment  of  seats  of  justice. 

The  first,  and  perhaps  the  most  important  duty  in  connection  with  these 
events  was  that  of  locating  the  seat  of  justice  in  the  newly  created  county.  On 
meeting  for  this  purpose  several  sites  were  recommended  to  the  commissioners 
— one  near  the  center  of  the  county,  Etna,  Fluhart's  Corners,  Delta  and  Spring 
Hill.  After  much  deliberation,  and  the  hearing  of  arguments  by  those  inter- 
ested in  the  various  places  named,  the  commissioners  decided  upon  the  site 
nearest  the  center  of  the  county,  in  the  township  of  Dover,  at  a  point  that 
then  had  no  distinguishing  name.  Several  names  were  suggested  by  persons 
present,  but  none  seemed  to  meet  with  general  approval.  One  of  the  com- 
missioners observing  Dresden  W.  H.  Howard  on  the  outer  line  of  spectators, 
called  upon  him  to  suggest  a  name  for  the  county  seat,  to  which  a  reply  came 
at  once  "  Ottokee"  (this  being  the  name  of  a  chief  of  the  Ottowas).  It  was  at 
once  declared  to  be  the  name  of  the  seat  of  justice  of  the  county  of  Fulton. 

The  question  of  confirming  this  as  the  county  seat  was  them  submitted  to 
a  vote  of  the  people  of  the  county.  At  the  first  election,  while  Ottokee  re- 
ceived more  votes  than  any  other  site,  still  it  had  not  a  majority  of  the  ballots. 


History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


On  the  occasion  of  the  second  election  the  town  received  a  clear  majority,  and 
became,  by  the  will  of  the  people,  the  seat  of  justice  of  Fulton  county.  While, 
by  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote  of  the  county,  Ottokee  was  the  regularly 
chosen  seat  of  justice,  there  had  been  a  marked  opposition  to  its  selection,  and 
that  opposition  by  no  means  disappeared  after  the  matter  had  been  settled,  but 
manifested  itself  by  frequent  murmurings  of  discontent  from  various  quarters. 

The  town  of  Ottokee  was  situate  in  southeastern  part  of  Dover  township, 
on  an  elevated  tract  of  land,  and  as  near  the  center  of  the  county,  geograph- 
ically, as  it  well  could  have  been.  In  fact  the  location  was  well  chosen,  and, 
were  it  not  for  the  building  of  the  railroad  through  the  county,  several  miles 
south  of  the  place,  it  is  much  doubted  whether  the  seat  of  justice  would  ever 
have  been  removed. 

In  the  next  year,  1851,  the  court-house  was  built.  This  was  a  frame  struc- 
ture, two  stories  in  height,  having  a  frontage  of  about  forty  or  fifty  feet,  and  a 
depth  of  about  eighty  feet.  The  court  and  jury  rooms  were  on  the  upper  floor, 
while  the  offices  for  the  county  officials  were  on  the  lower,  or  ground  floor.  It 
was  a  large,  commodious  and  airy  building,  presenting  a  tasty  appearance  with 
the  large  dome  on  its  top.  It  was  built  by  Amos  H.  Jordoh,  of  Royalton 
township,  and  cost  somewhere  about  five  or  six  thousand  dollars. 

It  was  provided  by  the  act  creating  the  county,  that  the  courts  should  be 
held  at  some  convenient  house  in  Pike  township,  until  the  seat  of  justice  should 
be  fixed.  In  pursuance  of  this  the  associate  justices,  John  Kendall,  A.  C.  Hough 
and  William  Parmalee,  designated  the  residence  of  Robert  A.  Howard,  as  the 
place  for  holding  courts,  and  here  the  first  term  was  held  in  1850.  Owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  transfers  of  cases  to  the  counties  from  which  this  county  was 
formed  were  incomplete,  and  the  further  fact  that  there  was  but  little  or  no 
business  transacted  at  this  court,  in  lieu  of  business,  those  attending  indulged 
in  a  game  of  ball.  It  is  said  that  on  this  memorable  occasion,  Oliver  B. 
Verity  (afterwards  probate  judge),  W.  A.  Bates,  Spencer  T.  Snow,  Benjamin 
Hallett,  William  Sutton  (then  county  commissioner),  James,  Augustus  and 
"William  Howard,  and  others  whose  names  cannot  now  be  recalled,  took  a  part 
in  that  sport,  which  has  since  become  recognized  as  "  our  national  game." 

Judge  Saddler  came  on  horseback  to  preside  at  the  court,  and  the  associate 
justices  at  this  time  were,  Socrates  H.  Cately,  Abraham  Flickinger  and  Will- 
iam Parmalee.  After  the  completion  of  the  court-house,  the  courts  were  held 
at  Ottokee. 

In  the  year  1853  the  first  jail  was  built  at  the  county  seat.  This  was  a 
substantial  frame  building,  lined  with  heavy,  hard  wood  plank,  and  thoroughly 
spiked.  Although  built  of  wood,  there  was' never  an  escape  from  it  on  account 
of  its  weak  construction.  There  did  escape,  however,  two  prisoners,  through 
the  door,  by  reason  of  the  carelessness  of  the  watchman,  he  having  left  the 
safety  bar  out  of  place. 


Fulton  County.  289 


Connected  with  the  jail  was  the  sherift's  residence.  The  whole  building 
cost  about  $3,800.  The  town  of  Ottokee  continued  to  hold  the  county  build- 
ings for  a  number  of  years,  and  the  place  grew  in  population  and  value  until 
the  building  of  the  railroad  through  the  southern  tier  of  townships,  when  the 
question  of  removal  was  agitated.  In  the  year  1863  Wauseon  made  an  attempt 
under  an  act  of  Legislature,  known  as  "an  enabling  act,"  but,  on  a  submission 
of  the  proposition  to  the  people,  it  was  voted  down.  The  town  of  Delta  then 
asked  that  the  seat  of  justice  be  removed  to  that  place,  and  urged,  in  support 
of  argument,  that  a  tier  of  townships  would  be  taken  from  the  county  on  the 
east,  thus  increasing  the  area  and  population  of  this  county  ;  and,  furthermore, 
that  the  town.  Delta,  would  then  be  situate  in  the  geographical  center  of  the 
county,  as  enlarged,  and  the  most  accessible  place  for  the  county  seat. 

In  the  Legislature  of  1864  an  act  was  passed  similar  to  the  Wauseon  act,  and 
the  question  was  submitted  to  the  people,  as  to  whether  the  county  seat  should 
be  removed  to  Delta,  but  on  a  count  of  the  vote,  the  proposition  was  defeated 
by  a  very  large  majority.  During  this  period  of  agitation  and  on  the  i6th  day 
of  July,  1S64,  the  court-house  building  at  Ottokee  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and 
with  it  all  of  the  county  records  and  other  valuable  material  in  the  offices  of 
the  county  officials.  The  building  was  insured  for  about  one-half  its  original 
cost. 

During  the  next  year,  1865,  the  county  commissioners  entered  into  a  con- 
tract with  Hiram  Pritchard,  for  the  erection  of  a  new  brick  court-house  on  the 
site  of  the  old  building.  This  was  a  one-story  brick  building,  plain  but  sub- 
stantial, and  cost  about  $5,000.  It  was  arranged  to  be  used  only  for  court 
purposes,  the  county  officers'  departments  being  in  a  separate  building,  on  land 
adjoining  the  court-house.     This  latter  building  cost  about  $2,800. 

These  buildings  answered  the  needs  of  the  county  for  several  years,  but  at- 
tending court, -or  transacting  business  with  the  county  officials,  or  at  the  county 
seat,  was  attended  with  great  inconveniences.  The  railroad  had  become  a 
recognized  thoroughfare  of  travel,  and  to  all  parties  from  outside  the  county, 
and  those  within  it,  as  well,  a  carriage  or  stage  ride  of  at  least  four  miles  was 
necessitated.  This  inconvenience  was  all  the  more  marked,  as  the  now  grow- 
ing towns  of  Wauseon  and  Delta  were  on  the  line  of  the  railroad,  and  soon 
again  was  another  effort  made  for  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  justice,  this  time 
with  success. 

In  the  winter  of  the  year  1869,  the  Legislature  passed  another  enabling  act, 
by  which  the  seat  of  justice  of  Fulton  county  was  authorized  to  be  removed 
from  Ottokee  to  Wauseon.  The  question  was  then  submitted  to  the  people  of 
the  county,  and  in  the  month  of  October,  of  that  year,  at  an  election  held  for 
the  purpose,  the  proposition  was  carried.  The  enabling  act  contained  a  condi- 
tion that  before  the  change  could  be  accomplished,  there  should  be  raised  by 
subscription  among  those  desiring  the  change  to  be  made,  the  sum  of  $5,000,. 

37 


290  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

which  sum  should  be  paid  over  to  the  county  commissioners,  and  used  as  a  part 
of  the  building  fund. 

On  the  19th  day  of  January,  1 870,  Isaac  Springer,  trustee  of  this  subscribed 
fund,  paid  the  same  into  the  hands  of  the  commissioners,  who  were  at  the  time, 
Joseph  Ely,  A.  B.  Gunn  and  M.  O.  McCaskey.  Lots  numbers  one  hundred 
and  forty-nine  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  of  the  original  plat  of  Wau- 
seon  were  deeded  to  the  commissioners,  or  their  successors,  for  the  site  of  the 
court-house  building.  These  lots  were  situate  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Fulton 
and  Chestnut  streets,  having  a  front  on  the  first  named.  The  bids  for  construc- 
tion of  the  building  ranged  from  $43,000  to  $56,000.  The  lowest  bidder  was 
F.  M.  Brooker,  and  the  contract  was  let  to  him,  but  failing  to  give  the  required 
fidelity  bond,  the  contract  was  awarded  to  Alexander  Voss  and  H.  B.  Bensman, 
at  the  price  of  $44,350.  The  building  is  of  brick,  with  stone  chimneys,  two 
stories  in  height,  and  with  a  tower  and  belfry  on  the  Fulton  street  front,  much 
higher  than  the  main  building.  It  is  a  building  not  only  substantial,  but  ele- 
gant, and  an  ornament  to  any  town;  one  in  which  the  commissioners,  the  archi- 
tect, the  contractors,  and  the  people  of  the  county  have  reason  to  feel  just 
pride.  Its  interior  is  admirably  arranged,  the  large,  well  lighted  and  well  ap- 
pointed offices  for  county  officials  occupying  the  ground  floor,  while  the  court- 
room, judges  and  jury  rooms  are  on  the  second  floor.  Access  is  had  to  the 
upper  floor  by  two  stairways,  one  at  the  front  and  the  other  at  the  rear  of  the 
building.  The  total  cost  of  the  building,  including  extra  work,  amounted  to 
$45,772.27.  The  contract  for  its  construction  was  made  on  May  31,  1870,  and 
the  building  was  first  used  for  court  purposes  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1872. 

Although  Ottokee  ceased  to  be  the  county  seat  of  Fulton  county  in  the 
year  1 87 1,  the  jail,  the  place  of  confinement  for  offenders,  was  maintained  at 
that  place  for  nearly  four  years  longer,  and  until  the  building  of  the  present 
jail  and  sheriff"  residence  at  Wauseon,  in  the  year  1876.  The  contract  for  this 
building  was  let  on  the  i6th  day  of  February,  of  that  year,  to  John  Lichten- 
berger,  of  Ft.  Wayne,  Ind.,  at  the  price  of  $18,500.  This  is,  in  all  respects,  a 
model  county  jail,  both  in  point  of  security  and  arrangement.  The  materials 
used  in  its  construction  were  of  the  most  modern  and  approved  quality,  and 
the  prisoners  do  not  at  any  time  have  access  to  any  substance  except  stone 
and  iron.  The  building  is  located  on  Chestnut  street,  at  Wauseon,  in  the  rear 
of  the  land  occupied  by  the  court  house.  The  sheriff''s  residence  is  attached  to 
the  jail  and  is  well  arranged  as  to  comfort  and  convenience. 

The  buildings  at  Ottokee  having  been  vacated  by  the  change  of  the  county 
seat,  were  still  owned  by  the  county.  The  increase  in  population  in  this  local- 
ity, the  same  as  in  nearly  every  county  in  the  State,  the  incoming  of  new  fam- 
ilies, the  infirmities  of  age  and  the  unfortunate  condition  of  some  persons  who 
had'become  a  charge  upon  the  public,  led  to  the  estabhshment  of  an  institution 
within  the  county,  and  to  be  maintained  at  the  public  expense,  called  the  In- 


Fulton  County.  291 


firmary,  by  which  it  is  commonly  known  throughout  most  locaHties,  as  a  home 
for  aged,  decrepit  and  indigent  persons. 

Early  in  the  month  of  May,  1874,  the  buildings  owned  by  the  county  at 
Ottokee,  and  under  charge  of  the  commissioners,  were  turned  over  to  James 
Riddle,  Robert  Lewis  and  O.  A.  Cobb,  as  infirmary  directors,  and  the  work  of 
making  the  changes  necessary  for  its  intended  use  was  at  once  commenced. 
A  tract  of  land,  some  three  hundred  acres  in  extent,  was  purchased  in  the  vi- 
cinity and  a  sufficient  county  farm  was  established.  O.  B.  Verity  was  ap- 
pointed infirmary  superintendent,  an  office  he  filled  for  six  years,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  John  T.  Whittaker,  who  also  served  for  the  same  length  of 
time.  He  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  Samuel  Atkinson,  the  present  superin- 
tendent.    The  building  will  accommodate  about  seventy  inmates. 

County  Civil  List. 

Having  reviewed  the  various  proceedings  had  in  the  formation  of  the 
county,  and  the  several  acts  relating  to  change  and  location  of  the  county 
buildings,  to  the  final  erection  of  the  same  and  the  establishing  of  the  seat  of 
justice  permanently  at  Wauseon,  it  is  proper,  in  this  connection  to  furnish  a 
list  of  those  who  have  had  a  part  in  the  administrative  affairs  of  the  county. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  destruction  of  the  old  court-house  at  Otto- 
kee, the  records  of  every  kind  were  destroyed  and  for  that  reason  it  is  impos- 
sible to  verify  the  lists  prior  to  the  year  1864,  except  from  the  recollection  of 
persons  generally  conversant  with  the  county's  affairs.  In  the  main,  however, 
the  list  prior  to  1864  will  be  found  correct. 

The  dates  set  opposite  the  names  of  officers  represent  the  year  of  their  elec- 
tion, where  no  date  is  given  it  will  be  understood  to  mean  that  the  officials 
held  during  the  years  of  which  no  record  exists. 

Sheriff. 

George  Brown,  Charles  Smith,  Myron  H.  Hayes,  Oscar  A.  Cobb,  Jacob 
Huffmire,  1864-6;  Joel  H.  Brigham,  1868-70-76;  Sullivan  Johnson,  1872-74; 
Harvey  L.  Aldrich,  1878-80;   Frank  T.  Blair,  1882-84;   Daniel  Dowhng,  1886. 

Tre.vsurer. 

Nathaniel  Leggett,  Isaac  Springer,  Julius  Marsh,  L.  L,  Carpenter,  1864; 
A.  B.  Canfield,  1866-68;  David  Avers,  1870-72;  H.  L.  Moseley,  1874-76; 
Jared  M.  Longnecker,  1878;  Thomas  A.  Kelley,  1879;  James  M.  Howard, 
1881-83;  John  B.  Schnetzler,  1885. 

Auditor. 

Mortimer  D.  Hibbard,  A.  C.  Hough,  Jason  Hibbard,  1864;  Ozias  Merrill, 
1866-68;  L.  G.  Ely,  1870-71-73-75;  Isaac  Springer,  1877-80  A.  W.  McCon- 
nell,  1883;  Thomas  Kelley,  by  appointment ;   A.  W.  McConnell,  iJ 


292  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


Prosecuting  Attorney. 

J.  H.  Read,  A.  Carmichael,  N.  Merrill,  M.  R.  Brailey,  J.  W.  Rosborough, 
1864,  1868,  1870;  Octavius  Waters,  1866;  W.  W.  Touvelle,  1872;  M.  Handy, 
1874;   H.  H.  Ham,  1876-78;  W.  H.  Gavitt,  1880-82;   Mazzini  Slusser,  1885. 

Recorder. 

C.  Allman,  Joseph  Jewell,  S.  B.  Darby,  R.  H.  Howard,  J.  K.  Newcomer, 
W.  H.  Stevens,  jr.,  1866-69;  Richard  Taylor,  1872-75;  Albert  S.  Bloomer, 
1878-81-84. 

Probate  Judge. 

Samuel  Gillis,  1851-4;  Lucius  H.  Upham,  one  month,  unseated;  Socrates 
H.  Cately,  1854-58;  Oliver  B.  Verity,  1858-1870;  Caleb  M.  Keith,  1870-79; 
Levi  W.  Brown,  1879-88. 

The  years  given  for  the  last  above  officials  represent  their  terms  of  incum- 
bency of  office,  having  been  correctly  ascertained. 

Clerks. OF  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

Samuel  Durgin,  Naman  Merrill,  Harry  B.  Bayes,  1861-64;  Samuel  Dur- 
gin,  1864-67;  Truman  H.  Brown,  1867-70;  Daniel  W.  Poe,  1870-73;  Al- 
bert Deyo,  1873-79;   Albert  15.  Smith,  1879-88. 

County  Surveyor. 

JohnSpillane,  1865;  Osceola  E.  M.  Howard,  1868;  Anthony  B.  Robinson, 
1871-74-77-80;.  Lucius  B.  Fraker,  1883-86. 

Coroners. 

W.  M.  Schnetzler,  1864;  Josiah  H.  Bennett,  1865;  John  Fenton,  1866; 
Charles  M.  Canfield,  1868-69;  John  Odell,  1871-73  ;  S.  T.  Worden,  1875-77; 
Charles  E.  Bennett,  1879-81  ;   George  W.  Hartman,  1883. 

County  Commissioners. 

Christopher  Watkins,  William  Sutton,  Jonathan  Barnes,  Warren  McCutch- 
en,  Stephen  Houghton,  E.  Masters,  George  Taft,  Joel  Brigham,  James  Cornell, 
William  Dye,' Henry  Jordon,  Elias  Richardson,  1864;  Joseph  Ely,  1865  ;  A.  B. 
Gunn,  1866;  Milton  O.  McCaskey,  1867;  Joseph  Ely,  1868;  A.  B.  Gunn, 
1869;  A.  B.  Thompson,  1870;  H.  A.  Canfield,  1871;  Joseph  Shadle,  1872, 
A.B.Thompson,  1873;  D.  B.  Allen,  1874;  Joseph  Shadle,  1875;  A.  B. 
Thompson,  1876;  E.  L.  Barber,  1877;  Richard  H.  Scott,  1878;  Charles 
Blake,  1879;  E.  L.  Barber,  1880;  Richard  H.  Scott,  i88i  ;  Charles  Blake, 
1882,  Charles  H.  Van  Ostrand,  1883;  James  C.  Vaughan,  1884;  Henry  H. 
Williams,  1885;   Sylvester  W.  Baum,  li 


Fulton  County.  293 


The  present  county  officials  are  as  follows  :  Auditor,  Thomas  A.  Kelley ; 
clerk  of  the  courts,  Albert  B.  Smith;  probate  judge,  Levi  W.  Brown;  treasu- 
rer, J.  B.  Schnetzler ;  recorder,  A.  S.  Bloomer  ;  prosecuting  attorney,  Mazzini 
Slusser;  sheriff,  Daniel  Dowling ;  county  surveyor,  Lucius  B.  Fraker;  county 
commissioners,  J.  C.  Vaughan,  T.  J.  Cornell,  S.  W.  Baum  ;  infirmary  directors, 
S.  G.  Aumend,  L.  H.  Guilford,  W.  P.  Cowan. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Geographical  Location  of  Fulton  County — Boundaries — Position  of  Townships — Streams — 
Topography — Ditching  and  Draining. 

FULTON  county  occupies  a  position,  geographically,  in  the  northwestern 
portion  of  the  State,  in  the  country  incident  to  the  historic  Maumee  val- 
ley ;  and  although  no  part  of  the  river  Maumee  lies  within  the  county,  the 
early  history  of  this  locality  is  inseparably  connected  with  that  valley  ;  it  is 
auxiliary  to,  but  not  co-extensive  with  it: 

Fulton  was  created  by  the  surrender  of  portions  of  the  counties  of  Lucas, 
Henry  and  Williams,  the  greater  part,  by  far,  being  taken  from  the  county  first 
named.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  State  of  Michigan,  east  by  Lucas 
county,  south  by  Henry  county  and  west  by  Williams  county. 

The  county  is,  perhaps,  as  regular  in  conformation  as  any  within  the  State. 
Its  townships  number  twelve,  being  in  a  range  of  four,  east  and  west,  and  three 
north  and  south.  Gorham  township  occupies  the  extreme  northwest  corner ; 
east  of  that  hes  Chesterfield,  then  Royalton,  and  on  the  extreme  east  and  in 
the  northeast  corner  of  the  county,  lies  Amboy.  On  the  second  or  middle  tier 
on  the  west  is  located  Frankhn  and  next  east  of  that  is  Dover ;  then  Pike,  and 
on  the  extreme  east  Fulton  township.  Of  the  lower  or  southern  tier  of  town- 
ships, first  on  the  west  is  German,  the  largest  in  area  of  the  county's  sub-divi- 
sions ;  east  of  German  is  Clinton,  within  the  bounds  of  which  is  located  the 
county  seat,  Wauseon.  East  of  Clinton  lies  York,  and  on  the  extreme  east 
and  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  county  is  the  township  of  Swan  Creek. 

The  old  "  State  line,"  or  as  it  has  otherwise  been  known,  the  Fulton  line, 
passes  an  almost  due  east  and  west  course,  intersecting  the  townships  of  Frank- 
lin, Dover,  Pike  and  Fulton.  This  line  was  the  former  boundary  between  the 
States  of  Ohio  and  Michigan,  and  concerning  which  boundary  there  was  a  se- 
rious complication  between  the  authorities  of  the  two  States.  A  full  and  ac- 
curate account  of  this  controversy  will  be  found  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the 
"  Land  Titles,"  of  this  work. 


294  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Fulton  county  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  a  well  watered  district,  and  there^ 
are  but  few  streams  of  any  considerable  size  within  its  limits.  The  largest,  un- 
doubtedly, is  the  Tiffin  River,  or,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  "  Bean  Creek."' 
This  stream  has  its  headwaters  in  the  ^northern  and  northwestern  townships, 
Gorham  and  Chesterfield,  and  in  the  townships  north  and  within  the  State  of 
Michigan.  Its  general  course  is  southwest,  through  the  east  part  of  Gorham, 
into  Franklin,  which  it  intersects,  and  thence  across  the  northwest  corner  of 
German  and  passes  into  Williams  county  on  the  west.  There  are  many  tribu- 
taries to  Bean  Creek  in  Gorham  township,  thus  making  it  one  of  the  best  nat- 
urally drained  townships  of  the  county  ;  in  fact,  there  has  been  a  less  number 
of  artificial  drain  ditches  constructed  in  this  township  than  any  other  county 
except  Franklin.  The  extreme  northeast  part  of  Gorham  is  drained  by  a  small 
stream  called  Mill  Creek. 

South  of  Bean  Creek,  and  maintaining  a  general  course  of  nearly  the  same 
direction,  is  Brush  Creek.  This  has  its  source  or  head  near  Spring  Hill,  in 
the  western  part  of  Dover  township  ;  thence  it  flows  southwesterly,  crosses  the 
northwest  corner  of  Clinton,  enters  German,  and  flows  its  general  course  south- 
west across  the  last  named  township  and  leaves  it  at  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  county. 

The  township  of  York  has  a  number  of  streams  that  have  their  courses  gen- 
erally in  a  southerly  direction,  yet  artificial  drainage  has  been  resorted  to  in  or- 
der to  free  its  lands  of  their  marshy  or  swampy  character,  and  adapt  them  for 
agricultural  pursuits.  Its  streams  gradually  find  their  course  south  into  Henry 
county  and  discharge  into  the  Maumee. 

Bud  Creek  has  its  source  in  the  central  part  of  Pike  township,  whence  it 
runs  southerly  and  with  an  inclination  to  the  east,  touches  the  northeast  part 
of  York,  crosses  Swan  Creek  and  passes  on  into  Henry  county  on  the  south. 

Swan  Creek  is  a  small  stream  having  its  headwaters  in  the  southwest  part 
of  Fulton  township;  thence  it  flows  south  and  east  across  the  north  part  of 
Swan  Creek  township,  into  Lucas  county  on  the  east.  The  South  branch  drains 
largely  the  northern  and  eastern  part  of  the  township.  It  maintains  a  general 
course  bearing  east  and  passes  beyond  the  borders  of  this  into  Lucas  county. 
Blue  Creek  is  a  small  stream  flowing  from  the  central  part  of  Swan  Creek  town- 
ship south,  and  then  east  into  Lucas  county.  Ten  Mile  Creek  rises  part  in 
each  Ambo)'  and  Royalton  townships  and  runs  east  and  northeast  past  Meta- 
mora  and  into  Lucas  county. 

These  are  the  larger  and  more  important  streams  of  this  county,  which  in 
ordinary  localities  would  be  entirely  sufficient  to  thoroughly  drain  the  whole 
territory  embraced  by  the  county.  But  unlike  the  counties  in  the  eastern  and 
southern  parts  of  the  State,  Fulton  has  no  hills  of  any  magnitude  to  give  head- 
way or  force  to  its  streams.  The  hills  are  no  more  than  a  slight  rise  of  ground 
in  any  portion  of  the  county;  while  in  many  localities  there  seems  to  be  a  gen- 


Fulton  County. 


29s 


«ral  depression  of  the  surface,  insomuch   that  they  cannot  rid  themselves  of 
their  surface  water  without  resort  to  artificial  drainage. 

The  general  slope  of  the  surface  is  to  the  southeast  and  quite  moderate. 
The  lowest  land  in  the  county  is  in  the  township  of  Swan  Creek,  where  the 
surface  lies  ninety-five  feet  above  Lake  Erie,  while  in  northwestern  Gorham  the 
altitude  reached  is  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  lake.  In  the 
central  part  of  the  county,  embracing  the  northern  part  of  Clinton,  nearly  all 
of  Dover,  about  three-fifths  of  Chesterfield,  the  southwest  part  of  Royalton,  the 
west  half  of  Pike,  and  the  northwest  corner  of  York,  is  an  elevated  sandy 
plateau  with  an  average  elevation  of  about  two  hundred  feet  above  lake  water. 
Prior  to  about  the  year  1858,  there  was  a  vast  amount  of  land  lying  within  the 
county  that  was  wholly  unfit  for  agricultural  purposes,  on  account  of  its 
swampy  character,  and  inasmuch  as  there  were  no  streams  within  the  county 
available  for  water  power,  there  was  but  little  prospect  for  advancement 
or  progress  by  way  of  manufacture,  and  the  inhabitants  must,  per  force,  seek 
some  channel  or  adopt  some  means  whereby  the  county  might  be  built  up  and 
made  productive.  This  peculiarity  of  situation,  if  it  may  be  properly  called 
such,  was  not  entirely  single  to  this  locality,  but  there  were  several  counties 
similarly  possessed.  Here  the  climate,  the  soil  and  the  natural  situation  of  the 
land  showed  favorable  for  good  results  in  agricultural  pursuits  as  soon  as  the 
surface  of  the  land  could  be  properly  drained  of  its  surplus  and  sluggish  water. 
The  Legislature  made  provision  for  draining  by  the  ditching  process,  and 
by  this  must  the  county  stand  or  fall.  It  can  hardly  be  within  the  province  of 
this  chapter  to  enter  into  a  detailed  narrative  of  the  laws  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature from  time  to  time,  bearing  upon  the  subject  of  ditch  draining,  but  suffi- 
cient it  is  to  state  that  such  was  the  fact ;  and  under  this  act  and  its  several 
amendments  and  supplements  has  the  vast  amount  of  draining  been  done 
within  this  county  during  the  last  twenty-five  and  more  years.  While  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  draining  done  in  the  county  has  been  of  that  kind 
known  as  ditching,  still  there  has  been  laid  by  the  commissioners,  or  those  act- 
ing in  the  work  for  them,  a  large  amount  of  tile,  or  pipe  made  from  the  native 
clay.  The  latter  is  used  where  it  may  be  laid  to  advantage.  Tile  draining  is 
usually  done  by  the  individual  in  cases  where  he  desires  to  carry  the  water  from 
some  depressed  portion  of  land  to  some  already  established  ditch  or  other 
stream. 

It  was  in  the  year  1859  that  ditching  commenced  in  this  county  under  the 
direction  of  the  county  commissioners,  and  since  that  time  there  are  but  very 
few  square  miles  of  the  surface  of  the  county  but  has  in  some  manner  been 
opened  for  this  purpose.  Of  course  there  are  localities  where  this  is  not  nec- 
essary, on  the  more  elevated  lands  of  sandy  character.  The  work  is  carried 
on  to  such  an  extent  that  each  year,  for  several  years  past,  there  has  been  at 
least  one  hundred  miles  of  ditching  performed  in  this  county. 


296  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  following  record,  by  townships,  will  show  first,  the  date  of  digging  the 
first  ditch  therein ;  second,  the  number  opened,  or  dug  ;  third,  the  number 
deepened  or  widened,  or  both,  and  fourth,  the  number  cleaned  out  : 

Amboy,  1862;  forty-eight  new,  sixteen  deepened  and  widened,  and  three 
cleaned  out.     A  total  operated  upon  of  sixty-seven. 

Royalton,  1859;  thirty-eight  new,  sixteen  deepened  and  widened,  and 
one  cleaned  out.     Total,  fifty-five. 

Chesterfield,  1864;  thirty-four  new,  seventeen  deepened  and  widened,  and 
six  cleaned  out.     Total,  fifty-seven. 

FrankHn,  1859;  fourteen  new,  four  deepened  and  widened,  and  one 
cleaned  out.     Total,  nineteen. 

Gorham,  1865;  twenty-eight  new,  five- deepened  and  widened,  and  one 
cleaned  out.     Total,  thirty-four. 

Dover,  1864;  forty- six  new,  twenty- eight  deepened  and  widened,  and  six 
cleaned  out.     Total,  eighty. 

Pike,  1859;  fifty-one  new,  thirteen  deepened  and  widened,  and  six  cleaned 
out.     Total,  seventy. 

Fulton,  1862  ;  forty- four  new,  twelve  deepened  and  widened,  and  four 
cleaned  out.     Total,  sixty. 

Swan  Creek,  1859;  seventy  new,  nineteen  deepened  and  widened,  and 
twenty  cleaned  out.     Total,  one  hundred  nine. 

York,  1859;  sixty-one  new,  sixteen  deepened  and  widened,  and  ten 
cleaned  out.     Total,  eighty-  seven. 

Clinton,  1859;  seventy-one  new,  twenty-eight  deepened  and  widened,  and 
twenty  cleaned  out.     Total,  one  hundred  nineteen. 

German,  1859;  thirty-one  new,  seven  deepened  and  widened,  and  one 
cleaned  out.     Total,  thirty- nine. 


CHAPTER  XXXH. 

GEOLOGY  OF  FULTON  COUNTY. 

IT  is  a  well  established  fact,  the  result  of  scientific  research,  that  the  whole 
country  about  this  region  has  at  some  time,  ages  ago,  been  covered  with 
water  of  unknown  depth,  and  that  these  waters  were  constantly  changing  as  if  in 
motion,  or  by  under  currents,  tides  and  waves.  In  the  course  of  ages  these 
waters  receded,  having  found  some  outlet  into  the  vast  bodies  of  water  that 
now  so  largely  cover  the  earth's  surface.  Again,  the  labors  of  those  who,  dur- 
ing the  last  two  hundred   years,  have   devoted  themselves  to  the  study  of  the 


Fulton  County. 


297 


structure  of  the  globe,  have  resulted  in  the  creation  of  the  science  of  geology, 
and  the  claim  which  this  department  of  human  knowledge  has  to  science,  de- 
pends upon  the  symmetry  which  has  been  found  to  prevail  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  materials  forming  the  earth's  crust.  By  the  slow  process  of  adding  act 
to  fact  and  by  comparing  the  observations  of  the  devotees  of  the  science  in  dif- 
ferent lands,  it  has  been  found  that  the  rocky  strata  of  the  earth  hold  defi- 
nite relation  to  each  other  in  position,  and  hence  in  age ;  that  many  of  them 
are  distinguished  by  constant  or  general  features,  and  contain  characteristic  or 
peculiar  remains  of  plants  or  animals  by  which  they  may  be  recognized  where- 
ever  found.  This  sequence  of  deposit  forms  what  has  been  aptly  termed  the 
Geological  Column  and  the  changes  which  are  recorded  in  the  strata  of  differ- 
ent formations,  both  in  regard  to  the  physical  condition  of  the  earth's  surface, 
and  the  organic  forms  that  inhabited  it,  constitute  that  which  is  known  as  ge- 
ological history.  Of  this  record  the  different  ages,  periods  and  epochs  follow 
each  other  everywhere  in  regular  order,  and  form  a  grand  and 'uniform  system 
of  change  and  progress,  compared  with  which  the  successive  eras  of  human 
history  drop  into  insignificance. 

The  observations  of  geologists  have  shown  that  the  materials  which  com- 
pose the  earth's  crust  form  three  distinct  classes  of  rocks,  the  igneous,  sedunen- 
tary  and  metamorphic.  Of  these,  the  first  class  includes  those  that  are  the  direct 
result  of  fusion.  These  are  divided  into  two  subordinate  groups,  volcanic  and 
plutonic,  of  which  the  first  includes  such  as  are  produced  by  volcanic  eruption, 
lava  in  its  various  forms,  pumice,  obsidian,  trachyte,  etc.  The  second  class  of 
igneous  rocks  —  the  plutonic  —  comprises  those  massive,  rocky  forms  which 
are  without  distinct  bedding,  have  apparently  been  completely  fused,  and  yet 
were  never  probably  brought  to  the  earth's  surface  by  volcanic  action.  Hav- 
ing consolidated  under  incalculably  great  pressure,  they  are,  in  structure,  dense 
and  compact,  never  exhibiting  the  porous  and  incoherent  condition  which  is  so 
characteristic  of  purely  volcanic  rocks.  The  plutonic  rocks  are  granite  in 
some  of  its  varieties,  syenite,  porphyry,  and  part,  but  not  all,  of  basalts,  dior- 
ites  and  dolerites  (greenstones).  None  of  these  igneous  rocks  are  found  in  place 
in  this  region  of  county,  although  they  exist  in  vast  quantities  in  the  mining 
districts  of  the  west  and  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior.  From  the  latter  re- 
gion numerous  fragments  were  brought  and  scattered  generally  through  this 
region  during  the  glacial  period,  and  they  constitute  a  prominent  feature  in 
the  drift  deposits  that  cover  so  large  a  part  of  Ohio. 

Abundant  evidence  exists  that  the  earth  has  been  consolidated  from  a  gas- 
eous through  a  liquid  state,  and  that  the  consolidation  resulted  from  the  cool- 
ing of  an  intensely  heated  mass,  but  that  near  the  center  this  cooling  process 
has  never  been  entirely  completed  and  makes  its  existence  manifest  even  to 
this  period,  through  not  infrequent  volcanic  eruptions.  Again  is  it  evidenced 
in  penetrating  the  earth  to  a  great  depth,  which,  as  it  is  increased,  the  higher 
becomes  the  temperature.  ^^ 


298  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

It  is  a  matter  of  supposition  that  the  igneous  rocks  were  formed  first  and 
that  they  constituted  the  primeval  continents.  As  soon,  however,  as  they 
were  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  elements,  they  began  to  be  worked  down 
and  washed  away,  and  the  materials  derived  from  them  were  deposited  as  sed- 
iment in  the  first  existing  water  basins.  That  process  has  been  going  on 
through  all  subsequent  ages,  so  that  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  rocks  which 
we  now  encounter  in  the  study  of  the  earth  belongs  to  the  class  of  sedimentary 
deposits.  These  are  commonly  known  as  sandstone,  shale,  limestone,  etc.,  the 
consolidation  of  the  comminuted  material  having  been  effected  by  both  chem- 
ical and  physical  agencies.  The  differences  discovered  in  these  sedimentary 
rocks  are,  for  the  most  part,  dependent  upon  very  simple  causes,  such  as  are 
now  seen  in  operation  upon  every  coast.  The  rains  that  fall  upon  the  land 
give  rise  to  rivers,  and  these  on  their  way  to  the  sea  excavate  the  valleys 
through  which  they  flow,  transporting  the  materials  taken  into  suspension  to  the 
points  where  the  motion  of  the  currents  is  arrested  and  their  power  of  suspen- 
sion ceases,  that  is,  in  the  water  basins  where  they  debouche.  In  the  gradual 
arrest  of  the  motion  of  river  currents,  the  coarsest  and  heaviest  materials  first 
sink  to  the  bottom,  in  obedience  of  the  laws  of  gravitation,  then,  in  succession, 
the  fine  and  still  finer  until  all  are  deposited.  Shore  waves  are  still  more  po- 
tent agents  in  the  distribution  of  sediments.  Whether  they  break  on  cliff  or 
beach  they  are  constantly  employed  in  grinding  up,  and  by  their  under-tow 
carrying  away  the  barriers  against  which  they  beat.  Nothing  can  resist  their 
force  and  ceaseless  industry.  In  time  the  most  iron-bound  coast  and  the 
broadest  continent  must  yield  to  their  slow  but  sure  advance,  and  the  com- 
minuted materials  are  spread  far  and  wide  in  the  rear  of  their  line  of  progress. 

Rain,  rivers  and  shore  waves  are  the  great  destructive  agents  in  geology — 
the  greatest  levelers  known — but  in  the  same  measure  that  they  demolish,  the 
sea  builds  again.  She  sifts,  sorts  and  spreads  anew  and  in  regular  order,  the 
materials  she  receives  from  them,  thus  laying  the  foundation  for  new  conti- 
nents. These,  when  raised  above  the  sea- level  by  internal  forces  are  again  cut 
away,  again  to  be  rebuilt. 

Upon  the  retreat  of  the  sea  the  surface  of  the  land  would  be  again  covered 
with  vegetation,  acted  upon  by  atmospheric  influences,  washed  into  hills  and 
valleys,  and  locally  covered  with  sand  or  clay,  the  products  of  this  local  wash- 
ing. Any  excavations  now  made  upon  this  continent  would  reveal  distinct 
and  legible  records  of  this  last  inundation,  viz.:  Beneath  the  superficials,  a  lime- 
stone; below  this,  a  shale;  below  that  a  sandstone,  or  conglomerate;  and  all 
these  resting  upon  the  rocky  foundations  of  the  continent ;  the  result  of  a  pre- 
vious submergence,  and  representing  a  previous  geological  age.  To  be  sure 
these  rules  are  not  without  some  occasional  irreconcilable  deviations,  some- 
times called  faults,  or  exceptions,  owing  to  a  variety  of  causes,  but  are  of  not 
sufficiently  frequent  occurrence  to  demand  any  lengthy  explanation,  or  any 


Fulton  County.  299 


notice  other  than  mere  mention.  Having  followed  the  geological  evolutions 
of  our  continent  thus  far,  its  importance  to  the  average  reader  being  an  apol- 
ogy for  its  length,  we  may  now  turn  and  observe  the  geological  formation  and 
construction  of  this  locality,  as  the  same  is  laid  down  in  the  geological  reports 
and  surveys  prepared  by  Prof  C.  K.  Gilbert,  from  which  the  strength  of  this 
chapter  is  taken,  and  to  which  is  added  the  result  of  a  recent  drilling  for  oil  in 
the  vicinity  of  Wauseon,  showing  the  different  strata  penetrated  and  its  thick- 
ness. 

The  bedded  rocks  of  Fulton  county  are  covered  with  a  heavy  sheet  of  drift, 
to  a  depth  of  from  fifty  to  at  least  two  hundred  feet.  These  are  mainly  on  or 
near  the  line  of  the  Air- Line  Railroad,  and  the  rock  struck  in  each  case  was 
the  Huron  shale  —  either  the  characteristic  black  shale  or  associated  masses  of 
pyrites.  At  Delta  it  was  drilled  through  in  boring  for  oil,  and  found  to  have 
a  thickness  of  fifty-five  feet.  Under  it  was  found  twenty  feet  of  soft  gray 
shale,  representing  the  Hamilton  group,  while  the  upper  part  of  the  Coniferous 
group  appeared  to  be  quite  argillaceous.  Comparing  the  altitudes  of  these 
beds  in  the  neighboring  counties,  Henry  and  Lucas,  where  they  outcrop,  the 
general  dip  is  found  to  be  to  the  north  and  west,  and  it  is  probable  that  its 
continuance  carries  them  under  the  Waverly  group  within  the  limits  of  the 
county.  So  far  as  can  be  judged  the  greater  part  of  the  county  is  underlaid 
by  Huron  shale,  and  this  is  covered  in  the  northwest  portion  by  the  beds  of 
the  Waverly  group. 

In  boring  for  water  near  the  south  line  of  Gorham  township,  cannel  coal 
was  struck,  and  was  said  to  have  been  penetrated  to  a  depth  of  three  and  one- 
half  feet.  Overlying  it  was  the  blue  clay  of  the  drift,  but  as  the  underlying 
material  was  not  determined,  it  remains  uncertain  whether  the  coal  was  in  its 
original  position,  or  was  merely  a  drift  boulder  transported  from  the  Michigan 
coal  field.  All  present  information  or  knowledge  tends  toward  the  latter 
theory,  although  the  nearest  outcrops  of  the  coal  measures  are  about  forty 
miles  distant. 

The  unmodified  Erie  clay  (sand,  gravel  and  boulders),  appears  in  the  north- 
western part  of  Gorham  township,  and  presents  the  same  features  as  are  found 
in  the  county  on  the  west,  except  that  the  deep  marshes  are  wanting,  or  nearly 
so.  The  beach  line  which  limits  it  crosses  the  west  line  of  Franklin  township, 
a  half  mile  north  of  the  "Fulton  line,"  and  runs  northeast  to  Fayette,  and 
thence  to  the  Michigan  line,  which  it  intersects  three  miles  west  of  the  east 
line  of  Gorham  township. 

The  lacustrine  clays  (post-glacial  epoch),  have  resulted  from  the  redispo- 
sition  of  the  Erie  clay,  and  differ  from  it  in  that  they  lack  the  coarser  materials, 
are  more  homogeneous,  and  are  deposited  with  a  flat,  and  often  nearly  level 
surface.  They  cover  the  county  generally.  In  Franklin,  German,°the  south 
part  of  York  and  Clinton,  and  the  eastern  part  of  Amboy,  their  extreme^flat- 


300  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ness  is  remarkable,  rendering  it  quite  impossible  with  the  eye  to  discover  the 
direction  of  their  slope. 

The  beach  ridges  have  but  a  small  area,  but  crossing  many  farms  otherwise 
destitute  of  sand,  they  form  a  desirable  variety.  Besides  the  upper  ridge,  the 
position  of  which  in  Gorham  has  been  described,  another,  constituting  the  third 
beach,  is  well  defined.  Beginning  on  the  Michigan  line  three  miles  west  of 
Metamora  it  curves  abruptly,  first  east  and  then  south.  Proceeding  nearly 
south  to  the  village  of  Ai,  it  then  curves  so  as  to  take  a  course  a  little  west  of 
southwest,  touches  the  northwest  corner  of  Swan  Creek  township,  passes 
through  the  village  of  Delta,  and  leaves  the  county  near  the  middle  of  Clinton 
township.  In  its  general  character  it  is  sandy,  but  at  several  points  where  its 
dimensions  are  small,  it  is  formed  of  fine  gravel.  These  gravel  and  sand 
ridges  are  desirable  for  roads,  and  are  used  at  numerous  places.  In  the  north- 
east part  of  German  township  are  several  parallel  ridges  of  fine  sand,  that  are 
possibly  beaches.  They  run  from  the  edge  of  the  central  sandy  plateau  south- 
west over  the  clay  plain,  in  which  they  are  finally  lost. 

In  the  regions  of  the  deep  sand  a  large  part  of  the  surface  consists  of  a 
succession  of  knolls,  or  dunes,  and  short  ridges,  the  latter  being,  occasionally, 
traceable  for  some  miles.  Interspersed  with  these,  and  enclosed  by  them,  are 
numerous  marshes,  or  wet  prairies,  large  and  small,  which  are  slowly  building 
up  their  surfaces  with  accumulating  muck.  When  first  occupied  by  the  whites 
the  only  trees  on  these  tracts  were  oaks,  and  these  so  sparsely  set  that  their 
tops,  as  a  rule,  did  not  meet,  and  a  wagon  might  be  driven  in  nearly  any  di- 
rection. From  this  fact  the  county  became  known  as  the  "  oak  openings." 
With  the  discontinuance  of  the  annual  fires  set  by  the  Indians,  a  dense  growth 
of  oak  sprung  up  in  many  places,  but  the  lightest  of  the  sand  acquired  only  a 
scrubby  undergrowth.  The  more  dry  parts  of  the  prairies  became  grown 
thickly  with  aspens,  which  also  dates  from  the  cessation  of  the  fires. 

These  deep  sands  cover  a  fourth  part  of  the  county.  The  principal  tract 
is  central,  including  central  and  southern  Chesterfield,  the  western  half  of  Pike, 
and  a  small  area  in  southwestern  Royalton.  In  the  southeast  the  county 
limits  include  a  portion  of  a  much  larger  district  that  forms  a  broad  belt  in 
Lucas,  Henry  and  Wood  counties.  In  this  county  it  covers  the  southeastern 
two-thirds  of  Swan  Creek  township,  and  a  small  portion  of  York. 

There  can.  be  no  doubt  that  this  sand,  of  whatever  depth,  rests  on  clay,  and 
all  around  the  margins  of  these  tracts  are  belts  of  country,  often  several  miles 
in  width,  where  the  sand  is  thinner,  so  that  the  underlying  clay  may  be  met 
in  digging  a  few  feet,  and  forms  an  impervious  subsoil  that  checks  largely  the 
leaching  tendencies  of  the  sand.  These  belts  have  been  as  well  timbered  as 
the  clay  lands,  and  at  their  margins  pass  gradually  into  them.  The  depth  of 
the  drift  as  shown  by  examinations  made  in  various  localities,  is  about  as  fol- 
lows :   Archbold,  one  hundred  and  forty-six  feet ;  at  Wauseon,  one  hundred 


Fulton  County.  301 


and  sixty-six  feet;  at  Delta,  eighty- five  feet ;  at  Phillip's  Corners,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet;  at  Matamoras,  one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet;  Fulton  town- 
ship, eighty  feet.  The  water  supply  in  the  deep  sand  district  is  derived  by 
shallow  wells  from  the  sand.  Elsewhere  recourse  is  had  to  the  deep-seated 
reservoirs  in  the  Erie  clay,  and  these  are  reached  by  boring.  In  frequent  in- 
stances the  clay  has  been  penetrated  to  its  base,  but  no  supply  obtained  ;  still 
more  commonly  water  is  found  at  the  base,  and  even  above  it.  There  exist 
no  surface  indications,  nor  other  data  from  which  to  anticipate  results,  and 
it  is  a  notorious  fact  that  of  two  holes  bored  but  a  few  rods  apart,  one  may 
furnish  an  abundance  of  water,  and  the  other  none.  When  reached,  the  water 
generally  rises  nearly  to  the  surface,  and  in  some  limited  districts  overflows^ 
making  artesian  wells ;  the  belt  of  these,  already  described  as  crossing  Will- 
iams county  between  the  Ridge  and  Beam  Creek,  crossing  Franklin  and  termJ- 
nating  in  Gorham  township.  A  fountain  well  is  known  in  Clinton  township. 
The  water  has  the  same  general  character,  and  the  same  variety,  as  that  of  Will- 
iams county. 

Clay,  suitable  for  making  brick,  can  be  found  in  abundance  in  every  town- 
ship, and  a  quality  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  tile  is  not  uncommon.  Bricks 
are  made  to  some  extent,  and  the  manufacture  of  drain-tiles,  although  a  com- 
paratively recent  industry,  it  is  now  large  and  still  growing.  The  people  real- 
ize the  importance  of  a  thorough  under-drainage  to  accomplish  the  best  results 
in  agricultural  pursuits.  This  is  all  the  more  apparent  in  this  county  where  the 
land  is  very  flat.  The  excessive  moisture  became  an  evil,  but  unstinted  ditch- 
ing under  competent  direction,  together  with  the  free  under-drainage  system 
that  has  marked  the  county  during  the  past  ten  years,  has  made  it  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  productive  counties  of  the  northwest  territory  of  Ohio.  En- 
dowed with  no  natural  facilities  for  manufacture,  she  has  had  of  necessity  to  be- 
come almost  purely  a  farming  county,  and  readily  and  heartily  have  her  peo- 
ple responded  to  this  necessity,  and  its  results  are  shown  in  the  full  and  abund- 
ant crops  of  each  season.  The  deposit  known  2.=,  feat  or  muck,  is  found  in  mod- 
erate quantities  in  the  marshes  of  the  sand  districts.  This  is  serviceable  as  a 
top-dressing  for  the  light  sand  lands.  Marl  is  also  found  in  the  marshes,  upon 
the  borders  of  the  sand  areas,  where  there  has  been  some  drainage  from  the  clay 
land.  Bog  iron  ore  has  been  found  in  similar  situations,  and,  possibly,  may  be 
found  to  exist    in  considerable  quantities. 

The  existence  of  petroleum  in  this  and  adjoining  counties  is  a  known  fact, 
but  that  it  need  not  be  sought  or  expected  in  paying  quantities  in  this  locality, 
is  indicated  by  the  experimental  borings  that  have  been  made.  Still,  this  non- 
success,  is  not  a  sure  guarantee  that  valuable  oil  deposits  are  not  underlying 
this  county.  It  was  thought  that  in  earlier  days  there  were  sure  surface  indi- 
cations that  would  denote  the  presence  of  this  product,  but  later  theories,  and 
later  results,  have  exploded  this  fallacy.     Borings  for  water  that  reached  the 


302  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

underlying  black  shale  have,  in  several  instances,  penetrated  at  the  bottom  of 
a  gravel  saturated  with  oil,  and  the  discovery  of  a  local  deposit  would  not  be 
remarkable.  Still,  a  practical  and  well  informed  oil  producer  would  naturally 
be  inclined  to  the  belief  that  this  region  is  "off  the  belt."  But  this  theory 
proves  nothing,  as  oil,  in  limited  quantities  has  been  obtained,  and  whether  it 
exists  in  quantities  sufficient  to  warrant  its  production,  remains  for  future  dem- 
onstration. 

An  accurate  record,  kept  by  M.  Britton,  during  the  process  of  boring  at 
Wauseon,  the  depth  attained  being  over  twenty-one  hundred  feet,  will  show 
through  what  deposits  the  drill  passed,  and  the  thickness  of  strata.  From  the 
surface  to  the  shale  or  slate  rock,  the  drift  measured  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
six  feet,  and  from  thence  downward  as  follows :  Black  shale,  94  feet ;  soft 
limestone,  30  feet;  black  shale,  70  feet;  lime,  27  feet;  hard  brown  lime,  15 
feet;  soft  lime,  20  feet;  soapstone,  5  feet;  hard  brown  lime,  15  feet;  white 
lime,  60  feet ;  brown  hard  lime,  45  feet ;  magnesia,  5  feet ;  light  brown  hme, 
15  feet;  lime  and  magnesia,  10  feet;  chalk,  5  feet;  light  lirne,  20  feet ;  dark 
hard  lime,  15  feet;  white  pebble  sand,  20  feet ;  light  slate,  15  feet;  hard  white 
lime,  65  feet ;  floating  sand  over  coal,  i  foot;  coal,  8  feet;  soapstone,  10  feet; 
water  Hme,  70  feet;  drab  lime,  35  feet;  hard  lime  with  iron,  130  feet;  water 
lime,  45  feet ;  brown  hard  lime,  48  feet ;  dark  drab  lime,  25  feet;  white  marble, 
no  feet;  dark  lime,  90  feet;  colored  marble,  120  feet;  dark  lime,  53  feet; 
slate,  90  feet;  dark  slate,  280  feet;  black  slate,  310  feet;  slate  and  Trenton 
rock,  30  feet. 


CHAPTER  XXXITI. 

Showing  Titles,  G-rants  and  Surveys,  Native  and  Foreign,  to  the  Soil  of  Fulton  County. 

THE  territory  now  known  as  Fulton  county,  and  now  included  in  Ohio,  was 
first  explored,  with  its  contiguous  territory,  by  Chevalier  Robert  de  la 
Salle,  a  French  fur  trader,  who  came  to  the  valley  of  the  Maumee  in  1679,  and 
where,  in  1680,  he  built  a  small  stockade  fort  at  Miami,  just  below  the  present 
site  of  Maumee  proper.  The  French  claimed  the  country,  and  repelled  by  force 
of  arms,  every  counter  claim  of  the  English-speaking  settlers,  who  held  under 
grants  from  Kings  George  or  James  of  England,  until  1763.  For  generations 
after  the  discovery  of  America  by  Christopher  Columbus,  in  October,  1492, 
the  country  was  the  subject  of  wild  conjecture  and  tales  of  wonder  by  the 
whole  European  world,  and  its  visitors  and  explorers  were  but  civilized  ruffians 
whose  only  object  was  gain  of  gold  and  diamonds,  and  favor  of  their  superiors. 


Fulton  County. 


303- 


It  is  quite  probable  that  this  northwestern  territory  was  first  visited  and  set- 
tled by  white  men  (French)  a  few  years  earlier  than  the  visit  of  La  Salle. 
Father  Marquette,  a  French  Catholic  missionary,  visited  the  Upper  Lakes  in 
1668,  and  founded  missions  at  Detroit  and  other  places.  Father  Marquette 
has  undoubtedly  the  credit  of  being  the  first  white  settler  west  of  the  Ohio. 
Yet  history  says,  "  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  before  the  landing  of  the 
pilgrims  on  Plymouth  Rock,  the  northwest,  and  more  particularly  the  Up- 
per Lakes,  were  visited  by  French  explorers,  missionaries  and  fur-traders,  and 
this  whole  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies  at  once  became  familiar  to  them,  a 
.race  of  semi-vagabonds,  acting  in  the  interest  of  the  French  fur-trading  com- 
panies. This  knowledge  of  the  country  gave  to  the  French  what  they  claimed 
a  pre-empted  right  to  this  whole  country  west  of  the  Ohio  and  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  north  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,"  over  which  they  placed  rul- 
ers as  early  as  1663. 

Robert  de  la  Salle  was  the  first  to  set  up  the  tri-color  of  France,  under 
a  commission  from  Louis  XIV,  its  king. 

This  whole  vast  wilderness  region  was  under  the  control  of  France  just  one 
hundred  years,  when  the  whole  territory  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  English 
by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  1763,  France  ceeding  all  her  American  possessions  east 
of  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  North  Sea.  Thus  finally  ended  French  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  vast  western  domain,  of  which  they  had  claimed  ownership,  by  right 
of  discovery,  for  at  least  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  and  during  this  time  of 
ownership  by  the  French,  it  was  recognized  as  the  Provinceof  Quebec,  of  which 
the  city  of  Quebec  was  the  capital.  Soon  after  that  territory  passed  under  Brit- 
ish rule,  the  most  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  the  west  were  dissatisfied  with  the 
English  and  preferred  the  French  control,  who,  under  the  lead  of  Pontiac,  an 
Ottowa  chief,  who  lived  on  Pechee  Island  about  eight  miles  above  the  city  of 
Detroit,  and  who  at  this  time  was  Grand  Sachem  of  all  the  Indian  tribes  in 
the  west,  some  twelve  in  all.  In  May,  1763,  they  made  a  simultaneous  attack 
upon  several  forts,  among  them  was  Forts  La  Boeuf,  Venango,  Presque  Isle, 
Michillimacinac,  St.  Joseph,  Miami,  Green  Bay,  Ouitonon,  Pittsburgh,  San- 
dusky, Niagara  and  Detroit,  and  by  the  secret  aid  of  the  French,  the  attack 
resulted  in  the  most  frightful  massacre  of  the  English  garrisons  at  all  the  points 
except  Detroit,  Pittsburgh  and  Niagara.  Those  conquered  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  savages.  This  success  upon  their  part  led  to  a  succession  of  hostilities, 
which  for  a  time  retarded  any  rapid  occupation  of  this  country  by  the  whites. 

No  acme  of  peace  was  established  until  August  20,  1794,  when  occurred 
the  final  struggle  between  the  Indian  and  American  forces,  the  latter  under 
General  Anthony  Wayne,  on  the  lower  Miami  (or  Maumee),  which  broke  the 
strength  of  Indians  and  their  white  allies.  But  to  return  to  our  historical  in- 
tentions of  titles  etc.,  in  connection  with  events  as  they  transpired.  A  little 
over  one  hundred  years  ago  at  a  regular  session  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  of 


304  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  colony  of  Virginia,  March  i,  1784,  by  an  act  that  body  ceded  all  the  ter- 
ritory northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,  to   the   United  States.     Then,  thereafter, 
by  subsequent  acts  of  the  Federal  Congress,  the  cession  was  ratified  July  13, 
1787,  which  is  generally  called  the  "Ordinance  of  Freedom;"  aside  from  some 
minor  titles,    Virginia  had  claimed  title  to  the  whole  of  this  northwestern  ter- 
ritory, by  its  several  charters   granted   by  James   the   I,  of  England,  bearing 
dates  respectively  April  10,  1606;   May  23,  1609;   March   12,  1611,  and  like- 
wise by  subsequent  conquest.     That  Virginia  had  a  paramount  title  above 
all  other  claims,  when  the  prehistoric  facts   are   all   set  forth,  is   undeniable. 
Under  these  she  asserted  ownership  and  exercised  a  nominal  jurisdiction  over 
the  whole  territory,  as  early  as  1769,  on  the  western  boundary  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River.     But  whatever  the  claim  was  founded  upon,  the  State  legisla- 
ture of  Virginia  waived   all  title  and  ownership  to  it  (except  to  the  Virginia 
military  district)  and  all  authority  over  it  by  directing  the  representatives  of 
said  State  (Thomas  Jefferson,  Samuel  Hardy,  Arthur  Lee,  and  James  Monroe) 
to  cede  to  the  United  States  all  right,  title  and  claim,  as  well  of  sale  as  of  ju- 
risdiction, excepting  as  above,  to  the  secretary  of  said  State,  lying  and  being 
to  the  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.     New  York,  Massachusetts,  and  Connect- 
icut, soon  after  the  treaty  of  peace  of  1784,  and  for  some  time  before,  had  as- 
serted claims  to  a  portion  of  this  northwest  territory,  and  now  composing  the 
State  of  Ohio,  although  it  was  at  once  apparent  that  said  claims  were  overlap- 
ing  those  of  James  I  to  the  colony  of  Virginia,  as  facts  seem  to  determine. 

Smucker,  in  his  paper  in  the  Ohio  statistics  of  1877,  says:  "  The  charter  of 
Massachusetts,  upon  which  that  State's  title  was  based,  was  granted  within  less 
than  twenty-five  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  Mayflower,  and  that  of  Connect- 
icut, bearing  date  March  19,  1631,  both  embracing  territory  extending  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean;  and  that  of  New  York,  obtained  from  Charles 
the  Second,  March  2,  1664,  included  territory  that  had  been  previously  granted 
to  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut ;  hence  the  conflict  of  claims  between  these 
States,  their  several  charters  covering,  to  some  extent,  the  same  territory ;  and 
hence,  also,  their  contest  with  Virginia  as  to  a  portion  of  the  soil  of  Ohio." 

Probably  the  titles  of  some,  or  all,  of  the  aforesaid  contesting  States  were 
in  some  way  affected  by  the  provisions  of  treaties  with  the  Iroquois,  or  by  tlie 
fact  of  their  recognition  by  them,  as  appendants  of  the  government  of  New 
York.  New  York's  deed  of  cession  was  considered  and  favorably  reported 
upon  by  a  committee  of  Congress,  May  i,  1782;  and  by  like  acts  of  patriotism, 
magnanimity  and  generosity  to  those  of  New  York  and  Virginia,  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut  soon  followed  by  similar  acts  of  relinquishment  of  title, 
or  by  corresponding  deeds  of  cession  to  the  United  States.  The  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  on  the  13th  day  of  November,  1784,  authorized  her  delegates 
in  Congress  to  cede  the  title  of  that  State  to  all  the  territory  west  of  the  west- 
ern boundary  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  the  United  States,  and  the  measure 


Fulton  County.  305 


was  consummated  in  1785.  Connecticut,  in  September,  1786,  ceded  all  her 
claims  to  soil  and  jurisdiction  west  of  what  is  now  known  as  the  Western  Re- 
serve, to  the  United  States.  Five  hundred  thousand  acres  of  the  western  por- 
tion of  the  Western  Reserve  was  set  apart  for  the  relief  of  the  Connecticut  suf- 
ferers by  fire,  during  the  Revolution,  since  known  as  the  'Firelands,'  the  In- 
dian title  to  which  was  extinguished  by  the  treaty  of  Fort  Industry  {now  To- 
ledo), in  1805,  Charles  Jouett  being  the  United  States  commissioner,  and  the 
chiefs  of  the  Shawnees,  Delawares,  Wyandotts,  Chippewas,  Ottawas,  and  some 
minor  tribes,  representing  the  interest  of  the  Indians.  The  remainder  of  the 
Western  Reserve  tract,  amounting  to  about  three  million  acres,  was  sold,  and 
the  proceeds  dedicated  to  educational  purposes,  and  has  served  as  the  basis  of 
Connecticut's  common  school  fund,  now  aggregating  upwards  of  two  millions 
dollars.  Jurisdictional  claim  to  the  Western  Reserve  was  ceded  by  Connecti- 
cut to  the  United  States,  May  30,  1801."  So  ends  all  the  conflicting  claims 
by  grants  or  right  of  discovery,  and  the  ordinance  of  Virginia,  fully  and  une- 
quivocally, and  forever,  places  the  great  Northwest  from  under  the  shadows  of 
these  accumulated  claims  to  territory,  as  far  as  the  white  race  is  concerned.. 
We  yet  have  to  deal  with  the  claims  of  the  red  man.  As  we  must  all  admit,., 
he  was  here  before  the  advent  of  Europeans  upon  its  soil ;  that  he  has,  at  least,. 
&  possessory  right.  To  this  land  he  held  the  right  of  pre-emption,  "the  time 
whereof  the  memory  of  man  ran  not  to  the  contrary  ;"  and  superadded  to  this,, 
"a  patent  from  the  Great  Spirit,  which  estabHshed  his  right  on  solid  ground." 
The  first  adventurers  held  that  their  Christian  civilization  gave  to  them  a  su- 
premacy, and  that  the  pagan  world  had  no  rights  which  they  were  bound  to 
respect ;  a  doctrine  they  fully  carried  out  in  the  first  two  hundred  years  after 
the  discovery  of  America. 

When  we  reflect  on  what  has  been  done,  and  view  these  past  centuries  over, 
and  that  now,  in  our  greatness  and  acme  of  boasted  civilization,  the  words  of 
Cowper  may  justly  apply  to  us  : 

"  0,  could  those  ancient  Incas  rise  again,; 
How  would  they  take  up  Israel's  taunting  strain  ! 
Art  thou,  too,  fallen,  Iberia  ?     Do  we  see 
The  robber  and  the  murderer,  weak  as  we  ? 
Thou,  that  has  wasted  earth,  and  dared  despise 
Alike,  the  wrath  and  mercy  of  the  skies. 
Thy  pomp  is  in  the  grave,  thy  glory  laid 
Low  in  the  pits  thine  avarice  has  made. 
We  come  with  joy  from  our  eternal  rest, 
To  see  the  oppressor  in  his  turn  oppressed. 
Art  thou  the  God,  the  thunder  of  whose  hand 
Rolled  over  all  our  desolated  land  ; 
Shook  principalities  and  kingdom.s  down. 
And  made  the  mountains  tremble  at  His  frown  ? 
The  sword  shall  light  npon  thy  boasted  powers, 
And  waste  them  as  they  wasted  ours. 
'  Tis  thus.  Omnipotence,  his  law  fulfills. 
And  vengeance  executes  what  justice  wills."  39 


3o6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Now,  as  the  treaty  of  Paris,  of  1763,  had  adjusted  all  the  disputes  between 
the  two  rival  governments  for  the  possession  of  American  territory,  at  which 
time  all  of  the  vast  French  possession,  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  passed  to 
and  under  the  control  of  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  and  aside  from  her 
charter  titles  named,  she  based  further  claims  by  treaties  with  the  great  Iro- 
quois, or  Six  Nation  Indians,  who  claimed  to  have  conquered  the  whole  coun- 
try, from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the  east,  to  the  Mississippi  on  the  west,  and 
from  the  lakes,  north,  to  the  Carolinas,  south,  and  hence  claimed  that  they 
were  owners  and  had  full  power  to  dispose  of  the  same.  Great  Britain,  from 
1763,  retained  possession  until  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  when 
by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  in  1783,  and  so  ratified  by  the  American  Congress  in 
January,  1784,  possession  and  government  passed  to  the  United  States  in  Oc- 
tober, 1784.  That  prior  to  this  treaty  with  the  British  government,  it  is  un- 
derstood that  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty  held  at  Fort  Stanwix,  that  the  princi- 
pal chief  of  the  Six  Nations  confirmed  the  Fort  Stanwix  treaty  of  1784.  As 
the  Six  Nations,  having  taken  part  with  England  in  the  Revolution,  when  the 
king's  power  fell  in  America,  the  Indian  nations  were  reduced  to  the  miserable 
alternative  of  giving  up  so  much  of  their  country  as  the  Americans  required, 
or  the  whole  of  it.  That  in  said  treaty  the  title  of  the  Six  Nations  was  extin- 
guished through  all  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  by  them  Great  Britain  claims 
to  have  acquired  a  full  right  to  soil  and  complete  and  undisputed  jurisdiction. 
That  the  treaties  of  Fort  Mcintosh  and  Finney,  alone,  held  respectively  in  Jan- 
uary, 1785  and  1786,  the  Indian  titles  to  all  this  territory  west  of  the  Cuyahoga 
River,  and  east  of  a  line  directly  south  from  the  mouth  of  the  Maumee  at  its 
confluence  with  Lake  Erie  ;  that  in  this  soil  and  jurisdiction  passed  as  well  as 
the  good  will  and  perpetual  peace  of  said  nation. 

It  is  conjectured,  and  perhaps  well,  too,  that  the  Indians  were  held  in  the 
military  arena  of  this  country  by  a  few  unprincipled  speculators,  and  that  they 
were  the  moving  springs  for  their  tardy  adherence  to  treaties  made  and  con- 
cluded at  different  times  and  places  ;  that  the  principal  of  them  were  McKee, 
Simon  Girty  and  one  Elliott,  who,  for  gain,  conceived  that  if  the  Ohio  and 
Muskingum  Rivers  were  made  the  boundaries  in  settlement,  it  would  be  no 
difficult  matter  for  them  to  purchase  it  with  trifling  articles,  and  the  worst  of 
allure  zvater  (whisky),  of  which  they  largely  dealt  in  at  their  trading  post,  De- 
troit. The  conclusions  of  these  treaties  were  anything  but  satisfactory  to  them ; 
and  with  the  battle  at  Presque  Isle  (Erie,  Pa.),  forever  resigned  their  hopes. 
They  had  seen  the  Indian  nations  hopelessly  defeated  in  all  their  contending 
conflicts  with  the  white,  which  proved  to  be  the  Indian's  destruction.  It  is 
from  these  three  men  and  their  teaching,  that  most  of  the  inhuman  barbarities 
of  the  Indians  came,  in  the  West. 

Immediately  after  the  severe  campaign  of  General  Anthony  Wayne,  upon 
the  Maumee,  and  the  successful   defeat  of  the  Indians  at  the  battle  of  Fallen 


Fulton  County.  307 


Timbers,  August  20,  1794,  just  above  the  rapids  on  the  Maumee,  and  the  re- 
moval of  their  British  aUies,  peace  again  smiled,  and  men  again  appeared  in 
their  genuine  manhood  as  worthy  of  the  heroic  age  of  the  West ;  as  having  se- 
cured peace  with  the  savages,  and  relief_  from  their  horrible  atrocities.  The 
government  took  immediate  steps  to  secure  a  further  gratuity  of  relief  by  the 
treaty  of  Greenville,  which  was  concluded  August  3,  1795,  in  which  the  In- 
dians agreed  to  a  permanent  peace.  The  Indians,  as  a  price  of  their  further 
peace,  gave  up  an  extensive  tract  of  country,  south  of  the  lakes  and  west  of  the 
Ohio,  and  such  other  tracts  as  comprehended  all  the  military  posts  in  the 
western  region.  And,  as  a  guarantee,  the  government,  as  a  gratuity,  gave 
them  $20,000  in  goods,  and  further  agreed  to  pay  them  $9,000  a  year,  forever 
to  be  divided  among  the  twelve  tribes,  then  in  council,  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers ;  and  further  agreed  not  to  sell  or  dispose  of  their  right  to  soil,  or  pass 
jurisdiction  to  any  person  or  persons,  or  power  other  than  the  United  States, 
which  gave  permanent  peace  to  the  country  until  the  War  of  1812. 

Long  before  the  white  man  had  put  foot  upon  the  valley  of  the  Maumee, 
or  its  adjacent  territory,  there  dwelt  and  roamed  over  this  unbounded  forest  a 
powerful  tribe  of  Indians,  known  as  the  Pottawatamies,  with  the  fragment  of 
another  tribe  named  the  Tawas,  who  had  long  been  accustomed  to  hardships 
in  every  form,  and  taught  to  consider  themselves  invincible.  They  had  learned 
to  regard  life  as  valueless,  if  its  price  was  victory.  Their  hunting  grounds 
were  boundless,  and  game  was  plentiful  from  Lake  Erie  to  Lake  Michigan. 
Let  it  be  said,  to  the  honor  of  these  Indians,  that  their  white  brethren  were  very 
seldom  molested. 

Hull's  Treaty.  —  In  the  year  1807,  at  a  council  held  with  the  dusky  sons  of 
the  forest,  at  Detroit,  November  17th,  called  by  Governor  Hull,  who  was  then 
governor  of  the  northwestern  territory,  they  ceded  the  lands  in  the  south  part 
of  Michigan,  and  the  northern  part  of  Ohio,  to  the  whites.  The  tribes  in  coun- 
cil were  the  Chippewas,  Ottawas,  Wyandottes  and  Pottawatamies,  who  were 
the  original  owners. 

Boundaries. — The  boundaries  fixed  by  that  treaty  were  as  follows  :  Begin- 
ning at  the  mouth  of  the  Miami  (now  Maumee)  of  the  lakes,  running  thence  up 
the  middle  of  said  river,  to  the  mouth  of  the  great  Auglaize  River;  thence  run- 
ning due  north  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  miles,  until  it  intersects  a  parallel 
of  latitude  to  be  drawn  from  the  outlet  of  Lake  Huron,  which  forms  the  River 
St.  Clair;  thence  northeast,  the  course  will  lead  in  a  direct  hne  to  White  Rock, 
Lake  Huron;  thence  due  east  until  it  intersects  the  boundary  line  between  the 
United  States  and  Upper  Canada,  in  said  lake,  through  the  river  St.  Clair  and 
the  Detroit  River  into  Lake  Erie,  to  a  point  due  east  of  the  Miami  River; 
thence  to  the  place  of  beginning,  now  embracing  about  two  hundred  and  sixty 
townships  of  Ohio  and  Michigan.  This  treaty  did  forever  extinguish  all  the 
Indian  titles  within  said  boundaries  and  no  subsequent  Indian  claims  have  been 
attempted. 


3o8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Treaty  of  Chicago.  —  In  182 1  a  further  treaty  was  made  at  Chicago,  by 
which  the  Indian  title  to  all  the  lands  in  the  territory  south  of  the  Grand  River 
was  relinquished  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  which  cleaned  out  all 
the  Indian  titles  west  of  the  west  treaty  line,  made  by  Governor  Hull,  at  De- 
troit in  1807.  These  treaties  comprehended  all  the  lands  in  central  and  south- 
ern Michigan,  and  a  large  area  in  northern  Ohio,  and  relinquished  every  ves- 
tige of  Indian  titles  to  all  the  lands  now  within  the  limits  of  Fulton  county, 
except  a  special  grant  of  a  few  sections  in  the  southeast  corner  of  said  county, 
which  was  afterwards  sold  to  the  white  settlers. 

That  after  the  acts  of  cession  from  the  Virginia  colonies  were  fully  com- 
pleted and  confirmed  by  the  Congress  of  the  American  colonies,  July  13,  1787, 
that  same  Congress  appointed  Arthur  St.  Clair  governor  of  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory, who  arrived  at  Marietta,  July  9,  178B,  nearly  one  year  after  the  cession, 
and  entered  forthwith  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.  On  July  27,  1788,  Gover- 
nor St.  Clair  by  proclamation,  established  the  county  of  Washington,  including 
all  the  territory  east  of  the  Sciota  River,  north  to  Lake  Erie.  The  balance  of 
the  present  limits  of  Ohio,  reaching  south  to  the  present  center  of  the  State,  was 
considered  unorganized  territory.  On  August  15,  179S,  it,  with  the  whole 
peninsula  between  the  lakes,  now  called  ^Michigan,  was  organized  into  one 
county,  called  Wayne.  The  county  seat  of  the  same  was  fixed  at  the  city  of 
Detroit  (then  but  a  military  post),  and  remained  so  until  Ohio  was  admitted 
into  the  Union,  February  19,  1803,  when  the  boundary  line  upon  the  north  be- 
tween it  and  the  unorganized  territory  was  established,  at  what  is  now  termed 
the  "  Fulton  line,"  which  was  afterwards  run  as  established  by  the  ordinance 
of  1787.  Before  this  Northwestern  Territory  was  subdivided  into  independent 
government  divisions,  the  seat  of  government  was  at  Chillicothe,  O.,  to  which 
Wayne  county  sent  one  delegate  until  the  year  1800.  In  this  year  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature  convened  at  Cincinnati,  at  which  the  county  of  Wayne  was 
represented  by  three  citizens  of  Detroit,  to  wit,  Solomon  Sibley,  Jacob  Visgar 
and  Charles  F.  Chohart  de  Joncaire.  It  was  in  this  year  that  the  Northwest- 
ern Territory  was  divided  into  two  governments  called  "the  Eastern  and  West- 
ern Divisions."  The  western  was  called  Indiana,  and  the  eastern  the  "Old  Gov- 
ernment of  Ohio." 

The  county  of  Wayne  was,  however,  excluded  from  any  representation  at 
Cincinnati  in  1800,  in  forming  the  first  constitution  of  Ohio,  or  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  State  ;  nor  had  the  Maumee  country  any  representation  in  the  first 
Legislature  of  Ohio,  which  assembled  at  Chillicothe  on  the  ist  day  of  March, 
1803. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  all  of  the  unorganized  territory  (after  the  State  of 
Ohio  assumed  State  relations),  was  organized  under  the  name  of  the  "  Indiana 
territory."  In  1805  the  Indiana  Territory  was  subdivided,  and  the  northern 
part  (all  north  of  the  Fulton  line,  the  boundary  line  of  the  ordinance  of  1787), 


Fulton  County.  309 


was  organized  into  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  which  gave  the  northern  half  of 
the  present  Hmits  of  Fulton  county  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Territory  of  Michi- 
gan, which  she  as  a  territory  controlled  and  held  under  government  relations 
for  thirty  years  or  more,  until  December,  1836,  when  the  question  of  jurisdic- 
tion was  settled  in  Congress,  by  the  Territory  of  Michigan  relinquishing  all 
right  to  soil  and  jurisdiction  south  of  what  is  called  the  "  Harris  line  "  (the  pres- 
ent line  of  the  State). 

This  territory  remained  the  county  of  Wayne  until  18 17,  when  the  Territo- 
rial Legislature  of  Michigan  organized  the  county  of  Monroe,  and  established 
the  county  seat  at  the  city  of  Monroe,  at  the  mouth  of  the  River  Raisin,  and  so 
held  jurisdiction  for  nine  years. 

In  1826  the  county  of  Monroe  was  fut-ther  subdivided  and  the  western  por- 
tion erected  into  the  county  of  Lenawee  (an  Indian  name  signifying  man),  and 
;S0  remained  until  the  transfer  of  this  territory  to  Ohio,  in  December,  1836. 
Tecumseh  was  fixed  as  the  county  seat. 

This  county  to  the  Fulton  line,  was  surveyed  by  one  Joseph  Fletcher,  in 
1819,  and  finished  when,  by  a  proclamation  of  the  president  of  the  United 
.  States,  March  15,  1820,  it  was  ordered  to  be  sold  at  public  sale,  July  4,  1820. 
(Where  the  sale  took  place  we  are  not  informed.) 

Thus,  while  Michigan  was  under  territorial  rule  from  1805  to  1835,  she  was 
ruled  overt  by  the  following  governors  respectively:  William  Hull,  from  1805 
to  1814;  Lewis  Cass,  i8i4to  1832;  George  B.  Porter,  of  Pennsylvania,  1832 
to  1834;  Steven  T.  Mason,  1834  to  1835;  John  S.  Horner,  1835;  Steven  T. 
Mason,  from  1835  to  its  admission  as  a  State.  It  was  during  the  territorial 
government  of  the  last  named  governor,  Steven  T.  Mason,  that  occurred  what 
is  known  in  history  as  the  "  Toledo  War,"  which  was  caused  by  a  misunder- 
standing about  the  boundary  line  between  the  State  of  Ohio  and  the  Territory 
of  Michigan,  and  culminated  in  calling  out  the  militia  upon  both  sides,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1835,  by  an  attempt  of  Ohio  to  resurvey  the  Harris  line.  Prior  to  this 
difficulty  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  in  1807,  under  a  resolution  from  that 
body,  instructed  its  representatives  in  Congress  to  use  their  influence  to  obtain 
the  passage  of  a  law  to  ascertain  and  define  the  northern  boundary  line  of  the 
State,  and  fix  the  same  agreeable  to  the  proviso. 

In  18 1 2,  the  surveyor-general  of  the  United  States  caused  two  lines  to  be 
run,  one  in  conformity  with  the  enabling  act  of  Congress,  and  another  as  called 
for  by  the  proviso. 

It  was  not  until  18 16  that  William  Harris  concluded  his  survey,  to  which 
Ohio  claimed  as  by  the  proviso.  In  181 8  John  A.  Fulton,  under  instructions 
from  the  surveyor-general  of  the  United  States,  completed  his  survey  under 
the  enabling  act  of  Congress,  which  is  known  as  the  "Fulton  line,"  and  claimed 
by  Michigan. 

That  the  Fulton  line  was   recognized  as  the  true  line  by  Ohio  for  a  long 


3IO  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

period  of  time,  there  is  no  doubt,  as  that  State  afterwards  made  and  completed' 
her  congressional  surveys  up  to  said  line,  and  there  stopped,  while  the  United: 
States  completed  the  survey  of  the  Michigan  territory  down  to  the  Fulton  line,, 
and  established  in  its  survey  the  meridian  line  of  the  State  down  to  said  Fultort 
line,  which  was  the  western  boundry  line  of  Hull's  treaty  with  the  Indians  at 
Detroit  in    1807.      In  the  attempt  of  Ohio,   under  Governor  Lucas,  to  resur- 
vey  the  Harris  line  in  1835,  "  this  act  fired  the  heart  of  the  young  governor,. 
Stevens  T.  Mason  ;  his  loyalty  and  zeal  would  not  brook  such  an  insult.     The 
militia  at  his  disposition  was  called  into  requisition  early  in  the  spring  of  1835. 
They  were  first  put  upon  the  trail  of  the  commissioners   and   actually  routed 
them,  and  took  several  of  the  party  prisoners  on  the  line  some  ten  miles  east 
of  Morenci  (near  Phillips's  Corners,  in  Royalton  township,  this  county).     These 
they  held  for  a  few  days,  then  discharged  some  on  parole,  and  others  on  bail, 
to  answer  in  the  district  court." 

But  the  end  was  not  yet.  A  majority  of  those  living  on  the  disputed  ter- 
ritory in  Monroe  county  were  late  emigrants  from  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania. 
They  were  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  importance  to  them  of  being  a  part 
of  Ohio.  The  port  of  Toledo  was  just  opening  to  the  traffic  of  the  lakes.  The 
States  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  were  ready  to  bring  in  the  great  Wabash  canal,  pro- 
vided it  could  tap  the  lake  on  Ohio  soil,  and  besides  Ohio  was  already  quite 
an  old  State  and  would  be  able  to  develop  the  territory  much  quicker.  The 
territorial  interest  was  all  centered  at  Detroit,  and  Toledo,  if  it  remained  to 
Michigan,  would  only  be  a  dependency  paying  tribute.  With  these  sentiments 
prevailing  the  governor  of  Ohio  was  induced  to  put  in  force  the  laws  of  the 
State.  Proclamation  was  issued  giving  boundaries  to  towns  and  counties,  and 
for  the  election  of  civil  officers.  The  election  was  held,  officers  chosen,  and 
they  assumed  their  duties.  The  militia  was  organized  and  commenced  drill- 
ing. In  short,  we  had  two-  active  and  efficient  governments,  each  striving  to 
excel,  and,  as  may  be  naturally  inferred,  the  relations  between  them  were  not 
of  a  very  friendly  nature.  The  one  acting  as  informers  to  Governor  Mason, 
and  the  other  mostly  engaged  in  procuring  bail  to  be  relieved  from  arrests, 
preferring  to  have  their  transgressions  settled  by  the  courts  to  an  open  and 
violent  conflict  of  arms. 

The  governor's  quick,  impulsive  nature  would  brook  this  double  entendre 
no  longer.  The  general  government  did  not  respond  to  this  call;  Ohio  would 
not  stop  at  his  bidding;  the  subjects  were  disloyal  and  refractory  in  their 
every  act ;  therefore  it  became  him  as  governor  to  put  a  quie):us  on  the  whole 
difficulty.  He  called  out  the  militia  of  the  territory,  to  the  number  of  about 
one  thousand  five  hundred,  early  in  the  month  of  September,  1835,  to  prevent 
any  further  inroads  upon  the  territory  in  dispute,  and  particularly  to  prevent 
the  holding  of  Circuit  Court  in  Lucas  county,  which  had  just  been  organized,. 
with  Toledo  as  the  county  seat,  where  the  first  session  of  the  court  was  ap- 
pointed to  be  held. 


Fulton  County.  311 


This  call  was  responded  to  readily  in  many  parts  of  the  territory,  but  by  a 
very  few,  perhaps,  from  this  county.  They  rendezvoused  in  Monroe  county, 
and  from  there  marched  to  Tremainsville  on  the  afternoon  before  the  court 
was  to  convene,  where  they  bivouacked  for  the  night.  They  were  here  three 
miles  out  from  the  objective  point,  and  much  hard  work  was  to  be  done  in  a 
verj'  short  time  to  meet  the  emergency  of  the  morrow,  for  an  army  was  to  be 
organized  out  of  the  material  presented.  Upon  inspection  it  was  found  that 
some  had  muskets,  others  had  clubs,  but  most  had  trusty  rifles.  These  were 
assigned  to  companies  and  battalions,  and  in  'the  morning  marshaled  for  in- 
spection by  the  commander-in-chief.  They  were  by  him  pronounced  com- 
petent, and  ordered  to  March  to  the  scene  of  the  conflict. 

In  entering  the  city  they  actually  marched  by  the  door  where  the  court,  of 
which  they  were  in  search,  was  in  full  operation,  without  knowing  it.  They 
had  expected  to  find  it  guarded  by  an  army  that  would  be  worthy  of  their 
steel.  But  where  could  they  be  ?  They  certainly  could  not  be  in  Toledo,  for 
the  great  army  of  our  noble  commander-in-chief  covered  the  whole  city  and 
some  of  its  suburbs.  There  could  be  but  one  conclusion.  They  had  of  course 
hied  themselves  to  the  spot  from  whence  they  came,  and  must  be  now  on  their 
way  through  the  defiles  of  the  Black  Swamp.  A  council  of  war  was  held. 
The  surroundings  looked  dark.  They  had  come  for  blood,  and  without  it  there 
could  be  no  remission,  the  enemy  having  ignobly  fled  the  field. 

The  usages  of  war  would  therefore  make  their  way  clear,  and  reprisals 
would  be  in  order.  If  they  would  not  let  the  issue  be  decided  by  force  of 
arms,  they  could  expect  nothing  less,  and  must  abide  by  these  rules  which  had 
been  recognized  by  all  nations. 

In  this  strait  it  did  not  take  the  brave  commander  long  to  decide.  His 
forces  were  soon  marshaled  —  formed  in  two  batalions,  the  one  ordered  to 
make  an  attack  on  the  cellars  and  larders  of  the  inhabitants,  the  others  to  move 
upon  the  magazines  and  commissary  of  the  enemy,  that  a  wag  had  informed 
them  was  stored  in  a  barn  owned  by  Piatt  Card,  who  was  known  as  one  of  the 
moving  spirits  in  the  rebellion,  and  who  was  then  in  bonds  to  answer  for  what 
he  had  heretofore  done  in  inciting  it.  This  last  work  was  not  to  be  trusted  to 
raw  recruits,  or  committed  to  an  inferior  officer.  It  was  virtually  the  conquer- 
ing of  an  army,  and  none  knew  how  strongly  it  was  guarded  within,. or  what 
might  be  the  dangers  of  approach. 

That  the  work  might  be  quick  and  effectual  it  was  decided  that  the  brave 
commander  should  lead  the  charge.  In  reconnoitering  the  premises  all  was 
still,  yet  there  were  certain  holes  in  the  walls,  reminding  them  of  the  post 
holes  in  ancient  forts,  and  in  which  they  fancied  they  saw  grim  messengers  of 
death  staring  them  boldly  in  the  face.  This  could  be  endured  no  longer,  the 
order  was  quick  given  and  a  broadside  was  poured  into  the  pine  siding  of  the 
barn,  approaches  were  made  stealthly   and  cautiously  until  they  reached  the 


312  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

door,  which  obeyed  the  mandate  of  the  hand,  and  readily  swung  on  its  hinges. 
To  the  surprise  of  the  noble  commander  and  his  comrades  in  arms,  they  found 
they  had  captured  a  very  fine  horse,  as  the  warm  blood  flowing  from  many 
bullet  holes  attested. 

They  had  come  for  blood  as  a  sacrifice  to  sprinkle  upon  the  altar  of  their 
loyalty  and  devotion  to  their  country,  and  who  will  deny  at  this  late  day  that 
they  found  it? 

Returning  to  head-quarters  it  was  found  that  the  other  battalion  had  made 
a  successful  raid,  especially  in  the  line  of  Major  Stickney's  wine-cellar,  and 
from  some  others  that  gave  a  more  exhilarating  beverage,  sufficient  was  ob- 
tained with  which  to  wash  down  the  hard  army  biscuit  of  which  their  knap- 
sacks contained  an  ample  supply.  Night  approaching,  each  drew  his  cloak 
around  him  and  gave  himself  to  pleasant  dreams  over  the  experiences  and  es- 
capes of  the  last  twelve  hours. 

On  the  following  morning  an  order  was  issued  from  the  governor  disband- 
ing the  forces,  allowing  each  to  find  his  way  home  as  best  he  could.  Thus 
ended  the  great  Toledo  war  and  all  strife  on  the  disputed  tract. 

The  people  of  Michigan  having  called  a  convention  and  framed  a  State 
constitution,  petitioned  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  be  admitted  into 
the  Union,  claiming  as  a  part  of  their  territory,  the  tract  in  dispute  with  Ohio. 
Congress,  however,  decided  in  favor  of  Ohio's  claim  to  said  tract  and  gave  in 
compensation,  as  a  compromise,  to  Michigan  in  place  of  this  fertile  strip  along 
her  southern  border,  about  twenty- five  thousand  square  miles  of  territory  along 
the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  then  only  valuable  for  its  wilderness,  but 
now  known  to  be  rich  in  mineral  wealth. 

Michigan  came  into  the  federal  Union  as  the  thirteenth  State,  January  26, 
1837,  and  this  strip  of  land  so  long  in  dispute,  forever  after  became  an  integral 
part  of  Ohio  and  was  attached  respectively  to  the  counties  of  Lucas  and  Wil- 
liams. 

It  was  out  of  the  throes  of  this  very  eventful  struggle  that  Lucas  county 
was  formed,  in  the  year  1835,  from  portions  of  Wood  and  Sandusky  counties, 
in  Ohio,  and  of  what  had  been  Monroe  and  Lenawee  counties  in  Michigan, 
over  which  territory,  however.  Wood  county  had  exercised  jurisdiction  from 
April  I,  1820,  then  being  one  of  the  fourteen  counties  at  that  date,  by  the 
legislature,  organized  from  Lidian  territory,  the  county  seat  being  at  Perrys- 
burgh  on  the  Maumee  River.  In  the  year  1849,  there  arose  a  demand  for  a 
new  county  in  northwestern  Ohio,  the  projectors  of  which  were  such  prominent 
men  as  Nathaniel  Leggett,  of  Swan  Creek;  William  Hall,  Hon.  A.  C.  Hough, 
of  Chesterfield ;  Stephen  and  Isaac  Springer,  Samuel  Durgin  and  others,  of 
Fulton;  Michael  Handy,  Hon.  D.  W.  H.  Howard,  Robert  Howard  and  Ly- 
man Parcher,  of  Pike;  Mortimer  D.  Hibbard  and  Reuben  Tiffany,  of  Dover; 
Ezekiel  Masters  and  Joseph  Ely,  of  Franklin;  William  Sutton,  Israel  Mattern, 


Fulton  County. 


313 


W.  A.  Mace  and  Oliver  B.  Verity,  of  Gorham,  to  be  composed  of  parts  of  Wil- 
liams county,  Henry  county,  and  the  larger  part  from  Lucas  county.  Ac- 
cordingly the  necessary  legislation  was  had  in  the  general  assembly  of  Ohio, 
and  in  the  winter  of  1850,  February  28,  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  set  off  and 
erected  into  a  new  county,  the  following  described  territory:  Beginning  on 
the  State  line  between  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Michigan,  at  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  township  nine,  south  of  range  four  east,  of  the  Michigan  meridian. 
Thence  south  on  the  township  line,  to  the  southeast  corner  of  township  ten, 
south  of  range  four  east,  on  the  Fulton  line;  thence  west  on  said  Fulton  line, 
to  the  northeast  corner  of  township  eight  north,  range  eight  east;  thence 
south  to  the  southeast  corner  of  section  number  twelve  in  township  six  north, 
range  eight  east,  Ohio  survey.  Thence  west  on  section  lines  to  the  southwest 
corner  of  section  number  seven,  in  township  six  north,  range  five  east,  on  the 
county  line,  between  the  counties  of  Henry  and  Williams;  thence  north  on  said 
line  to  the  southeast  corner  of  township  seven  north,  range  four  east;  thence  west 
on  said  township  line  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  number  thirty-five  in 
said  township  seven  north,  range  foureast,  (leaving  the  county  of  Defiance  intact); 
thence  north  on  section  line,  to  the  Fulton  line  (being  the  original  line  between 
Ohio  and  Michigan),  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  number  eleven,  in  town- 
ship ten  south,  range  one  west  of  meridian;  thence  north  on  section  lines  to 
the  State  line  (called  the  Harris  line)  ;  thence  easterly  with  said  State  line,  to 
the  place  of  beginning,  and  named  it  the  county  of  Fulton,  in  honor  of  Robert 
A.  Fulton,  the  inventor  of  application  of  steam  for  power.  Nearly  one-half  of 
this  county  was  of  the  Michigan  survey,  which  had  become  an  integral  part  of 
Lucas  and  Williams  counties;  hence  the  greatest  part  of  the  territory  was  orig- 
inally from  Lucas  when  organized  into  the  county  of  Fulton.  The  act  of  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1850,  creating  the  county  of  Fulton,  gave  all  civil  and  criminal  suits 
which  were  and  should  be  pending  in  the  counties  of  Lucas,  Henry  and  Wil- 
liams on  the  first  Monday  in  April,  1850,  to  the  respective  counties,  and  were 
to  be  prosecuted  to  final  judgment  in  said  co"unties  as  though  the  said  county 
of  Fulton  had  not  been  erected.  All  justices  of  the  peace  were  to  hold  their 
offices  until  their  services  expired,  or  until  their  successors  were  elected  or 
commissioned  for  the  county  of  Fulton. 

All  writs  or  other  legal  processes  were  to  be  styled  as  of  the  county  of  Ful- 
ton, on  and  after  the  first  day  of  April,  1850. 

The  legal  voters  residing  within  the  limits  of  said  county,  were  to  assemble 
on  the  first  Monday  in  April,  1850,  to  elect  officers  of  the  county,  to  serve  until 
the  next  annual  election  in  October,  1850,  and  the  courts  were  to  be  h.eld  in 
the  township  of  Pike,  at  some  convenient  house  (place  to  be  designated  by  the 
associate  judges  of  said  county),  until  a  permanent  seat  of  justice  should  be 
established  within  and  for  the  said  county. 

Lawrence  Dewey,  of  Frankhn  county,  Mathias  H.  Nichols,  of  Allen  county, 

40 


314  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

and  John  Riley,  of  Carroll  county,  were  appointed  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio, 
commissioners  to  fix  and  locate  the  seat  of  justice  in  said  new  county  of  Fulton. 
Pending  said  location,  the  associate  judges,  who  had  by  said  act  been  ap- 
pointed, to  wit:  John  Kendall,  Alfred  C.  Hough,  and  Socrates  H.  Cately,  fixed 
the  courts  at  the  house  of  Robert  A.  Howard,  of  said  Pike  township.  After 
the  creation  of  the  county  of  Fulton,  and  until  the  change  in  the  constitution 
of  Ohio,  Nathaniel  Leggett,  of  Swan  Creek,  John  Kendall,  of  Franklin,  Socra- 
tes H.  Cately,  of  Swan  Creek,  Alfred  C.  Hough,  and  William  E.  Parmelee,  of 
Chesterfield,  and  B.  W.  Fleckinger,  of  Gorham,  severally  served  as  associate 

judges  of  the  court  of  common  pleas; Saddler,  president  judge.     At 

the  April  election  of  1850,  the  following  named  officers  were  elected  and  en- 
tered upon  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices  under  the  act  to-wit:  Mortimer 
D.  Hibbard,  auditor;  Nathaniel  Leggett,  treasurer;  George  W.  Brown,  of  Roy- 
alton,  sheriff;  Carl  C.  Allman,  of  Delta,  recorder;  John  H.  Reid,  of  Pike,  prose- 
cuting attorney  ;  William  Sutton,  of  Gorham,  Christopher  Watkins,  of  Fulton, 
and  Jonathan  Barns,  of  German,  commissioners ;  Samuel  Durgin,  of  Fulton, 
was  appointed  clerk  of  courts.  (Then  the  common  pleas  judges  had  probate 
jurisdiction.) 

The  locating  commissioners^appointed  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  in  the 
summer  of  1850,  came  to  the  county  for  the  purpose  of  designating  the  county 
seat,  there  being  several  points  to  them  presented  by  the  people  of  the  county 
as  their  choice.  One  the  center  of  the  county  ;  Robert  A.  Howard's,  in  Pike; 
Etna,  in  Pike  ;  Fluhart  Corners,  in  York ;  Delta,  in  York  ;  and  Spring  Hill,  in 
Dover.  The  commissioners  after  carefully  examining  all  the  points  presented, 
and  hearing  the  statements  of  citizens,  pro  and  con,  decided  upon  the  center  of 
the  county,  and  accordingly  stuck  the  stakes,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  D.  W.  H. 
Howard,  named  the  place  Ottokee.  (After  an  Indian  chief  of  that  name,  who 
once  resided  and  roamed  over  this  territory  of  the  Ottawa  tribe.)  The  question 
yet  had  to  go  to  the  people  for  their  endorsement,  and  after  two  strenuous  trials 
by  ballot  by  the  people,  the  action  of  the  locating  commissioners  was  confirmed, 
and  Ottokee  was  established  as  the  seat  of  justice  of  the  county  of  Fulton,  and 
suitable  temporary  buildings  were  by  the  county  commissioners  forthwith  pro- 
vided for  the  county  offices  and  the  holding  of  courts.  Proposals  for  the  build- 
ing of  a  court-house  were  given  out  by  the  commissioners,  and  at  the  time  fixed, 
bids  were  opened,  and  it  was  found  that  A.  H.  Jordan,  of  Royalton,  was  the 
successful  man,  who  immediately  entered  upon  his  contract  to  build  a  court- 
house, which  was  duly  completed  in  the  season  of  185 1,  at  that  day,  a  nice 
and  very  commodious  structure  of  the  kind,  built  entirely  of  wood,  stone  foun- 
dation ;  and  for  a  time  Ottokee  seemed  to  bid  fair  for  a  large  county  town,  but 
the  construction  of  the  Michigan  Southern  and  Northern  Indiana  Railroad 
(now  Lake  Shore),  seemed  to  check  its  growth  and  prospects,  and  Wauseon 
soon  after  1854  became  a  prominent  railroad  point  in  the  county  four  miles 


Fulton  County.  315 


south  of  Ottokee,  and  thereafter  became  a  strong  rival  for  the  county  seat, 
which  was  thereafter  for  a  time  upon  the  wing.  In  the  winter  of  1864  the  Leg- 
islature of  Ohio  passed  an  act  fixing  the  seat  of  justice  at  Delta,  and  the  sub- 
mission of  the  question  to  a  vote  of  the  people  at  the  next  general  election  in 
October,  which  was  largely  defeated.  During  the  contest  between  Delta  and 
Ottokee,  the  court-house  was  burned,  together  with  all  the  records  of  the 
county.  The  fire  occurred  about  midnight  of  July  15  and  16,  1864,  and  was 
supposed  to  be  the  work  of  an  incendiary. 

This  same  season  the  commissioners  caused  to  be  constructed  a  large  line 
of  brick  offices  for  the  county,  and  on  December  of  the  same  year,  the  several 
officers  of  the  county  took  possession  of  the  same,  under  the  approval  of  the 
commissioners. 

In  the  summer  of  1865,  the  commissioners  caused  to  be  further  erected  a 
new  court-house  of  brick,  Hiram  Prichard,  contractor,  and  completed  the  same 
so  that  the  October  term  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  was  held  therein  the 
same  year.  Judge  Alexander  S.  Latty,  of  Defiance,  presiding. 

In  the  winter  of  1869  another  enabling  act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature 
of  Ohio,  fixing  the  seat  of  justice  at  Wauseon.  At  the  October  election  of  1869 
the  people  decided  by  a  very  small  majority  upon  removal;  whereupon  in  the 
spring  of  1870  the  commissioners  of  Fulton  county  to  wit,  Joseph  Ely,  of  Frank- 
lin, Alfred  B.  Gunn,  of  York,  and  Milton  McCaskey,  of  Fulton,  fixed  upon  the 
present  site,  and  commenced  the  building  of  a  court-house  at  Wauseon,  which 
was  completed  and  accepted  and  declared  ready  for  occupancy  about  the  first 
of  January,  1872,  and  all  public  records  and  business  of  officers  were  removed 
from  Ottokee  to  Wauseon,  in  that  month  and  year. 

That  the  old  buildings  so  vacated  at  Ottokee,  were,  by  the  commissioners 
of  the  county,  in  March,  1874,  set  over  to  the  county  for  an  infirmary,  and  after 
purchasing  in  addition  somewhere  near  three  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  build- 
ing a  large  and  commodious  barn,  got  the  same  ready  for  occupancy  May  i, 
1874,  whereupon  they  appointed  James  S.  Riddle,  of  Franklin,  Oscar  A.  Cobb, 
of  Dover,  and  Robert  P.  Lewis,  of  Swan  Creek,  as  directors,  who  thereupon 
■qualified,  and  all  further  business  was  by  the  commissioners  turned  over  to 
them,  and  they  immediately  made  choice  of  Ohver  B.  Verity  and  his  wife  super- 
intendent and  matron  respectively,  who  entered  upon  the  duties  of  their  posi- 
tion, May  2,  1874,  and  served  until  March,  1880. 


3i6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

METEOROLOGY  OF  FULTON  COUNTY.^ 

IN  all  ages  of  the  world,  and  in  all  conditions  of  life  men  have  been  led, 
from  interest  or  necessity,  to  study  the  appearance  of  the  atmosphere  and 
sky  to  arrive  at  some  conclusion  as  to  what  the  weather  will  be. 

It  is  not  my  province  to  give  a  treatise  on  the  science  of  meteorolgy,  but 
only  to  give  a  compend  of  my  observations  during  the  last  eighteen  years.  My 
place  of  observation  is  in  north  latitude  about  41°  36',  west  longitude  84°  7', 
and  elevation  above  sea  level,  800  feet.  The  instruments  used  are  a  barome- 
ter, thermometer,  rain-gauge  and  wind-vane.  Observations  are  made  three 
times  each  day,  at  7  A.  M.,  2  and  9  P.  M.  All  readings  of  the  barometer  are 
reduced  to  the  uniform  temperature  of  32°,  corrected  for  instrumental  error, 
and  reduced  to  sea  level,  so  as  to  make  them  comparable  with  observations 
made  at  other  places. 

The  following  is  a  brief  synopsis  of  the  more  important  of  my  observations 
for  the  entire  period  from  January,  1870,  to  July,  1887,  inclusive  : 

The  average  mean  temperature  for  each  month  during  the  years  1870  to 
1887,  inclusive,  was  for  January  22.5,  February  25.6,  March,  32.4,  April  46.3, 
May  59.,  June  68.4,  July  72.8,  August  69.6,  September  62.8,  October  51.3, 
November  35.5,  and  December  26.3  degrees.  The  annual  mean  temperature 
was  47.7  ;  Winter  24.9,  Spring  45.9,  Summer  70. 1,  Autumn  49.9;  from  No- 
vember 1st  to  March  31st  28.5,  from  May  1st  to  September  30th  66.4,  and 
from  April  ist  to  October  31st  61.4  degrees. 

The  average  range  of  temperature  from  1870  to  1887,  was  for  January 
64.1,  February  61.5,  March  60.8,  April  63.2,  May  58.,  June  51.5,  July  47.6, 
August  49.9,  September  56.8,  October  59,  November  58.1,  December  61.4 
degrees.  The  annual  range  of  temperature  was  116. 2  ;  Winter  74.3,  Spring 
85.8,  Summer  56.7,  and  Autumn  83.  degrees. 

The  highest  temperature  occurring  in  any  one  month  from  1870  to  1887, 
was  on  January  i,  1876,  69.5,  February  27,  1880,  62.7,  March  31,  1875,  79.S, 
April  26,  1872,  87.,  May  29,  1874,  103. 2,  June  28,  1874,  99.,  July  7,  1874, 
104.5,  August  20,  1874,  102.,  September  5,  1881,  100.3,  October  4,  1884, 
87.7,  November  11,  1882,  74.6,  December  31,  1875,  70.  degrees.  The  highest 
temperature  during  this  period,  104.5  degrees,  occurring  on  July  7,  1874. 

The  lowest  temperature  occurring  in  any  one  month  from  1870  to  1887,  was 
January  25,  1884,  —31.7,  February  13,  1885,  —24.3,  March  20,  1883,  —iJAr 
Aprils,  1881,  -5.2,  May  3,  1885,  21.,  June  i,  1883,  34.5,  July  20,  1871,43-2. 
August  24,  1884,  38.9,  September  30,  1871,  24.9,  October  14,  1874,  12.,  No- 

1  Compiled  specially  for  this  work  by  Thomas  Mikesell,  esq.,  of  Wauseon. 


Fulton  County.  317 


vember  19,  1880,  —8.5,  December  19,  1884,  —32.4  degrees.     The  lowest  tem- 
perature, —  32.4  degrees,  occurring  December  19,  1884. 

The  average  mean  temperature  of  the  warmest  days  from  1870  to  1887, 
was  January  i,  1876,  63.3,  February  28,  1880,  56.1,  March  31,  1875,  64.2, 
April  26,  1872,  73.4,  May  30,  1874,  80.7,  June  28,  1874,  88.5,  July  7,  1874, 
86.6,  August  II,  1874,  85.2,  September  6,  1881,  84.7,  October  5,  1884,  ^6.6, 
November  11,  1882,  66.1,  December  31,  1875,  62.8  degrees. 

The  average  mean  temperature  of  the  coldest  days  in  each  month  from 
1870  to  1887,  was  January  9,  1875,  — 16.4,  February  10,  1885,  —1 2.6,  March 
4,  1873,  2.S,  April  4,  1874,  17.3,  May  21,  1883,  33.9,  June  4,  1882,  49.6,  July 
20,  1871,  57.9,  August  27,  1885,  53.2,  September  27,  1876,  42.,  October  31, 
1873,  25.8,  November  21,  1880,  3.,  December  29,  1880,  —13.8  degrees. 

The  average  rain  fall,  including  melted  snow,  for  all  the  months  from  1870 
to  1887,  was  for  January  2.20,  February  2.77,  March  2.99,  April  2.52,  May  4., 
June  4.29,  July  4.05,  August  3.03,  September  2.53,  October  2.95,  November 
3.05,  December  2.37  inches;  the  annual  average  was  38.07  inches;  the  aver- 
age from  December  ist  to  February  28th  was  7.42,  from  March  1st  to  May 
31st  was  9.68,  from  June  ist  to  August  31st  was  11.37,  September  ist  to  No- 
vember 30th  was  8.53,  and  from  April  ist  to  September  30th  was  20.86  inches. 

The  average  monthly  snow  fall  from  1870  to  1887,  was  in  January  11.9, 
February  8.,  March  1 1.6,  April  2.9,  May  .4,  October  .2,  November  6.  and  in 
December  10.9  inches.  Average  amount  per  year  52.9  inches;  average  depth 
per  winter  51.5  inches. 

From  January,  1870,  to  July,  1887,  the  latest  killing  frost  occurred  June  i, 
1883,  the  latest  frost  June  30,  1871,  the  earliest  frost  August  3,  1886,  the 
earliest  killing  frost  September  2,  1885,  the  latest  snow  of  one  or  more  iriches 
April  28,  1874,  the  latest  snow  May  22,  1883,  the  earliest  snow  October  6, 
1871,  the  earliest  snow  of  one  or  more  inches  October  21,  1873,  the  earliest 
thunder  storm  January  17,  1870,  the  latest  thunder  storm  November  21,  1883, 
the  latest  freeze  May  29,  1884,  the  earliest  freeze  September  2,  1885. 

Highest  barometer  from  January,  1880,  to  September,  1887,  was  on  Janu- 
ary 22,  1885,  30.784,  February  4,  1887,  30.871,  March  4,  1887,  30.651,  April 
8,  1887,  30.513.  May  29,  1884,  30.376,  June  27,  1887,  30.389.  July  23.  1882, 
30,247,  August  9,  1884,  30.364,  September  14,  1884,  30.461,  October  16,  1883, 
30.550,  November  23,  1880,  30.727,  December  12,  1885,  30.748. 

The  lowest  barometer  from  January,  1880,  to  September,  1887,  was  Janu- 
ary, II,  1885,  29.204,  February  18,  1887,  29.179,  March  20,  1886,  29.084, 
April  15,  1884,  29.148,  May  14,  1883,  29,400,  June  6,  1880,  29,446,  July  12,. 
1883,  29.630,  August  3,  1885,  29.454,  September  8,  1885,  29.477,  October 
29,  1883,  29.236,  November  17,  1886,  29.273,  December  9,  1885,  29.113. 


3i8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Tornadoes. 

A  tornado  is  that  peculiar  form  of  storm,  characterized  by  a  funnel-shaped 
■cloud,  small  end  down,  whirling  with  immense  velocity  in  the  direction  from 
north  to  west,  and  south,  and  east,  and  having  a  forward  motion  to  the  east- 
ward. Wh-erever  it  descends  to  the  earth  it  destroys  whatever  may  be  in  its 
path.  It  is  generally  very  small,  and  the  greatest  destruction  occurs  at  the 
center.  It  is  not  the  same  as  a  cyclone,  which  is  a  storm  at  sea,  of  from  lOO  to 
i,ooo  miles  diameter,  whose  center  is  a  dead  calm  and  the  destructive  winds 
toward  the  outside. 

The  first  tornado  in  this  county  of  which  I  have  heard  anything,  occurred 
about  the  year  1824.  This  I  get  from  Mr,  D.  L.  Buler,  who,  in  the  winter  of 
1836-7  came  upon  the  "  windfall"  over  the  line  in  Michigan  ;  and  having  a 
curiosity  to  know  how  long  since  it  happened,  cut  some  of  the  new  growths 
and  found  them  about  twelve  years  old.  Doubtless  it  was  the  same  windfall 
which  started  in  the  north  part  of  this  county  and  extended  to  the  northeast. 
The  track  was  several  miles  long,  but  not  very  wide. 

June  20,  1834,  a  tornado  crossed  the  north  part  of  York  township.  Itfirst 
came  down  near  the  northwest  corner  of  the  township,  about  2  P.  M.,  and 
moved  directly  east  nearly  four  miles,  and  then  to  the  east  southeast.  The 
track  was  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  wide  and  six  miles  long.  It  was  above 
the  timber  part  of  this  distance.  Near  where  it  first  descended  Wm.  Jones  and 
others  were  camped.  They  ran  into  the  open  prairie,  and,  lying  down,  held 
on  to  the  grass  till  the  storm  passed.  They  left  their  oxen  tied  to  a  tree,  and 
after  the  storm  found  them  completely  hemmed  in  by  fallen  trees,  but  unhurt. 

John  King  and  his  son,  William,  had  arrived  on  the  bank  of  Bad  Creek,  on 
the  19th,  and  made  a  shelter  by  setting  poles  against  a  large  tree,  and  cover- 
ing them.  They  were  in  the  track  of  the  tornado,  and  after  it  had  passed  they 
found  all  the  timber  down  around  them  except  the  tree  their  shelter  was 
-against.  Only  the  providence  of  God  saved  them.  Settlers  who  came  later 
were  three  days  cutting  a  road  through  this  fallen  timber.  The  trees  were 
turned  out  by  the  roots,  tearing  up  great  quantities  of  earth,  which  are  not  yet 
leveled  down  after  years  of  cultivation.  The  storm  (of  which  this  tornado  was 
a  part),  was  felt  in  Indiana,  in  the  forenoon  of  the  same  day,  and  by  4  P.  M.  it 
had  reached  Wayne  county,  O. 

A  separate  tornado  occurred  the  same  day  as  the  above,  and  about  the 
same  hour,  about  two  miles  to  the  north  of  this  one.  It  was  about  one  hun- 
dred feet  wide,  and  took  everything  clean  as  it  moved  to  the  east  southeast. 

In  June,  1842  (this  date  is  uncertain),-  a  tornado  passed  over  this  place  at 
an  altitude  of  three  hundred  or  four  hundred  feet,  making  a  loud,  buzzing  roar. 
It  was  almost  clear  at  the  time.  The  cloud  was  funnel-shaped,  very  black, 
and  the  tail  hanging  somewhat  behind  and  some  distance  below  the  body  of 


Fulton  County, 


3^^ 


the  cloud,  which  was  not  very  large.  It  did  not  affect  the  wind  at  the  ground, 
and  there  was  no  rain  or  hail  from  it  here.  It  moved  directly  eastward  about 
as  fast  as  a  man  can  run.  It  was  not  known  to  descend  till  it  reached  Maumee 
City,  where  it  demolished  a  brick  building  that  was  not  yet  finished.  Two  lit- 
tle girls,  one  white  and  the  other  colored,  who  ran  up  to  the  building  to  get 
away  from  the  storm,  were  killed.  It  is  possible  that  this  was  the  same  cloud 
which  A.  S.  Fleet  saw  pass  over  North  German  township  about  that  time.  He 
says  it  was  nearly  clear  except  this  one  small,  black  cloud,  from  which  hail  fell 
thickly  while  it  was  passing.  The  hailstones  were  nearly  three  inches  across 
by  over  half  an  inch  thick.      It  was  going  to  the  east. 

About  the  first  of  June,  1844  (this  date  may  not  be  correct),  there  was  a 
tornado  in  the  northwest  part  of  German  township,  at  about  i  P.  M.  It  moved 
to  the  east- northeast,  and  cut  a  road  about  half  a  mile  wide  and  three  miles 
long.  Sound  white  oak  and  walnut  trees,  three  feet  through,  were  twisted  off 
or  torn  out  by  the  roots.      Everything  was  destroyed  in  its  path. 

About  the  middle  of  August,  1852,  at  about  5  P.  M.,  a  tornado  descended 
on  the  prairie  along  Bean  Creek,  nearly  west  of  where  Peter  Powers  lives.  On 
coming  to  the  timber  it  leveled  a  strip  about  eighty  rods  wide.  It  destroyed 
the  house  and  barn  of  John  Martin,  and  carried  a  new  wagon,  belonging  to 
Peter  Powers,  twenty  or  thirty  rods,  and  dashed  it  to  pieces  against  a  log  build- 
ing. Its  last  work  was  on  the  farm  of  Lyman  Bebee,  and  as  it  rose  it  twisted 
off  large  trees  twenty  to  thirty  feet  from  the  ground.  The  whole  length  of  the 
track  was  about  seven  miles.  It  moved  to  the  east-northeast,  making  a  fear- 
ful roar,  and  was  accompanied  by  heavy  rain  for  several  miles  on  each  side. 

In  April  (about  the  19th),  1856,  another  of  these  aerial  monsters  visited 
this  county.  As  it  descended  it  struck  the  house  of  Nathaniel  Jones,  in  the 
northwest  part  of  Clinton  township,  and  took  everything  clean  to  the  upper 
floor, — roof,  timbers,  bedding  and  furniture.  The  bedding  was  scattered  for 
half  a  mile  to  the  southeast,  in  the  woods.  It  destroyed  a  part  of  his  log  barn 
and  took  part  of  the  roof  off  the  frame  barn.  Continuing  on  its  course,  which 
was  southeast,  it  raised  and  passed  over  a  piece  of  timber  and  came  down  in 
Isaac  Tedrow's  field,  tearing  the  fence  to  pieces  and  even  carrying  the  ground 
chunks  away.  Further  on  it  caught  William  Tedrow,  and  the  horse  he  was 
riding,  and  turned  them  completely  around  and  dropped  them.  Then  it  raised 
till  it  passed  on  to  the  York  Centre  road.  At  this  place  C.  H.  Lozer  was  in 
the  road,  driving  a  team  of  oxen.  His  wool  hat  was  taken  off  by  the  wind  and 
rolled  along  the  road  several  rods,  and  then  suddenly  caught  up  and  carried  to 
the  southeast  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  where  it  was  found  wedged  in  the  fence. 
Mr.  Lozer  was  blown  along  for  a  short  distance;  and  then  a  pail  containing  eggs, 
which  he  was  carrying,  was  jerked  from  his  hand  and  dashed  to  pieces  against 
a  stump  at  the  side  of  the  road  (just  in  front  of  where  I.  E.  Bayes  now  lives), 
and  himself  lifted  and  carried  about  five  rods,  only   touching  a  foot  to  the 


320  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ground  once  in  that  distance.  It  then  raised  and  passed  over  the  timber,  and 
when  over  Wauseon  it  descended  low  enough  to  unroof  some  buildings,  and 
move  on  its  foundation  the  warehouse  of  E.  L.  Hayes,  which  contained  a  stock 
of  hardware  and  about  two  tons  of  iron.  This  was  the  last  heard  of  it.  It  was 
about  twenty  rods  wide,  and  the  whole  track  was  about  three  miles  long. 

The  inrushing  winds  damaged  several  buildings  and  leveled  much  fence. 
On  the  left-hand  side  it  took  part  of  the  roof  off  T.  J.  Case's  barn;  and  on  the 
right,  part  of  the  roof  from  Isaac  Tedrow's  barn,  part  of  Wright  Bayes's  barn 
roof  and  racked  Samuel  Lozer's  house.     There  was  heavy  rain  with  it. 

Between  i  and  2  P.  M.,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1864,  Dover  township  was  vis- 
ited by  a  tornado.  It  crossed  over  the  farm  of  L.  C.  Cook  and  came  down  on 
C.  B.  Carter's,  west  of  Ottokee,  destroying  a  strip  of  timber  about  twenty  rods 
wide.  Its  course  then  changed  from  southeast  to  nearly  east,  and  passed  on, 
not  doing  much  damage  till  it  reached  Ottokee,  where  it  unroofed  several  build- 
ings, among  them  the  court-house.  It  then  raised  and  disappeared.  It  was 
followed  by  heavy  rain. 

June  5,  1867,  one  of  these  storms  crossed  Clinton  township,  about  noon. 
It  took  the  top  off  Barton's  house,  west  of  Lena,  and  east  of  this  destroyed  a 
barn.  At  Lena  it  scattered  the  lumber  in  the  mill-yard.  A  boy  at  this  place 
narrowly  escaped  being  killed  by  the  flying  lumber.  It  leveled  much  valuable 
timber  on  John  Miley's  farm,  and  nearly  all  the  fences  for  a  mile  wide,  were 
blown  down  by  the  inrushing  wind.  The  tornado  track  was  about  twenty 
rods  wide  and  three  miles  long.     It  traveled  a  little  to  the  north  of  east. 

About  4  P.  M.,  on  the  31st  of  May,  1880,  a  tornado  passed  over  the  north 
part  of  Clinton  township.  It  uprooted  part  of  Colonel  J.  H.  Brigham's  or- 
chard, and  going  to  the  east,  it  destroyed  part  of  Ambrose  Clark's  barn  and 
moved  the  house  on  the  foundations,  having  passed  between  them.  At  this 
place  a  calf  was  blown  over  the  board  fence  to  which  it  was  tied.  Clark's  or- 
chard was  nearly  all  destroyed.  Further  on  it  twisted  large  white-oak  trees 
off  and  blew  down  much  timber.  A  considerable  timber  and  a  great  part  of 
the  north  and  south  fences  for  over  a  mile  on  the  south  side,  and  some  dis- 
tance on  the  north,  were  blown  down.  The  wind  blew  at  the  rate  of  about 
fifty  miles  an  hour  here,  a  little  over  half  a  mile  south  of  the  tornado  track. 
The  barometer  reduced,  stood  29.844  inches.  The  track  was  about  eighty 
feet  wide  and  two  and  one-half  miles  long.  There  was  heavy  rain  with  it.  The 
ranifall  here  was  1.19  inches  in  less  than  one  hour. 

June  6,  1880,  at  about  3:30  P.  M.,  a  tornado  passed  to  the  east- northeast, 
a  little  south  of  the  county  line,  in  Henry  county,  straight  south  of  Wauseon. 
It  was  about  fifty  feet  wide  and  passed  between  Bogart's  house  and  barn,  tak- 
ing the  end  off  the  latter.  A  half  mile  east  it  destroyed  the  house  and  barn  of 
Eli  Zull,  and  further  on  another  barn.  The  track  was  about  two  miles  long. 
This  storm  passed  about  seven  and  one-half  miles  south  of  here,  and  the  wind 


Fulton  County.  321 


blew  here  at  about  thirty  miles  an  hour.  The  barometer  stood  at  29.476 
inches. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1886,  a  tornado  struck  near  the  north  line  of  this 
county.  About  2:30  P.  M.  a  cloud  came  from  the  southeast  and  another  from 
the  west,  and  when  they  met  the  tornado  was  formed.  There  was  a  thunder 
and  hail  storm  a  few  miles  to  the  west  at  the  time.  As  it  descended  it  un- 
roofed the  house  of  J.  Stahl,  south  of  Lyons,  and  crossing  the  road  came  to  O.  P. 
Barnes's  house  (which  stood  just  north  of  the  center  of  the  track),  and  took  the 
south  side  to  the  floor,  but  left  the  north  wall  standing.  The  house  was  made 
of  plank,  and  the  part  taken  off  was  dashed  to  splinters.  A  part  of  the  roof 
of  his  barn  was  blown  off.  Mr.  Barnes,  who  was  in  the  yard,  was  jerked  from 
the  ground  and  carried  about  one  hundred  feet,  passing  over  two  apple  trees, 
and  falling  in  the  third.  A  boy  who  was  with  him  was  thrown  under  a  sled 
and  a  corn-crib  dashed  down  over  him.  Another  boy  was  lying  on  the  lounge 
when  the  house  was  struck  and  was  rolled  off  and  the  quilt  carried  over  half  a 
mile  to  the  east.  Mrs.  Barnes  was  struck  by  something  and  seriously  hurt. 
As  it  moved  on  it  destroyed  nearly  the  whole  of  Mr.  Barnes's  orchard,  and 
then  raised.  The  path  of  destruction  was  about  ten  rods  wide  by  twenty  rods 
long.  Household  goods  were  carried  about  four  miles  east  and  one  mile  north. 
The  direction  was  a  little  north  of  east.  It  was  funnel-shaped  and  moved  for- 
ward with  great  velocity,  being  not  over  two  seconds  in  passing  a  given  point, 
and  made  a  terrible  noise.  It  was  followed  by  rain  and  a  little  hail.  The  air 
was  still  till  the  tornado  struck.  It  was  about  ten  miles  northeast  of  here. 
Barometer  stood  29.698  inches. 

About  I  P.  M.  on  the  2d  of  May,  1887,  the  last  of  these  terrible  visitors 
came  into  our  midst.  It  first  descended  about  three  miles  southwest  of  Wau- 
seon,  at  the  barn  of  Dr.  D.  W.  Hollister.  It  did  not  get  low  enough  to  de- 
moHsh  it,  but  lifted  it  clear  from  the  foundation  and  swelled  the  sides  out  like 
a  barrel.  It  passed  over  the  house  without  damaging  it.  About  half  a  mile 
north  of  here  (the  storm  moved  north  20°  east)  it  struck  the  brick  school- 
house  at  the  cross  roads.  This  was  completely  demolished,  the  east,  west  and 
north,  and  bottom  of  south  walls  being  blown  outward  by  the  instant  expansion 
of  the  air  inside  the  house  when  the  tornado  removed  the  pressure  from  the 
outside.  The  top  of  the  south  wall  fell  inward,  and  the  roof  was  thrown  from 
three  to  thirty  rods  to  the  northwest.  The  joists  were  dropped  at  the  north 
end  of  the  floor,  falling  on  two  boys,  one  of  whom,  Benton  Gasche,  was  killed, 
and  the  other  seriously  injured.  There  were  fifteen  persons  in  the  house  at 
the  time  and  the  teacher  and  six  of  the  children  were  hurt,  besides  the  one 
killed.  The  tornado,  at  this  point  was  less  than  forty  feet  wide.  From  the 
school-house  it  began  to  raise,  and  passed  over  Isaac  Springer's  barn,  shaking 
it  violently.  A  little  further  on  it  turned  to  the  northeast,  passing  over  Wau- 
seon  high  enough  not  to  do  much  damage. 


322  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  inrushing  winds  did  considerable  damage  on  the  right  hand  side,  blow- 
ing down  nearly  all  the  fences  for  over  half  a  mile  wide,  by  about  four  miles 
long,  which  were  standing  across  the  wind  (which  blew  the  direction  the  tor- 
nado moved),  while  fences  in  line  with  the  wind  remained  standing.  Amos 
Turney  was  driving  out  of  town  at  the  southwest  with  a  load  of  tile,  and  he 
and  his  son  were  blown  from  the  wagon,  which,  with  the  team,  was  carried 
across  the  ditch  at  the  side  of  the  road.  Part  of  the  roof  was  blown  ofFT.  Ed- 
ington's  barn,  near  the  school-house,  and  John  Haumesser's  barn,  just  south  of 
Wauseon,  was  blown  from  the  blocks  on  which  it  stood,  and  crushed  by  the 
wind  and  fall,  together.  Northeast  of  town  part  of  the  roof  was  taken  from 
Marion  Fashbaugh's  barn.  On  the  left  hand  side  very  little  damage  was  done. 
There  was  heavy  rain  with  the  tornado,  and  hail  in  some  places. 

This  tornado  passed  about  a  mile  south  of  my  place  of  observation.  As  it 
passed  the  wind  blew  here  at  the  rate  of  about  forty  miles  an  hour.  It  rained 
here,  .36  inch.     The  barometer  stood  at  29.897. 

Notable  Meteorological  Events. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  notable  meteorological  events  of  this  county 
from  the  earliest  settlement.  In  these  some  of  the  dates  may  not  be  correct, 
as  it  is  very  hard  to  get  such  things  now,  but  so  far  as  possible  I  have  verified 
the  dates  from  several  sources.  For  this  information  I  am  indebted  to  many 
of  the  pioneers  of  this  county,  who  have  taken  great  pains  to  be  as  accurate  as 
possible. 

The  first  notable  event,  after  settlers  began  to  come  into  what  is  now  Ful- 
ton county,  was  a  tornado,  which  occurred  June  20,  1834  (see  account  in 
"Tornadoes.") 

The  first  day  of  March,  1840,  was  so  warm  that  men  came  in  their  shirt 
sleeves  from  miles  around  to  a  meeting  which  was  held  at  my  father's  house. 
Grass  in  the  prairies  was  large  enough  for  cattle  to  live  out  at  that  time. 

The  winter  of  1842—43  was  a  long  one.  Snow  fell  the  latter  part  of  No- 
vember, and  sleighing  continued  from  that  time  till  after  the  spring  election, 
April  3,  which  day  it  began  to  thaw.  It  came  came  off  warm  then  and  spring 
set  in  at  once. 

The  spring  of  1844  was  very  early,  and  on  April  12  peaches  were  blossom- 
ing. 

On  the  25th  of  April,  1845,  a  hail  storm  passed  over  the  southern  part  of 
this  county,  the  heaviest  ever  known  here.  For  about  two  days  there  had 
been  almost  constant  rumblings  of  thunder  in  the  west,  and  when  at  last  it 
came,  it  deluged  the  earth  as  it  is  seldom  done.  It  reached  here  just  after  dark, 
and  continued  about  an  hour.  Hailstones  of  all  sizes  up  to  the  size  of  hen's 
eggs,  fell  to  the  depth  of  several  inches,  and  the  ground,  where  there  was  no 
water,  was  covered  yet  the   next  morning,     They  fell  down  the  chimney  of 


Fulton  County. 


323 


my  father's  house  so  thickly  that  they  were  scattered  all  over  the  floor.  When 
the  hailstorm  slackened  rain  fell  in  torrents  till  nearly  midnight,  and  low 
ground  everywhere  was  covered  with  water.  There  was  not  much  wind  with 
this  storm.  Some  stock  was  injured,  and  roofs  were  damaged.  Jared  Beebe, 
then  a  resident  of  this  county,  was  out  in  the  storm,  and  the  horse  he  was 
riding  was  knocked  down.  There  were  marks  made  upon  fences  and  logs  that 
remained  visible  for  more  than  a  year.  It  is  probable  that  a  tornado  passed  at 
the  same  time  as  this  storm,  a  few  miles  further  south. 

In  June  (about  the  2d),  1845,  there  was  a  frost  which  killed  the  wheat 
which  was  then  in  head,  and  corn,  which  was  ten  to  fifteen  inches  high,  was 
frozen  to  the  ground.  However,  the  corn  was  not  destroyed,  but  sprung  up 
and  made  a  good  crop.  At  harvest  that  year,  one  morning  there  was  so 
much  frost  on  the  wheat  that  men  had  to  wait  for  it  to  melt  before  going  to 
work.     There  was  frost  every  month  that  year. 

In  1848  there  were  eleven  consecutive  days  of  rain,  beginning  July  4. 
Some  days  the  rains  were  very  heavy,  and  the  streams  were  all  overflowed. 
Wheat  harvest  had  just  begun,  and  much  of  the  wheat  sprouted  before  it  was 
cut. 

The  winter  of  1854-55  was  very  warm  till  in  February,  and  no  snow. 
January  i,  1855,  was  a  warm,  pleasant  day,  like  Indian  Summer,  and  wild 
geese  flying  over.  In  February  a  heavy  snow  storm,  accompanied  by  thun- 
der and  lightning  came,  and  then  it  was  cold,  and  the  snow  remained  on  for 
several  weeks.  May  13,  1855,  snow  fell  one-half  inch  deep.  The  summer  of 
1855  was  so  wet  during  July  that  very  much  of  the  wheat  was  so  grown  that 
it  was  nearly  worthless.  It  made  what  was  called  "  sick  wheat."  The  month 
was  very  hot  also. 

The  winter  of  1855-6  was  a  long,  cold  one,  snow  laying  on  from  Novem- 
ber till  late  in  March.  In  the  spring  of  1856  there  was  a  fearful  hailstorm 
passed  over  the  north  part  of  the  county.  It  came  with  a  high  wind  from  the 
northwest,  in  the  afternoon.  Hailstones  as  large  as  a  watch  fell  so  thickly 
that  there  was  no  escaping  them,  only  by  getting  under  cover.  It  was  fol- 
lowed by  heavy  rain.  The  hail  made  dents  on  the  siding  of  George  Roos's 
barn,  which  remained  there  when  the  boards  were  removed  thirty- one  years 
afterward.  Stock  was  badly  injured,  some  animals  being  nearly  killed.  (The 
date  of  this  storm  I  have  been  unable  to  fix,  but  it  is  very  probable  that  it 
accompanied  a  tornado  which  passed  across  the  county  about  the  19th  of 
April). 

About  the  12th  or  14th  of  May,  1856,  a  sleet  and  snow  storm,  with  much 
rain,  occurred,  and  corn  planting  was  thereby  delayed  about  two  weeks. 

The  fall  of  1856  was  very  dry  and  smoky.  Muck  beds  dried  out  so  that 
they  burned  from  one  to  two  feet  deep.  C.  H.  Lozer  found  fire  in  the  muck 
on  the  farm  he  now  owns  as  late  as  January  i. 


324  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

June  6,  1859,  there  was  a  frost  which  killed  the  early  wheat.  Many  fields 
were  not  worth  the  cutting.  Late  wheat,  and  that  protected  by  forests,  was 
not  much  hurt.     The  whole  month  was  rather  cool. 

The  summer  of  1862  was  very  dry  and  hot.  Oats  were  hardly  more  than 
a  foot  high  on  the  clay,  and  yet  yielded  about  forty  bushels  per  acre.  Sep- 
tember was  very  hot  at  seeding  time. 

The  great  frosts  of  1863,  which  killed  the  corn  all  over  the  county,  oc- 
curred Monday  and  Tuesday  mornings,  August  31  and  September  i.  The 
whole  summer  had  been  rather  cool,  and  consequently  corn  was  rather  back- 
ward. 

i  The  cold  New  Year's  day  was  January  i,  1864,  The  day  before  had  been 
very  warm  (about  sixty  degrees),  and  raining,  but  toward  night  it  turned  cold, 
the  rain  changed  to  snow,  and  the  next  morning  the  temperature  was  twenty- 
four  degrees  below  zero.  This  was  a  change  of  over  eighty  degrees  in  about 
eighteen  hours. 

April  22,  1865,  about  five  inches  of  snow  fell.  It  melted  the  next  day. 
August  of  this  year  was  rather  cool,  the  mean  temperature  of  the  month  being 
about  three  degrees  below  normal.  The  highest  temperature  of  the  month 
was  ninety-six  degrees  on  the  31st.  September  was  very  warm,  about  four 
degrees  above  normal.     The  first  killing  frost  occurred  October  4. 

During  March,  1866,  there  was  almost  continuous  freezing  and  thawing. 
It  froze  every  night  except  eight,  and  thawed  every  day  except  two.  This 
was  followed  by  a  very  warm  and  dry  April,  and,  as  a  consequence,  wheat  was 
nearly  all  killed,  and  the  crop  that  year  was  a  failure.  We  had  twelve  bushels 
from  twelve  acres  of  good  wheat  land.  July  that  year  was  warmer  by  about 
three  degrees,  than  the  average,  and  August  was  five  degrees  cooler  than  the 
average.      Oat  harvest  was  a  little  late,  about  the  5  th  of  August. 

On  the  6th  of  August,  1866,  there  was  a  solar  halo  consisting  of  seven  cir- 
cles, some  of  them  almost  as  bright  as  any  rainbow.  It  began  to  rain  that  day 
and  rained  every  day  for  six  days. 

The  fall  of  1867  was  very  dry,  and  muck  beds  burned  till  about  Christmas, 
when  the  rains  flooded  them. 

July  4,  1869,  there  was  a  heavy  rain  in  the  vicinity  of  Wauseon,  which 
flooded  all  the  low  grounds  and  floated  some  of  the  sidewalks  away.  October 
23,  1869,  about  eight  inches  of  snow  fell  and  remained  on  the  ground  till  about 
November  i.  The  snow  was  very  wet,  and  hung  on  the  trees,  breaking  them 
badly.      Many  people  had  not  taken  care  of  their  apples  yet. 

In  1870,  April,  May,  June  and  July  were  about  three  degrees  warmer  than 
usual;  August  was  nearly  seven  degrees  colder  than  usual,  and  September  about 
four  degrees  warmer. 

The  fall  of  1871  was  very  dry,  only  1.50  inches  of  rain  in  September  and 
October.      I  sowed  wheat  on  the  9th  of  September,  and  very  little  of  it  was  to 


Fulton  County.  325 


be  seen  till  the  snow  went  off,  the  next  March.     By  the  way,  that  wheat  aver- 
aged twenty- six  bushels  per  acre  on  thirteen  acres. 

July,  1872,  was  very  wet, — 7.26  inches  of  rain  during  the  month.    It  made 
it  very  difficult  to  save  wheat. 

The  29th  of  January,  1873,  was  the  coldest  known  here  to  that  time,  29.2 
degrees  below  zero.  April  6,  7  and  8,  1873,  there  were  heavy  rains, — about 
four  inches  in  the  three  days.  Rain  fell  on  nineteen  days  that  month.  Octo- 
ber 21,  1873,  there  fell  about  eight  inches  of  snow,  which  melted  the  next  day. 
June  9,  1874,  a  heavy  rainstorm  passed  over  here,  and  3.82  inches  of  water 
fell  in  less  than  seven  hours.  July  22,  1874,  there  was  some  frost  on  muck. 
January  9,  1875,  was  the  coldest  day  I  have  ever  known.  The  mean  tem- 
perature of  the  day  was  16.4  degrees  below  zero,  and  the  highest  during  the 
day  was  10.3  below  zero.  To  make  it  worse  the  wind  blew  from  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  miles  per  hour  all  day.  The  whole  month  was  very  cold.  The  mean 
temperature  of  February,  1875,  was  only  11.3  degrees.  The  mean  tempera- 
ture for  the  first  twenty-one  days  was  only  6.9  degrees  ;  and  for  the  fifteen 
days  ending  with  the  eigliteenth,  1.5  degrees. 

October  29,  1875,  a  terrific  thunder  storm  passed  over  here  from  11:30  till 
about  12:15.  It  rained  66  inch  in  about  half  an  hour.  It  was  so  dark  that 
lamps  had  to  be  lighted  to  see  to  eat  dinner. 

December  31,  1875,  and  January  i,  1876,  were  days  Hke  May.  The  tem- 
perature ran  up  to  70  degrees  on  the  31st,  and  to  69.5  degrees  on  the  ist. 
The  mean  temperature  of  the  whole  two  days  was  62,  degrees.  Frogs  were 
out  in  abundance,  and  so  were  the  bees. 

March,  1876,  was  colder,  on  the  average,  than  either  January  or  February. 
December  21,  1876,  a  large  meteor  passed  over,  a  little  south  of  here,  going  to 
the  east,  with  great  velocity.  It  made  a  noise  like  thunder,  the  sound  con- 
tinuing to  be  heard  about  fifteen  minutes.  The  agitation  of  the  air  shook 
houses,  and  the  light  exceeded  the  full  moon,  though  it  was  cloudy  at  the  time. 
During  February,  1877,  there  was  only  .8  inch  of  snow  fell,  and  the  rain 
and  melted  snow  was  only  .12  inch.  The  month  was  generally  warm,  having 
thawed  every  day  except  two.  In  March,  1877,  41.7  inches  of  snow  fell,  13.5 
inches  of  which  fell  on  the  I2th,  and  10. 5  inches  on  the  i6th.  This  snow 
nearly  all  melted  on  the  afternoon  of  the  30th.  October  19,  1877,  2.77  inches 
of  rain  fell.     Frogs  were  out  the  19th  of  December,  1877. 

October  2,  1879,  I  saw  that  rare  phenomenon,  a  lunar  rainbow;  the  only 
one  I  have  ever  seen. 

The  night  of  the  4-5th  of  March,  1880,  a  terrific  thunder  storm,  accompa- 
nied by  high  wind,  passed  over  here  It  blew  down  considerable  timber. 
During  the  last  thirteen  days  of  May,  1880,  5.56  inches  of  rain  fell,  3.18  inches 
of  which  fell  in  the  last  two  and  a  half  days. 

On  the  i8th  of  February,  1881,  10.2  inches  of  snow  fell  till  noon. 


326  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

June,  1 88 1,  was  a  very  wet  month,  there  having  been  8.43  inches  of  rain. 
On  the  8th  there  were  over  2  inches  of  rain  in  about  an  hour  and  a  half;  and 
about  three  and  one-half  miles  northwest  of  here  this  storm  was  far  heavier. 
About  seven  inches  of  water  fell  in  an  hour  and  a  half  It  flooded  a  tract  of 
land  about  half  a  mile  wide  by  nearly  a  mile  long,  to  the  depth  of  eighteen 
inches  to  two  feet. 

September  5,  1881,  the  temperature  ran  up  to  100.3  degrees;  on  the  6th, 
to  TOO  degrees;  7th,  to  98  degrees.  The  mean  temperature  of  the  three  days 
was  84  degrees. 

October,  1 881,  was  the  wettest  month  in  my  record, — 8.92  inches  of  rain, 
an  average  of  .29  inch  each  day. 

November  17  and  19,  1882,  there  were  the  most  brilliant  auroras  that  have 
been  seen  in  many  years. 

March  18,  1883,  was  very  warm  till  2:20  P.  M.  The  temperature  rose  to 
69.1  degrees,  but  by  4  P.  M.  it  was  freezing,  and  at  9  P.  M.,  eight  hours  after 
the  highest  was  reached,  the  temperature  had  fallen  55.2  degrees ;  and  thirty- 
two  hours  later  it  had  fallen  to  17.4  degrees  below  zero ;  a  change  of  86.5  de- 
grees in  forty  hours.  On  the  i8th  and  19th  12.1  inches  of  snow  fell.  May 
21,  1883,  sleet  and  snow  fell  to  the  depth  of  6.5  inches.  The  summer  of  1883 
was  very  cold,  so  much  so  that  crops  were  held  back.  Wheat  harvest  did  not 
begin  till  July  12.  On  the  23d  of  July  .63  inch  of  rain  fell  in  thirteen  min- 
utes, and  on  the  25th  .70  inch  in  fourteen  minutes.  During  the  fall  of  1883 
there  were  the  most  brilliant  sunsets  and  sunrises  that  it  has  been  the  privilege 
of  this  generation  to  see. 

There  were  great  changes  in  the  barometer  on  the  19th  to  21st  of  Febru- 
ary, 1884.  It  raised  1.070  inches  in  the  fourteen  hours  ending  at  10  A.  M., 
of  the  20tb;  in  the  next  twenty-two  hours  it  fell  .582  inch,  and  then  in  thir- 
teen hours  it  raised  .616  inch.  July  29,  1884,  there  was  a  heavy  hail  storm  a 
few  miles  west  of  here.  Hail  fell  to  the  depth  of  about  four  inches.  Much 
damage  was  done  to  crops  over  a  small  tract.  The  evening  of  the  30th  2.34 
inches  of  rain  fell  in  two  hours  and  a  half. 

The  morning  of  December  19,  1884,  was  the  coldest  recorded  here,  32.4 
degrees  below  zero. 

April  6,  1886,  15.7  inches  of  snow  fell.  It  was  one  of  the  stormiest  days 
I  have  ever  seen.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  24th  of  June,  1886,  there  was  a 
heavy  rain  and  hail  storm  in  the  north  part  of  the  county.  It  was  in  connec- 
tion with  the  tornado  of  that  date.  The  hail  fell  to  the  depth  of  several  inches 
some  places,  and  cut  crops  badly.  Corn  was  stripped  of  the  blades,  and  much 
fruit  knocked  off  the  trees.  The  storm  extended  over  an  area  about  five  by 
fifteen  miles.  In  July,  1886,  we  had  only  .31  inch  of  rain.  October  14,  1886, 
was  a  very  windy  day.  The  wind  blew  from  thirty  to  forty-five  miles  per  hour, 
and  took  the  roof  off  W.  R.  McManus's  barn,  and  part  of  the  roof  from  the 


Fulton  County.  327 


county  jail,  grist-mill,  and  some  other  buildings  in  Wauseon.  Large  trees 
were  blown  down  in  the  forests.  As  this  storm  passed  away  the  barometer 
raised  1.264  inches,  i"^  forty- four  hours. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Early  Settlement  North  of  the  Fulton  Line — Recollections  of  Pioneer  Life. 

THE  pioneer  settlement  of  Fulton  county  was  commenced  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  before  the  county,  as  such,  had  a  separate  existence;  even 
long  before  the  proprietors  of  the  enterprise  of  creating  a  new  county  of  this 
name  had  an  idea  of  such  an  event.  It  began  while  the  territory  now  em- 
braced by  it  was  known  as  Wayne  county,  and  several  years  prior  to  the  erec- 
tion of  Lucas  county,  from  which  it  was,  in  the  main,  directly  taken. 

The  county  of  Wayne  was  established  by  proclamation  of  Governor  St. 
Clair,  on  the  isth  day  of  August,  in  the  year  1796,  and  was  the  third  county 
formed  in  the  northwestern  territory.  Its  original  limits  were  very  extensive, 
and  were  thus  defined  in  the  act  creating  it;  "Beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Cuyahoga  River,  upon  Lake  Erie,  and  with  the  said  river  to  the  Portage,  be- 
tween it  and  the  Tuscarawas  branch  of  the  Muskingum  ;  thence  down  the  said 
branch  to  the  forks,  at  the  carrying  place  above  Fort  Laurense  ;  thence  by  a 
west  line  to  the  east  boundary  of  Hamilton  county,  (which  is  a  due  north  line 
from  the  lower  Shawnese  town  upon  the  Sciota  River);  thence  by  a  line  west 
and  northerly  to  the  southern  part  of  the  Portage,  between  the  Miamis  of  the 
Ohio  and  the  Saint  Mary's  River;  thence  by  a  line  also  west  and  northerly  to 
the  southwestern  part  of  the  Portage,  between  the  Wabash  and  the  Miamis  of 
Lake  Erie,  where  Fort  Wayne  now  stands;  thence  by  a  line  west-northerly  to 
the  southern  part  of  Lake  Micliigan ;  thence  along  the  western  shores  of  the 
same  to  the  northwest  part  thereof  (including, the  land  upon  the  streams  emp- 
tying into  the  said  lake);  thence  by  a  due  north  line  to  the  territorial  boundary 
in  Lake  Superior,  and  with  the  said  boundary  through  Lakes  Huron,  Sinclair 
and  Erie  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  River,  the  place  of  beginning." 

The  lands  embraced  by  these  boundaries  formed  a  part  of  what  is  now  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  all  of  Michigan. 

When  this  erection  was  m-idc  there  could  not,  of  course,  have  been  any  set- 
tlement within  the  boundaries  of  this  county,  which  was  included  within,  but 
formed  a  very  insignificant  portion  of  the  territory  named.  Such  of  the  pio- 
neer settlement  as  was  made  in  this  locality,  or  within  the  limits  of  that  which 
IS  now  Fulton  county,  was   accomplished  just   prior  to  and  about  the  time  of 


328  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  erection  of  Lucas  county.  In  fact  this  county  was  largely  taken  from  Lu- 
cas county,  and  the  portion  thereof  that  was  taken,  was  embraced  in  a  sin- 
gle township,  called  York.  The  counties  of  Henry  and  Williams  also  con- 
tributed of  their  lands  to  the  new  formation  of  Fulton,  although  in  a  compara- 
tively small  degree.  York  township  was  subsequently  subdivided  into  several 
smaller  townships,  and  the  original  name  is  now  represented  in  one  of  the 
southern  tier  of  the  county's  townships.  The  subdivisions  of  York,  Amboy, 
Chesterfield,  Clinton,  German,  Gorham,  Royalton,  Swan  Creek,  York,  Frank- 
lin, Dover,  Pike  and  Fulton  were  all  made  and  completed  while  this  territory 
was  a  part  of  Lucas  county,  excepting  the  original  York,  which  antedates  Lu- 
cas county,  and  the  small  portions  from  Williams  and  Henry  counties  which 
were  annexed  to  the  townships  nearest  which  they  were  situate. 

This  county  was  not  organized  until  the  year  1850,  and  with  its  erection  it 
at  once  acquired  a  considerable  population,  Amboy  having  in  1840,  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two;  Chesterfield,  three  hundred  and  one;  Clinton,  three  hun- 
dred and  three;  German,  four  hundred  and  fifty- two;  Gorham,  three  hundred 
and  fifty  two;  Royalton,  four  hundred  and  one;  Swan  Creek,  four  hundred 
and  ninety-four  and  York,  four  hundred  and  thirty-five.  Each  of  these  town- 
ships was  organized  prior  to  1840,  and  each  of  the  others  was  formed  be- 
tween that  date  and  1850. 

While  the  pioneer  settlement  of  these  townships  is  necessarily  a  part  of 
their  separate  history,  a  general  mention  of  the  names  of  some  of  the  pioneers 
will  be  found  of  interest  and  not  out  of  place  here. 

The  question  of  land  titles  will  be  found  fully  discussed  in  another  chapter 
in  this  work,  and  to  speak  of  the  settlers  north  of  the  old  state  line,  the  mean- 
ing will  be  fully  understood.  It  is  of  these  settlers  that  the  principal  mention 
will  be  here  made. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1832,  Eli  Phillips,  with  his  young  wife,  came 
to  the  "disputed  land."  They  were  former  residents  of  Michigan,  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Adrian.  Mr.  Phillips  located  on  sections  ten  and  eleven,  town  nine 
south,  range  three  east,  on  the  loth  day  of  June  in  that  year.  He  still  lives 
at  an  advanced  age,  enjoying  the  distinction  of  having  been  one  of  the  very 
first  settlers  in  this  then  almost  unbroken  wilderness.  The  deed  for  the  lands 
occupied  by  this  pioneer  was  signed  by  Andrew  Jackson,  president  of  the 
United  States.  Upon  this  land  he  still  lives,  aged  about  eighty-three  years. 
He  has  lived  to  see  the  forest  lands  almost  entirely  cleared  of  their  timber,  and 
where  once  was  timber  and  marsh  in  nearly  endless  extent,  are  now  beautiful, 
well  cleared  and  excellent  producing  farms.  He  stands  to-day  almost  the  sole 
living  monument  of  pioneer  days.  Eli  Phillips  was  followed  soon  after  by 
other  pioneers,  among  the  names  of  whom  are  found  Samuel  Stutesman,  But- 
ler Richardson,  Hiram  Farwell,  John  Jacoby,  Warren  Dodge,  Benjamin  Davis, 
Chesterfield  W.  Clemens,  George  P.  Clark,  Daniel  Berry  and  his  son,  Nicholas 


Fulton  County.  329 


Berry,  D.  Barnes,  David  White,  A.  H.  Jordan,  Valentine  Winslow  and  David 
Severance.  These  certainly  were  here  prior  to  1835,  and  there  may  be,  pos- 
sibly, others  whose  names  are  now  out  of  memory. 

The  year  1835  witnessed  a  considerable  settlement  by  other  families,  most 
of  whom  came  from  the  States  east  of  this.  These  came  to  build  for  themselves 
homes  and  farms  in  the  new  country  which  was  then,  among  eastern  people, 
considered  to  be  in  the  far  West,  and  on  the  frontier  of  civilization  and  settle- 
ment ;  and  so  it  was,  at  the  time,  the  now  known  western  country  being  a  vast, 
uninhabited  tract,  occupied  only  by  the  American  Indian  and  an  occasional 
trader,  who  had  ventured  so  far  from  the  center  of  settlement,  for  the  purpose 
of  barter  among  the  tribes  that  swarmed  over  the  region. 

Among  those  that  made  a  settlement  north  of  the  Fulton  line,  during  the 
year  1835,  are  found  the  names  of  Charles  B.  Smith  and  family  ;  John  S.  But- 
ler and  his  faiher,  Asa  Butler;  Garner  Willett,  Amaziah  Turner,  Ami  Richards, 
Alexander  Vaughan,  Alanson  Briggs,  Joseph  Cottrell,  Erastus  Cottrell,  Gorham 
Cottrell,  senior.  Sardis  Cottrell,  James  Baker,  Freeman  Cofifin,  Clement  Coffin, 
Martin  Lloyd,  Stephen  Chaffee,  Phillip  Clapper,  William  Lee  and  others. 

In  this  year  the  "Vistula  Road,"  from  Toledo  west  through  the  disputed 
lands  was  laid  out  and  built  by  the  government.  This  thoroughfare  has  other- 
wise been  known  as  the  "Old  Territorial  Road."  This  construction  opened  an 
established  route  of  egress  and  ingress  for  the  sturdy  pioneers  of  the  region,  by 
which  they  were  enabled  to  convey  their  products  to  market,  and  returning, 
carry  to  their  homes  such  commodities  as  were  needed  in  the  new  settlement. 
It  opened,  furthermore,  into  the  heart  of  the  country,  a  route  which  was  easy 
of  access  and  travel  for  hundreds  of  new  comers,  who  were  seeking  homes  in 
the  land  now  being  rapidly  developed  and  occupied. 

There  came  to  the  region  in  the  year  1836  a  number  of  families,  among 
whom  are  to  be  found  the  names  of  Ansel  H.  Henderson,  Harlow  Butler,  John 
P.  Roos,  John  B.  Roos,  Asher  E.  Bird,  sr.,  John  McLaughlin,  Daniel  Donald- 
son, John  Donaldson,  and  perhaps  others.  After  the  coming  of  these  families, 
and  sub:^equent  to  the  year  1836.  the  lands  became  rapidly  taken  up  and  set- 
tled, so  that  their  settlement  becomes  lost  in  the  general  growth  of  the  com- 
munity. "  These  early  pioneers,  the  advance  guard  of  a  new  civilization  in  the 
wilderness,  were  the  blood  and  brains  of  the  Eastern  States,  which  formed  the 
main  composition  of  this  growing  territory ;  whose  fathers  had  educated  their 
sons  and  daughters  for  the  practical  work  of  life,  and  they  have,  in  turn,  left 
their  impress  upon  the  country  by  their  determination,  energy,  perseverance, 
thrift,  and  their  stern  political  integrity  and  loyalty  to  government." 

Of  like  disposition  and  character  were  the  pioneer  families  of  the  various 
other  Incaliiies  of  the  county,  but  it  is  a  generally  conceded  truth  that  the  lands 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  county  were  hrst  taken  and  occupied  —  the  land  on 
the  disputed  tract,  which  will  be  found  fully  discussed  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

42 


330  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

James  C.  Vaughan,  now  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  county,  was  un- 
doubtedly the  first  male  white  child  born  on  the  disputed  tract,  and  Miuiha 
Turner,  daughter  of  Amaziah  Turner,  was  the  first  female  white  child  born 
thereon. 

Recollections  of  Pioneer  Days. 

The  pioneers  are  passing  away.  In  fact,  so  many  of  them  have  already 
gone,  that  with  regret  we  note  their  vacant  places,  and  realize  that  the  inevit- 
able years  will  soon  gather  them  all.  The)',  in  a  general  way,  have  written 
their  own  history,  and  have  built  their  lasting  monuments  on  every  farm  and 
in  every  villat^e  of  this  county,  but  thousands  of  unwritten  incidents  and  deeds 
worthy  of  record  have  passed  from  the  memory  of  the  living,  and  can  never 
be  recalled.  The  men  and  women  who  built  the  first  homes  for  the  white  race 
in  this  important  part  of  a  great  State,  were  not  common  people.  They  wore 
not  broadcloth  or  silk,  and  fashion  and  useless  polish  were  strangers  to  them. 
In  their  plain  homes  and  primitive  surroundings,  with  open  hands  and  open 
hearts,  they  met  upon  one  common  social  level;  nevertheless  they  were  an 
uncommon  people.  From  the  refined  homes  and  cultivated  fields  of  the  east  the 
bravest  and  the  best  went  out  with  a  determined  purpose  to  build  among  diffi- 
culties for  civilization,  and  to  sow  for  posterity  to  reap.  No  ordinary  people 
could  do  what  the  pioneers  of  this  county  have  done.  But  a  few  short  years 
ago,  compared  with  the  age  of  the  State,  they  commenced  the  magnificent  task, 
and  by  constant  toil,  seeking  not  for  ease,  through  trials  incessant,  bravely  fac- 
ing calamities,  after  long  and  weary  waiting  they  saw  gardens  crowd  away  the 
briar  and  the  thistle,  and  grain  and  grass  wave  where  once  was  tangled  marsh. 
All  through  these  long  years  they  were  unconsciously  weaving  webs  of  a  history 
which  spoke  the  doings  of  an  interesting  band,  every  word  of  which  ought  to 
be  cherished  by  us,  and  every  possible  fragment  gathered  and  saved  in  memory 
of  our  fathers  and  our  mothers,  and  to  the  honor  and  for  the  benefit  of  ourselves 
and  those  who  may  live  after  us. 

It  may  be  true  that  no  tongue  can  ever  tell,  no  pen  can  ever  write  the  words 
which  bring  back  in  realistic  form  the  weary,  homesick  feeling,  the  anxieties, 
trials,  hopes  and  fears  of  the  dark  days,  or  the  happiness  and  sunshine  of  the 
bright  da)'s  of  the  pioneer's  struggle  for  better  homes  and  a  higher  civilization  ; 
but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  incidents  of  his  career  are  sacred  facts,  and  that 
his  victories  in  the  great  battle  of  an  unselfish  life  are  as  worthy  of  our  remem- 
brance as  are  the  deeds  of  the  men  who  fought  the  battle  of  Sedan,  or  led  the 
famous  march  to  the  sea.  The  true  benefactors  are  they  who  penetrating  the 
wilderness  drove  back  all  features  of  barbarism,  and  built  refined  homes,  and 
created  broad  harvests  to  enrich  the  world ;  and  it  was  a  true  heroism  which 
enabled  them  to  endure  the  privations  and  hardships  of  the  past,  which  are  fast 
being  forgotten  midst  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  the  present;  for  incompre- 
hensible were  the  noble  motives  and  splendid  purposes  of  the  true  heroes  who 
built  the  primitive  cabins. 


Fulton  County.  331 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

SOCrBTIBS  OF  THE  COUNTY. 

IN  the  county  of  Fulton  there  appears  to  be  in  existence  three  estabhshed 
organizations,  the  interests  of  which  are  dependent  upon  the  county  for 
support  and  maintenance.  They  arc  the  Fuhon  County  Agricultural  Societ}' ; 
the  Fulton  County  Pioneer  and  Historical  Association,  and  the  Northwestern 
Ohio  Fair  Company.  The  last  named,  the  Fair  Company,  is  a  corporation, 
and  while  hardly  to  be  classed  as  a  society  of  the  county,  it  draws  support 
largely  from  the  county  by  way  of  attendance  at  its  meetings,  but  its  expenses 
are  met  by  the  stockholders,  and  who  also  participate  in  its  profits,  and  while 
it  may  not  be  strictly  termed  a  county  society,  it  is,  nevertheless,  sufficiently 
such  in  its  nature  for  the  purposes  of  this  chapter. 

The  Fulton  Comity  Agricultural  Society.  This  society  was  organized  in 
the  year  1858,  and  is  wholly  owned,  or  controlled,  by  the  count)'.  The  object 
of  the  society  is  similar  to  like  institutions  throughout  the  State,  having  for  its 
chief  object  a  friendly  competition  among  the  people,  especially  in  the  pro- 
duction of  farm  and  garden  supplies,  by  offering  prizes,  or  awards  for  the  best 
of  each  class.  This  also  extends  to  all  articles,  not  farm  and  garden  produce, 
such  as  works  of  art,  useful  and  ornamental,  and  in  fact  nearly  every  branch 
of  trade  or  occupation  is,  or  may  be  represented  at  the  exhibitions  of  the  so- 
ciety, and  prizes  given  for  superior  excellence  in  each.  The  result  is  whole- 
some and  beneficial,  as  it  stimulates  the  farmer  to  greater  effort  in  his  pursuit 
that  his  products  may  be  of  the  best ;  and  as  it  applies  to  farm  production  so 
it  does  to  the  results  of  other  pursuits. 

The  first  meeting  or  exhibition  of  this  society  was  held  in  the  fall  of  the 
year  1858,  on  a  ten  acre-tract  of  land  which  the  society  held  under  a  ten  year 
lease.  The  place  of  meeting  was  at  a  point  in  Dover  township,  about  a  half 
mile  east  from  Ottokee,  then  the  county  seat.  Suitable  buildings  were  here 
erected  for  keeping  the  exhibits,  and  the  other  purposes  of  the  society.  The 
grounds  were  laid  out  with  a  trotting  course  for  competition  in  trials  of  speed 
of  horses. 

The  result  of  ten  years  of  existence  in  this  locality,  and  on  this  limited  tract 
of  land,  was  beneficial  to  all  die  people,  and  at  the  expiration  of  the  lease  the 
society  purchased  a  tract  of  about  forty  acres  of  land  situate  on  the  "  west 
road,"  leading  from  Wauseon  to  Ottokee.  The  land  was  marshy  and  had  no 
improvement,  much  of  it  being  covered  with  timber.  The  improvements  for 
the  first  year  were  made  at  an  expense  of  about  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  This 
site  was  procured  for  the  society  by  D.  W.  H.  Howard,  Oliver  B.  Verity  and  L. 
L.  Carpenter.     The  erection  of  buildings,  fences  and  enclosures,  and  the  con- 


332  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

struction  of  the  track  for  exhibition  of  stock  and  trials  of  speed,  cost  the  soci- 
ety several  thousand  dollars.  Of  recent  years  the  society  has  confined  its  ex- 
hibitions mainly  to  the  display  of  farm  products,  stock  and  art  work,  rather 
than  to  horse  trotting,  the  latter  being  now  incident  to  tiie  meetings  of  the 
Northwestern  Ohio  Fair  Company, 

The  present  officers  of  the  Fulton  County  Agricultural  Society  are  as  fol- 
lows ;  L.  G.  Ely,  president  ;  L.  W.  Brown,  secretary  ;  J.  W.  Howard,  treas- 
urer ;  executive  board,  A.  C.  Daniels,  Adam  Kanauer,  H.  S.  Persing,  James 
Fenton,  J.  H.  Brigham,  S.  H.  Cately,  L.  W.  Brown,  George  Gasche,  A.  M. 
Lee,  Peter  Schug,  D.  W.  H.  Howard,  W.  A.  Blake,  William  Waffle,  E.  H. 
Patterson  and  L.  G.  Ely. 

To  the  encouragement  and  support  of  the  objects  of  this  society  the  State 
provides  a  fund  of  one  cent  per  capita  of  the  county's  population.  This  fund 
now  reaches  something  like  two  hundred  and  ten  dollars.  Should  there  be  a 
surplus  of  receipts  over  expenses  the  same  is  used  in  making  improvements 
and  premium  awards. 

Any  person  may  become  a  member  of  the  Fulton  County  Agricultural 
Society  by  paying  annually  into  the  treasury  the  sum  of  one  dollar.  This  not 
only  makes  them  members,  but  in  addition  thereto,  entitles  such  person  to  a 
voice  in  the  administration  of  the  society,  and  to  four  admission  tickets  to  the 
exhibitions  of  the  same. 

The  Fulton  County  Pioneer  and  Historical  Association.  For  a  period  of  sev- 
eral years  prior  to  the  actual  organization  of  this  association  its  necessity  was 
recognized  by  the  older  residents  of  the  county.  It  was  felt  that  to  the  pion- 
eers, who  at  an  early  day  located  in  this  region,  and  who,  by  their  lives, 
privations,  toil  and  industry,  sucteeded,  through  a  period  of  almost  incredible 
hardships  and  sufferings,  in  laying  the  foundation  upon  which  the  superstruc- 
ture of  the  county  has  since  been  built  and  enlarged  by  neu-  comers  and  later 
generations,  there  should  be  erected  in  some  suitable  manner,  a  monument  to 
their  memory,  and  the  memor\-  of  their  deeds  and  lives;  a  monument,  per- 
manent and  imperishable,  that  the  children  of  all  coming  generations  might 
know  to  whom  the  honor  and  credit  of  the  early  settlements  of  the  county  is 
actually  due.  It  was  therefore  considered  advisable  that  a  society  should  at 
once  be  organized,  the  object  of  which  should  be  to  gather  while  po.ssible,  the 
facts  and  incidents  relative  to  the  pioneer  days  of  the  county,  and  to  record 
them  in  substantial  form  for  future  use  and  reference.  It  was  deemed  im- 
portant, too,  that  this  work  should  be  done,  if  ever,  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
pioneer,  while  a  complete  and  acurate  record  could  be  made. 

To  this  end,  and  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  purpose  expressed,  a  call 
was  made  upon  the  older  residents  of  the  county,  inviting  them  to  meet  at 
the  court-house,  at  Wauseon,  on  the  22d  day  of  February,  in  the  year  1883; 
that  there  might  be  a  full  and  free  interchange  of  views  on  the  subject,  and 
complete  organization  effected. 


Fulton  County.  333 


In  obedience  to  the  invitation  there  was  a  large  attendance  upon  the  occa- 
sion, February  22,  1883,  and  for  the  purpose  of  temporary  organization, 
Michael  Handy,  esq.,  was  made  chairman  and  L.  G.  Ely,  secretary.  The  ob- 
ject of  the  meeting  was  then  fully  and  carefully  outlined  by  Hon.  D.  W.  H. 
Howard,  substantially  as  set  forth  in  the  early  part  of  this  sketch,  after  which 
a  committee  on  constitution  and  by-laws  was  appointed  as  follows :  D.  W.  H. 
Howard,  Albert  Deyo,  Joseph  Shadle,  L.  G.  Ely  and  James  S.  Dean.  Upon 
the  report  of  the  committee  the  constitution  and  by-laws  were  adopted,  and 
the  society  to  be  known  as  the  "  Fulton  County  Pioneer  and  Historical  Asso- 
ciation," was  brought  into  existence.  It  was  provided  that  the  president 
should  be  the  person  who  had  resided  the  greatest  number  of  years  in  the 
county,  and  that  the  vice-presidents  should  be  the  persons  who  had  the  longest 
residence  in  the  townships  from  which  they  were  respectively  chosen,  it  being 
provided  that  there  should  be  one  vice-president  from  each  township  in  the 
county. 

Hon.  Dresden  W.  H.  Howard  being  the  oldest  resident  of  the  county  was 
made  president  of  the  association,  an  office  he  has  filled  most  acceptably  and 
capably  to  the  present  time.  The  vice-presidents  were  as  follows:  John  Jones, 
York;  J.  M.  Williams,  Clinton;  John  S.  Butler,  Chesterfield  ;  Heman  A.  Can- 
field,  Gorham  ;  J.  S.  Riddle,  Franklin  ;  David  Ayers,  Dover  ;  John  McQuil- 
len.  Pike;  James  Fenton,  Fulton;  Socrates  H.  Cately,  Swan  Creek;  George 
R.  Betts,  German  ;  Dallas  Brown,  Royalton;  John  Clendening,  Amboy.  The 
other  officers  were  L.  G.  Ely,  secretary  ;  Socrates  H.  Cately,  treasurer  ;  Levi 
W.  Brown,  S.  C.  Biddle,  Michael  Handy,  Ozias  Merrill  and  J.  P.  Roos  consti- 
tuted the  executive  committee,  and  Hon.  Oliver  B.  Verity  was  chosen  as  the 
historian  of  the  association.  Meetings  were  appointed  to  be  held  on  the  22d 
day  in  the  months  of  February  and  August  of  each  year. 

The  object  of  the  association  being  so  worthy,  has  met  with  marked  success 
during  its  brief  existence,  and  from  the  first  has  steadily  increased  in  member- 
ship, until  it  now  numbers  nearly  all  the  old  substantial  pioneer  element  of 
the  county.  Its  present  officers  are  as  follows  :  President,  Hon.  Dresden  W. 
H.  Howard ;  secretary,  Thomas  Mikesell ;  treasurer,  Socrates  H.  Cately ;  ex- 
ecutive committee,  S.  C.  Biddle,  Rufus  Briggs,  Ozias  Merrill,  J.  P.  Roos  and 
0.  A.  Cobb;  historian,  Hon.  Oliver  B.  Verity.  The  vice  presidents  remain, 
one  from  each  township,  as  stated  and  given  heretofore. 

The  Northwestern  Ohio  Fair  Company.  This  association  was  organized  in 
response  to  a  feeling  that  existed  widely  that  Fulton  county  ought  to  have  a 
place  for  annual  meetings  and  exhibitions,  at  which  premiums  and  purses  were 
to  be  awarded,  and  which  was  situate  within  a  convenient  distance  of  the 
county  seat  and  a  railroad  .station.  The  fact  that  the  grounds  of  the  Fulton 
County  Agricultural  Society  were  distant  some  miles  from  the  railroad,  and 
could  only  be  reached   by  carriage   conveyance  ;    that  the   grounds  of  that 


334  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

society  had  no  ample  accommodation  for  stabling  horses,  and  that  there  was 
no  hotel,  or  public  house  within  several  miles  of  the  place ;  and  from  the  fact 
that  there  was  a  general  demand  on  the  part  of  many  persons  who  were  in  the 
habit  of  attending  exhibitions  of  this  character,  both  residents  and  non-resi- 
dents, a  number  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  Wauseon  and  vicinity  caused  to 
be  incorporated,  in  the  year  1883,  the  Northwestern  Ohio  Fair  Company, 
having  for  its  object  the  same,  substantially,  as  it  set  forth  concerning  the 
Fulton  County  Agricultural  Society.  W.  C.  Kelly  was  elected  president;  J. 
S.  Newcomer,  secretary,  and  E.  S.  Callender,  treasurer.  The  grounds  of  the 
company  are  situate  just  north  of  Wauseon,  easy  of  access  and  within  a  con- 
venient walking  distance.  The  lands  comprise  something  like  fifty  acres  and 
are  arranged  with  reference  to  convenience  and  good  order.  Substantial 
buildings  and  enclosures  are  erected  for  the  display  of  exhibits  of  all  kinds, 
while  the  trotting  course  (half  mile)  is  one  of  the  best  in  northwestern  Ohio. 
The  society  is  in  good  standing  in  the  region  and  well  supported.  Its  present 
officers  are  Frank  E.  Blair,  president ;  A.  S.  Bloomer,  secretary ;  E.  S.  Cal- 
lender, treasurer.     The  meetings  of  the  company  are  held  annually. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Military  History  of  Fulton  County — Early  Militia  Organizations. 

THE  early  military  history  of  Fulton  county  is  so  obscured  by  time  that 
no  statistics  relative  to  the  early  organization  can  be  found,  and  we  have 
been  compelled  to  rely  wholly  upon  the  memory  of  some  of  the  early  settlers 
of  the  county,  among  which  we  have  received  much  information  from  Samuel 
Carpenter  and  A.  H.  Jordan,  esq.,  of  Royalton  township. 

Before  this  county  was  organized,  in  1850,  most  of  the  territory  embraced 
in  Fulton  county  was  within  the  limits  of  Lucas  county,  and  the  military  or- 
ganizations were  called  Lucas  County  Militia.  There  was  a  full  regiment,  five 
companies  of  which  belonged  to  Lucas  county  and  three,  namely.  Company 
A.,  captain,  Lyman  Parcher,  first  lieutenant,  Samuel  Stutsman;  Company  B. 
Charles  Smith,  captain,  Elias  Richardson,  first  lieutenant,  and  William  Saw- 
yer, second  lieutenant.  Company  C,  commanded  by  Captain  Treadwell;  Pe- 
oli  Alwood,  first  lieutenant,  and  John  Viers,  second  lieutenant.  The  regiment 
usually  had  two  general  musters  each  year,  which  were  high  old  times,  lasting 
three  days,  the  last  of  which  was  usuall)-,  after  roll  call  in  the  morning,  turned 
over  to  general  sports,  such  as  shooting  at  a  mark,  rimning  foot  races,  pitching 
the  iron  bar,  throwing  the    maul,  wrestling  etc. ;  and  as  whisky  was  cheap  in 


Fulton  County.  335 


those  da3'S,  only  twenty  cents  a  gallon,  a  great  quantity  of  the  "creature",  was 
usually  disposed  of  on  these  occasions.  About  the  year  1844,  it  being  this 
part  of  the  county's  turn  for  the  "general  training,"  as  it  was  called.  Colonel 
Briggs  ordered  the  regiment  to  assemble  at  H.  C.  Jordon's  corners  for  a  one 
day  muster.  The  order  was  generally  obeyed,  and  as  there  was  a  vacancy  of 
a  lieutenancy  in  one  of  the  companies,  an  election  was  ordered  to  fill  it,  which 
resulted  in  the  election  of  a  young  soldier  from  Maumee.  After  his  electien 
he  was  required  to  make  good  his  footing,  which  was  to  treat  the  whole  regi- 
ment, but  the  newly  elected  lieutenant  not  having  the  necessary  money  and 
having  forgot  or  neglected  to  bring  along  a  coon  skin,  the  regiment  became 
violent  and  were  about  to  declare  the  rifhce  \  acant  and  proceed  with  a  new 
election,  when  A.  H.  Jordon,  good  soul  .is  he  is,  and  always  was,  came  to  the 
rescue  and  furnished  the  thing  needful.  The  boys  had  become  so  thirsty  by 
this  time  that  it  took  five  gallons  to  go  around.  The  regiment  was  then  or- 
dered into  line  and  commenced  training,  but  as  they  warmed  up  with  the  drill, 
the  whisky  also  warmed  up,  and  before  noon  about  one  half  of  the  regiment 
were  under  arrest  for  disorderly  conduct,  and  as  it  took  the  other  half  to  guard 
those  under  arrest,  this  meeting  was  adjourned  to  meet  at  ^tna  (now  Win- 
ameg)  about  one  month  thereafter.  It  met  according  to  the  adjournment 
for  a  three  days'  drill.  It  had  a  fine  time  at  this  meeting  and  was  inspected 
and  reviewed  by  Major  General  Charles  W.  Hill,  of  Toledo,  who  highly  com- 
plimented the  command  for  its  proficiency  in  drill  and  good  soldierly  bearing. 
During  the  night  of  the  second  day's  drill  Colonel  Briggs  had  occasion  to  be 
outside  the  guard  line,  and  as  he  rode  up  to  where  True  Whiteman  was  stand- 
ing guard,  the  latter  halted  him  and  told  him  to  dismount  and  give  the  coun- 
tersign, but  the  colonel  had  forgotten  the  countersign,  and  feeling  his  oats 
somewhat,  endeavored  to  force  his  way  past  the  guard,  but  True  was  "true 
blue,"  and  understood  hisduty,  and,  as  the  colonel  rode  up,  persisting  that  he 
was  Colonel  Briggs  and  had  a  right  to,  and  would  pass  at  all  hazards,  the  guard 
thought  differently,  and  clubbing  his  rifle,  promptly  knocked  the  horse  down 
on  which  the  gallant  colonel  was  riding  and  made  him  a  priso.ner  until  the  ad- 
jutant was  sent  for,  who  communicated  the  countersign  to  the  colonel,  which 
he  then  gave  to  the  guard  and  was  permitted  to  pass.  This  was  the  last  gen- 
eral muster  in  this  county  in  ante-bellum  days,  although  the  regiment  met  af- 
ter that  at  Maumee  and  other  places  in  Lucas  county. 

The  War  of  1861-5. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  "V\'ar  of  the  Rebellion,  Fulton  county,  in  point 
of  numbers,  was  one  of  the  smallest  counties  in  the  State,  numbeiing  at  that 
time,  in  round  numbers,  about  twelve  thousand  population.  There  were,  at 
that  time,  no  villages  in  the  county  numbering  one  thousand  inhabitants. 
Delta  being  the  largest  with  a  population  of  only   a  few  hundred  persons,  and 


336  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

all  the  other  villages  combined  reaching  less  than  twelve  hundred.  The  coun- 
try was  sparsely  settled,  and  by  a  strictly  farming  people.  As  soon  as  Fort 
Sumter  had  been  fired  upon  by  the  Jrebels,  the  people  of  this  county,  with 
one  accord,  sinking  party  affiliations  for  the  time,  sprang  to  the  defense  of  the 
Union  ;  public  meetings  were  held  all  over  the  county  and,  in  a  few  days,  two 
full  companies  were  raised,  under  the  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  seventy-five 
thousand  men  Owing  to  the  rapidity  with  which  Ohio's  quota  of  the  seventy- 
five  thousand  was  filled,  but  one  of  Fulton  county's  companies  could  be  ac- 
cepted. This  company,  ninety-seven  strong,  commanded  by  Captain  E.  L. 
Barber,  of  Wauseon,  was  mustered  into  the  Fourteenth  Regiment  as  Company 
H,  and  rendered  good  service  in  that  regiment  during  its  term  of  enlistment. 

The  other  company  was  ordered  to  Camp  Herrick,  in  Swanton,  where,  af- 
ter being  drilled  for  about  one  month,  it  was  mustered  out  and  paid  off  by  the 
State.  After  Congress  met  in  July,  1861,  the  president  issued  his  second  call 
for  three  hundred  thousand  troops  for  three  years'  service  Ohio's  quota  was 
quickly  filled  ;  the  Fourteenth  and  Thirty-eighth  Regiments  were  raised  in  the 
northwestern  counties  of  the  State;  Fulton  county  contributing  to  the  three 
years  Fourteenth  Regiment  at  muster  in,  forty- seven  men,  and  sent  to  the  regi- 
ment as  recruits,  seven  men,  making  a /total  of  fifty-four  from  Fulton  county, 
for  that  regiment.  ■ 

Fulton  county  furnished  for  the  Thirty  eighth  Regiment  two  full  companies : 
Company  I,  Captain  M.  R.  Brailey,  and  Company  K,  Captain  R.  A.  Franks. 
These  two  companies  had  an  aggregate  of  two  hundred  men,  and  forty-one 
men  mustered  into  other  companies  of  the  regiment ;  a  total  at  muster  in  of 
two  hundred  and  forty-one  men  from  Fulton  county.  The  county,  during  the 
war,  also  sent  one  hundred  and  nine  recruits  to  the  Thirty-eighth  Regiment, 
making  a  total  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  from  this  county  for  the  Thirty- 
eighth. 

The  county  furnished  to  the  Forty- seventh  Ohio  Regiment  fifty- three 
men.  This  was  a  squad  of  men  raised  for  other  regiments,  but  they  being  full, 
the  men  were  mustered  into  the  Forty-seventh.  There  were  recruited  for  the 
Sixty-seventh  Ohio  Infantry  two  hundred  and  eleven  men,  who  were  mustered 
in  at  the  organization  of  the  regiment  from  Fulton  county,  and  the  county  sent 
them  forty-nine  recruits  during  its  term  of  service,  making  a  total  of  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty  men  from  this  county. 

The  county  furnished  for  the  Sixty-eighth  Regiment  one  company  of 
ninety- seven  men  ;  for  the  One  Hundredth  Regiment,  one  company,  H,  was 
wholly  recruited  from  Fulton  county,  added  to  which  the  county  sent  sixteen 
recruits.  The  county  also  furnished  twenty  other  men  for  thi^  regiment,  who 
were  mustered  into  other  companies,  making  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
six. 

For  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Regiment  Fuiton  county  furnished 
sixty-two  men,  most  of  whom  were  mustered  into  Company  K. 


Fulton  County.  337 


The  county  furnished  one  whole  company,  D,  which  was  mustered  into  the 
Forty-fourth  Illinois  Regiment  of  infantry.  It  also  sent  to  the  regiment,  while 
at  the  front,  twenty-seven  recruits,  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four. 
Eighty-four  men  from  the  county  enlisted  and  served  in  Michigan  regiments. 

For  the  Third  Ohio  Cavalry  there  were  were  fifty-five  men  recruited  from 
Fulton  county,  who  served  with  that  regiment  during  the  war. 

There  was  recruited  in  this  county  for  the  Thirty-seventh  German  Regi- 
ment twenty- six  men  ;  and  for  other  three  years  Ohio  regiments,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-six  men,  making  a  grand  total  of  three  years  men  who  went  into 
the  service  from  this  county  of  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-seven. 

Fulton  county  furnished  for  the  One  Hundred  and  Eighty- second  Regi- 
ment sixty-one  men,  forty-five  of  whom  were  mustered  into  Company  B,  and 
sixteen  into  Company  K,  of  that  regiment. 

This  county  also  furnished  for  other  one  year  regiments,  forty-two  men, 
who  were  mustered  into  the  following  one  year  regiments,  viz.  :  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Eighty- fourth,  the  One  Hundred  and  Eighty- ninth,  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Ninety- first,  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninety-Third  and  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Ninety- fifth,  making  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  two  men  for  the  one 
year  service. 

Fulton  furnished  for  the  three  months  service,  ninety-seven  men,  mustered 
into  Company  H,  Fourteenth  Regiment;  and' ninety-eight  men,  who  were 
mustered  into  Company  G,  Eighty- fifth  Regiment,  and  twenty-one  men,  who 
were  mustered  into  different  companies  of  the  Eighty-seventh  Regiment,  mak- 
ing a  total  of  two  hundred  and  sixteen,  furnished  by  this  county  for  the  differ- 
ent three  months  organizations. 

In  the  spring  of  1864,  when  General  Grant  assumed  the  command  of  all 
the  armies  of  the  United  States,  and  was  about  to  begin  his  famous  advance 
against  the  army  of  General  Lee,  it  being  necessary  that  he  should  have  all  the 
veteran  troops  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  for  that  purpose,  President  Lin- 
coln called  together,  at  Washington,  the  governors  of  all  the  loyal  States  for 
consultation,  and  to  devise  means,  if  possible,  to  raise  recruits  for  a  short  pe- 
riod, to  guard  Washington,  and  to-  do  other  guard  and  garrison  duty  in  and 
about  that  city,  and  to  hold  places  captured  in  rear  of  the  line  of  march  of 
Grant's  army,  and  to  guard  the  supply  and  ammunition  trains  for  his  army,  so 
that  all  the  old,  available  troops  of  the  Potomac  Army  could  be  at  the  front. 
The  loyal  governors  assembled,  and,  after  consultation,  Governor  Brough,  of 
Ohio,  suggested  to  the  president  and  State  governors,  the  idea  of  calling  out 
one  hundred  thousand  men  for  one  hundred  days  service,  pledging  Ohio  for 
thirty  thousand  of  this  class  of  troops.  President  Lincoln  immediately  agreed 
with  this  proposition,  and,  after  a  short  conference,  the  other  governors  agreed 
to  the  proposition.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  thirty  thousand  was  much  larger 
than  Ohio's  quota,  yet  the  whole  number  was  speedily  raised,  and  about  three 
43 


338  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

thousand  surplus.  The  first  regiment  to  respond  was  the  One  Hundred  and 
Thirtieth,  or  First  Ohio  National  Guards,  wholly  raised  in  the  northwest  cor- 
ner of  the  State.  Fulton  county  reported  with  three  companies,  but,  as  there 
was  a  total  of  eleven  companies  reported,  one  company  from  this  county  was 
distributed  among  other  companies  of  the  regiment.  Fulton  county  furnished 
for  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Regiment  two  hundred  and  fifty-one  men- 
Although  the  one  hundred  days  men  did  but  little  fighting,  they  were  of  ines- 
timable value  in  holding  the  rear  of  Grant's  army,  preventing  raids  on  Wash- 
ington, and  giving  to  General  Grant  all  the  good  fighting  men  of  his  army. 

For  the  cavalry  service  Fulton  county  did  not  send  a  great  number  to  the 
field.  It  did,  however,  furnish  for  the  Third  Regiment  of  Cavalry  fifty-five  men, 
most  of  whom  were  mustered  into  Company  H,  of  that  regiment.  There  were 
also  enlisted  in  this  county  and  mustered  into  other  cavalry  regiments  forty- 
three  men,  making  a  total  of  ninety- eight  from  Fulton  county  for  this  branch 
of  the  service.  In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  thirt)'  men  from  Fulton  county 
volunteered,  and  were  mustered  into  the  First  Regiment  of  Ohio  Light  Artil- 
lery ;  thirteen  men  went  into  the  Sharpshooters,  twenty-three  enlisted  and  were 
mustered  into  the  different  Ohio  independent  batteries,  and  eleven  into  the 
United  States  Regulars,  making  a  total  of  eighty-seven  men  mustered  into 
these  miscellaneous  organizations. 

Recapitulation.  —  Fulton  county  sent  to  the  field  and  had  mustered  into  the 
service  for  three  years,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-seven  men.  For 
the  one  year  service  this  county  sent  to  the  field  one  hundred  and  two  men; 
for  the  six  months  service  Fulton  county  sent  to  the  war  ninety- four  men;  for 
the  three  months  service  there  were  recruited  in  this  county  and  sent  to  the 
field  two  hundred  and  sixteen  men  ;  for  the  one  hundred  days  service  this 
county  sent  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  ;  miscellaneous  organizations,  eighty- 
seven  men,  making  a  total,  for  all  armies  of  the  service  of  two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  seven  men  that  actually  entered  the  service. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  many  instances  no  company  roster  is  given  in 
connection  with  the  history  of  the  command.  In  explanation  of  this  absence  it 
may  be  stated  that  no  reliable  record  of  individuals  could  be  obtained  of  many 
of  the  companies  that  entered  the  service  later  than  1862;  and  even  for  that 
year  all  do  not  appear.  Memorials  and  muster-out-rolls  have  been  found  from 
which  an  incomplete  record  could  be  made,  and,  in  such  cases,  care  has  been 
used  to  make  the  data  as  reliable  as  possible.  Again,  in  frequent  cases,  it  ap- 
pears that  only  a  small  portion  of  a  company  was  from  the  county,  and  in  order 
to  give  a  complete  roster,  each  name  should  appear,  and  it  has  been  found  im- 
possible to  determine  just  who  of  the  company  were  from  Fulton. 

The  Fourteenth  Infantry — Three  Months  Service. 

There  was  not  at  any  time  during  the  progress  of  the  war  against  the  Re- 
bellion, a  more  hearty  response  to  the  president's  demand  for  volunteers  than 


Fulton  County.  339 


under  the  first  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  men  for  three  months'  service. 
Indeed,  so  promptly  and  so  faithfully  did  the  men  of  Ohio  answer  to  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  occasion,  that  less  by  far  were  required  than  had  volunteered 
for  the  service.     Ohio  had  overrun  her  quota  by  the  thousands. 

In  no  place  was  greater  patriotism  and  greater  loyalty  to  the  Union  shown, 
than  in  the  then  young  and  struggling  county  of  Fulton.  Epaphras  L.  Bar- 
ber, then  a  resident  of  Wauseon,  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business,  at  once 
signed  the  enlistment  roll,  and  his  action  was  immediately  followed  by  others  so 
rapidly,  that  on  the  23d  day  of  April,  just  four  days  after  the  enlistment  began, 
the  company,  one  hundred  and  twelve  strong,  went  to  Toledo.  In  perfecting 
the  company  organization,  E.  L.  Barber,  was  elected  captain  ;  Thomas  M. 
Ward,  first  lieutenant;  and  Reason  A.  Francks,  second  lieutenant.  Arriving  at 
Toledo,  the  company  was  attached  to  the  Fourteenth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  made  Company  H. 

The  regiment  was  fully  organized  by  the  election  of  the  field  officers  as  fol- 
lows: James  B.  Steedman,  colonel;  George  P.  Este,  lieutenant-colonel;  Paul 
Edwards,  major.  The  Fourteenth,  having  close  to  one  thousand  men,  left  To- 
ledo for  Cleveland  where  they  arrived  on  April  25th,  and  went  into  camp. 
Two  days  later,  April  27th,  the  regiment  was  mustered  into  service. 

The  regiment  was  raised  in  what  was  then  the  Tenth  Congressional  District, 
embracing  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  Toledo.  So  great  was  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  people,  that  many  of  the  companies  were  more  than  full.  This  was  the 
casein  Company  H,  under  Captain  Barber,  by  whom  a  portion  were  sent  back 
home.  In  this  the  captain  exercised  good  judgment,  and  returned  those  whose 
presence  was  most  needed  at  home,  such  as  men  having  families  dependent  on 
them  for  support. 

Company  H,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  appended  muster-roll,  was  made  up 
mainly  of  young  men,  strong,  sturdy  fellows,  taken  from  the  farms  and  shops  of 
Fulton  county,  and  not  a  man  of  them  but  fully  realized  the  serious  business  in 
which  they  had  enlisted;  and  although  their  term  of  service  was  short,  and  their 
battles  few,  they  were,  nevertheless,  capital  soldiers,  and  rendered  such  service 
as  was  required  of  them  promptly  and  well. 

When  mustered  into  service  the  Fourteenth  went  into  Camp  Taylor,  near 
Cleveland,  for  drill,  and  in  this  they  were  exercised  to  an  abundant  degree.  In 
fact,  there  were  here,  as  well  as  subsequently,  numerous  complaints  on  the  part 
of  a  few  of  Company  H,  that  they  were  being  too  much  drilled,  but  later  in 
the  service  (for  most  of  the  men  became  veterans),  they  profited  by  the  drill  and 
discipline  they  received  from  Captain  Barber,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  out 
of  his  company  alone,  twelve  men  became  commissioned  officers  in  other  com- 
mands. 

On  the  22d  day  of  May  the  Fourteenth  left  Cleveland  for  Columbus,  where 
they  received  their  clothing,  arms,  and  all  necessary  equipments,  and  on  the 


34°  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

next  day,  the  23d,  proceeded  to  Marietta,  at  which  place  they  were  joined  by 
the  First  Ohio  Battery.  They  then  on  the  27th  moved  on  toward  Webster, 
sometimes  riding,  and  frequently  being  compelled  to  march,  acting  as  pioneer 
and  construction  corps,  for  the  enemy  and  southern  sympathizers  had  destroyed 
roads  and  bridges.  At  Webster  the  regiment  was  joined  by  the  Sixth,  Sev- 
enth and  Ninth  Indiana  troops.  The  regiment  then  marched  for  Philippi,  Va., 
which  was  performed  on  a  dark  and  stormy  night,  and  brought  up  in  front  of 
the  place  soon  after  daylight  on  the  inorning  of  the  4th,  and  at  once  a  volley 
from  the  battery  was  fired  into  the  town.  Had  the  plan  been  executed  accord- 
ing to  its  original  conception,  Philippi  would  have  been  captured  ;  but  through 
some  blunder  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  commands,  the  scheme  failed  of  its  main 
purpose.  The  rebels,  however,  quickly  abandoned  the  town,  which  was  imme- 
diately occupied  by  the  Union  forces.  The  rebel  stores,  and  several  wagon 
loads  of  arms  and  ammunition  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Union  soldiers. 

The  regiment  then  went  into  camp  at  Philippi,  where  they  lay  a  few  weeks, 
sending  out  occasionally  skirmishing  parties  to  attack  and  free  the  country  of 
roving  bands  of  guerillas  that  infested  the  country.  On  the  2d  da}-  of  July, 
the  boys  received  their  first  pay,  in  gold  and  Ohio  currency. 

From  this  place,  in  early  July,  the  Fourteenth  marched  to  Bealington,  on 
Laurel  Hill,  where  the  rebels  had  gathered  in  considerable  force  under  com- 
mand of  General  Garnett.  The  enemy's  pickets  were  driven  and  they  sud- 
denly evacuated  the  place,  closely  pressed  by  the  Union  troops,  the  Fourteenth 
being  in  the  advance  of  the  pursuing  forces.  They  followed  on  to  Carrick's 
Ford,  where  the  rebels  made  a  determined  stand  to  save  their  trains  of  sup- 
plies. The  Fourteenth  received  the  first  fire  of  the  enemy,  but  returned  it 
even  before  the  second  could  come  from  the  rebel  guns.  The  battle  raged 
fiercely  for  about  twenty  minutes  when  the  rebel  line  was  broken,  their  force 
routed,  and  fled  in  confusion,  leaving  their  wounded,  stores,  ammunition,  colors 
and  supplies,  all  in  the  hands  of  the  boys  in  blue.  They  captured  here,  also, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners.  This  was  the  only  engagement  in  which  the 
Fourteenth  was  actually  under  fire,  and  not  a  man  flinched  nor  wavered,  but 
stood  bravely  to  their  work. 

The  regiment  returned  to  Laurel  Hill,  where  they  camped  for  a  short  time, 
after  which,  their  term  of  enlistment  having  expired,  they  returned  to  Toledo, 
and  were  mustered  out  of  service.  Many  of  the  men,  after  a  few  days  of  rest 
and  enjoyment  at  home,  re-enlisted  in  various  regiments  then  forming  for  the 
three  years  service  ;  but  here  the  history  of  the  Fourteenth  —  three  months 
men  —  ceases,  and  their  future  reward  belongs  to  other  commands. 

It  appears  from  the  muster  out  roll  of  Company  H,  that  the  men  joined  for 
service  on  the  22d  day  of  April,  1861,  at  Wauseon;  and  that  they  were  mus- 
tered into  service  at  Cleveland,  on  the  27th  day  of  the  same  month.  The  fol- 
lowing roll  will  show  the  name  of  each  member  of  the  company,  both  officers 


Fulton  County.  341 


and  privates,  their  age  at  time  of  enlistment,  and  their  town  or  township  of 
supposed  residence  or  address  at  time  of  muster  out,  aUhough  in  giving  the 
place  of  residence  errors  may  appear.  The  list  is  compiled  from  the  muster 
out  roll,  and  such  errors  as  appear  thereon  are  copied  here : 

Epaphras  L.  Barber,  captain,  age  30,  residence,  Wauseon  ;  Thomas  M. 
Ward,  first  lieutenant,  age  45,  residence,  Ottokee ;  Regin  A.  Franks,  second 
lieutenant,  age  26,  residence,  Wauseon;  Hiram  McCIatchie,  first  sergeant,  age 
27,  residence,  Medina,  Wis. ;  Jacob  Bartlett,  second  sergeant,  age  33,  residence. 
Pike  township;  Erastus  W.  Briggs,  third  sergeant,  age  26,  Emmett  Lusure, 
fourth  sergeant,  age  24,  Worlen  B.  Leggett,  first  corporal,  age  24,  Albert  R. 
Stranahan,  second  corporal,  age  19,  residence,  Wauseon;  Emanuel  B.  Cantel- 
bery,  third  corporal,  age  21,  Samuel  Hanley,  fourth  corporal,  age  33,  residence, 
Pittsville ;  Itham  Culbertson,  drummer,  age  20,  John  B.  Mikesell,  drummer, 
age  23,  residence,  Wauseon.  Privates. — Lewis  Butler,  age  23,  William  C. 
Barnes,  age  22,  Isaiah  Bayes,  age  24,  residence,  Wauseon  ;  Robert  H.  Betts, 
age  19,  residence,  Archbold  ;  Ezra  F.  Bragg,  age  25,  residence,  Pike  town- 
ship ;  George  Burer,  age  26,  residence,  Archbold  ;  Sumpter  Beckem,  age  20, 
residence,  Chesterfield;  Charles  Courier,  age  26,  residence,  Archbold;  Calvin 
Cass,  age  26,  Franklin  D.  Cass,  age  18,  Howard  Cass,  age  21,  residence,  Ted- 
row;  Allen  C.  Clark,  age  26,  residence,  Pittsville;  Oscar  Coleman,  age  21, 
residence,  Chesterfield  ;  Nathan  R.  Chudle,  age  18,  Charles  W.  Cornell,  age  26, 
residence,  Wauseon  ;  Thomas  I.  Childs,  age  21,  died  at  Marietta,  O.  ;  Weber 
I.  Colt,  age  22,  John  O.  Dowell,  age  23,  residence,  Wauseon  ;  George  W. 
Ellsworth,  age  23,  Christian  Funkhouser,  age  24,  Emanuel  Freistone,  age  20, 
Jacob  Gilbert,  age  19,  residence,  Archbold  ;  Shelly  A.  Gish,  age  18,  residence, 
Wauseon;  John  R.  Gallop,  age  19,  residence,  Ottokee;  John  A.  Garberson, 
age  22,  William  Hamp,  age  20,  residence,  Ai ;  Orrin  Hamp,  age  18,  John 
Hine,  age  18,  Josiah  P.  Hodges,  age  21,  Samuel  D.  Hodges,  age  25,  residence, 
Wauseon ;  Josiah  Hodges,  age  23,  sick  at  home  at  muster  out ;  William  H. 
Hishoe,  age  20,  Oscar  I.  Hale,  age  23,  Ezra  Harger,  age  19,  Martin  Hinckle, 
age  20,  John  G.  Jewell,  age  34,  William  S.  Jones,  age  19,  residence,  Wauseon  ; 
George  W.  Jones,  age  23,  Emanuel  Krouty,  age  27,  residence,  Pittsville  ; 
Frederick  Konnaker,  age  28,  George  W.  Kobble,  age  23,  Jacob  B.  Lepley,  age 
22,  William  Losure,  age  26,  Marion  Losure,  age  20,  Marriott  Losure,  age  20, 
Paul  Lingle,  age  19,  residence,  Wauseon;  Silas  Lingle,  age  18,  residence,  Ted- 
row;  Wesley  Lewis,  age  20,  no  address  given;  Sylvester  Lyon,  age  27,  Lo- 
renzo Lyon,  age  20,  John  W.  Miller,  age  23,  Hiram  Miller,  age  19,  David 
Miller,  age  23,  residence,  Wauseon  ;  John  Miller,  age  27,  residence,  Archbold  ; 
William  R.  McManus,  age  23,  Horace  Mixler,  age  26,  La  Fayette  B.  Price, 
age  22,  William  H.  Pelton,  age  27,  Wesley  Pontius,  age  21,  residence,  Wau- 
seon ;  William  Rogers,  age  20,  residence,  Archbold  ;  George  S.  Royce,  age 
38,  residence,  Ottokee;  John   Renaugh,  age   23,  Frederick   Renaugh,  age  21, 


342  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

residence,  Archbold  ;  Albert  B.  Smith,  age  21,  Henry  T.  Smith,  age  23,. 
George  Struble,  age  21,  William  S.  Struble,  age  24,  residence,  Wauseon  ;  Jo- 
seph Snyder,  age  38,  residence,  Pittsville  ;  Richard  Shadle,  age  21,  residence,. 
Ottokee  ;  William  R.  Saums,  age  28,  residence,  Wauseon;  William  Shoe- 
maker, age  23,  residence,  Archbold  ;  William  S.  Skeels,  age  20,  Edward  F. 
Summers,  age  20,  Uriah  Todd,  age  22,  Leander  Taber,  age  19,  Augustus  A. 
Wood,  age  24,  Henry  L.  Waldron,  age  19,  Samuel  Wellman,  age  23,  William 
Wier,  age  26,  John  S.  Wise,  age  23,  residence,  Wauseon  ;  George  W.  Williams,, 
age  18,  residence,  Archbold;  Linas  P.  Woodward,  age  21,  Virgil  Weeks,  age 
21,  Henry  Yeager,  age  20,  residence,  Wauseon. 

The  Third  Cavalry. 

The  Third  Ohio  Volunteer  Cavalry  was  organized  at  Monroeville,  0.,  in 
August  and  September,  1861.  The  regiment  is  purely  a  Northern  Ohio  or- 
ganization, fifty  five  men  of  which  volunteered  from  Fulton  county,  mostly  of 
whom  were  mustered  into  Company  H,  and  the  remainder  in  Companies  A, 
C,  F  and  I.  In  February,  1862,  the  regiment  reached  Jeffersonville,  opposite 
Louisville,  Ky.  On  the  i8th  of  March  it  arrived  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
and  on  the  29th  left  for  Pittsburgh  Landing.  On  the  4th  of  April  the  first 
battalion  was  detached  by  order  of  General  Buel  and  sent  to  Lawrenceburgr 
Tenn.  Here  the  battalion  to  which  Company  H  was  attached,  met  Beffle's- 
rebel  cavalry  and  drove  them  out  of  Lawrenceburg,  killing  one  and  wound- 
ing several  others  and  capturing  six  horses.  On  the  6th  a  detachment  un- 
der command  of  Major  John  H.  Foster,  seized  a  large  quantity  of  bacon  be- 
longing to  the  rebels.  It  arrived  at  Pittsburgh  Landing  on  the  25th.  On  the 
4th  of  May  while  on  a  recconnoissance,  it  met  the  enemy's  advance  at  Cham- 
bers Creek  and  drove  them  back  to  their  main  body.  At  a  point  about  ten 
miles  from  Corinth,  Major  Foster's  battalion,  while  m.aking  a  reconnoissance,. 
had  a  spirited  encounter  with  the  enemy,  but  was  finally  forced  back  by  the 
overwhelming  number  of  the  rebels.  In  this  fight  the  rebels  lost  twelve  men 
killed,  among  which  was  Lieutenant- Colonel  Ingram.  For  the  next  two- 
months  the  regiment  was  constantly  on  the  march  and  doing  picket  duty,  with 
frequent  skirmishing  with  the  enemy.  On  the  29th  of  July  Major  Foster,  with 
the  first  battalion  of  the  Third  Cavalry  and  ten  companies  of  infantry,  was  sent 
on  a  foraging  expedition  to  Salem,  and  meeting  a  squad  of  the  enemy  with 
eighty-nine  head  of  beef  cattle  immediately  attacked  them  and  captured  the 
cattle.  The  regiment,  with  its  divisions,  left  Winchester  on  the  14th  of  Au- 
gust, and  arrived  at  McMinville  on  the  29th  and  was  ordered  across  the  Cum- 
berland Mountains  to  Dunlap.  When  half  way  up  the  mountain  the  enemy's 
messengers  were  met  and  captured  with  their  dispatches  from  General  Bragg 
to  General  Wheeler;  thence  proceeding.  Major  Foster  drove  in  the  enemy  s 
pickets,  killing  and  wounding  six,  and  then  returned  to  his  division  with  the  or- 


Fulton  County.  343 


ders  captured  from  the  rebel  messengers.      On  the  3d  of  September  the  divi- 
sion marched  for  Nashville,  thence  to  Gallatin,  and  from  there  to  Bowling  Green, 
Kentucky,  where  it  arrived  on  the    loth,  and   from   Bowling  Green  the  Third 
Cavalry  went  to   Mumfordsville,   Ky.,   where  the    first  battalion  had  a  live- 
ly fight  with  three  times  its  number,  but  after  making  three  separate  charges 
the  rebels  were  driven  inside  their  works.     In  this  encounter  the  battalion  lost 
-two  men  killed   and  twelve   wounded.     The  enemy's  loss  was  twenty-eight 
killed  and  sixty  wounded,  among  which  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Brown.     The 
regiment  reached  Louisville  on  the  25th  of  September,  and  on  the  ist  of  Oc- 
tober joined  in  the  pursuit  of  Bragg,  and  near  Bardstown  the  first  battalion  of 
the  Third  Cavalry,  reinforced  by  two  companies  of  the  Second  Ohio  Infantry 
and  Third  Kentucky  Cavalry,  attacked  the  enemy,  twelve  hundred  strong,  but 
was  forced  to  fall  back  with   a   loss  of  six  men   killed,  twenty  wounded  and 
seventeen  captured.     Among  the  wounded  was   Major  Foster.     The  Second, 
Third  and  Fourth  battalions  of  the  Third  Ohio  Cavalry,  under  Colonel  Zahm, 
were  stationed  most  of  the   summer  at  Woodville,  Ala.,  guarding  the  Mem- 
phis and  Charleston   Railroad,  and  was  repeatedly  attacked  by  guerillas  from 
the  mountains  of  Alabama.     An  expedition,  by  order  of  General  Buel,  under 
Major  Paramore,  was  sent  out  and   succeeded  in   driving  the  rebel  guerillas 
from  this  section  of  the   State.      In   this   affair  the   detachment  lost  six  men 
killed,  and  about  twenty  wounded  ;    the  loss  of  the  rebels  was  much  more  se- 
vere. 

About  this  time  the  second  and  third  battalions  of  the  Third,  were  attached 
to  the  Second  Brigade  of  cavalry,  commanded  by  Colonel  Lewis  Zahm,  of  the 
Third.  With  this  brigade  they  formed  the  rear  guard  of  Buel's  army  in  its 
march  from  Nashville  to  Louisville,  after  Bragg.  On  this  march  they  were 
almost  daily  attacked  and  harassed  by  the  eneqny,  but  they  brought  all  the 
trains  through  in  safety,  and  for  so  doing  were  highly  complimented  by  Gen- 
eral Buel.  They  engaged  the  advance  rebel  cavalry  force  of  General  Kir- 
by  Smith,  at  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  and  drove  them  from  the  town,  capturing  a 
Jarge  number  of  prisoners.  During  the  battle  of  Perryville  the  Third  was  en- 
gaged with  the  enemy  at  the  ford  of  the  Kentucky  River,  near  Paris.  After 
the  battle,  the  Third  went  into  camp  at  Danville,  and  on  the  19th  of  October, 
a  detachment  under  Major  Seidell,  with  a  detachment  of  the  Fourth  Cavalry, 
numbering  in  all  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  were  sent,  under  orders  from 
General  McCook,  as  an  escort  to  special  couriers  to  Lexington  on  a  forced 
march  of  over  forty  miles.  While  in  camp  near  the  old  Henry  Clay  home,  at 
Ashland,  early  on  the  morning  of  the  20th,  the  camp  was  completely  sur- 
rounded by  John  Morgan's  forces.  They  made  an  obstinate  resistance,  but 
were  overpowered  by  force  of  numbers,  and  after  being  stripped  oftheir  valu- 
ables and  horses,  they  were  paroled  by  General  Morgan,  and  sent  into  the 
Union  lines,  and  from  there   sent   to   Camp   Chase,  O.     An  incident  occurred 


344  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

here  worthy  of  note.     Private  Weis,  of  the  Third,  enquired  for  Morgan,  and  a 
person  among  the  rebels  was  pointed  out  to  him  as  the  guerilla  chief.      Weis 
immediately  drew  bead  on  that  officer  and  before  he  could  be  disarmed,  shot 
and  the  reputed  Morgan  fell  dead.      It  proved  to  be  Charles  Morgan,  a  cous- 
in of  the  general.     The  private   was   immediately   killed  by  Morgan's  men. 
From  Danville  the  Third  marched  to    Bowling   Green,   and    were  ordered  to 
guard   the   railroad  between   that   place  and   Gallatin   with    headquarters    at 
Fountain  Head  Station.      Morgan's  forces  at  that  time  were  at  Gallatin.     Col- 
olnel  Zahm  sent  out  a  detachment   of  the   Third  to  reconnoiter  and  learn  the 
position  and  strength  of  Morgan's  command.     The  rebel  pickets  were  captured 
and  the  desired  information  obtained.     The    next  morning  the  cavalry  under 
Colonel  Zahm,  supported  by  a  brigade  of  infantry  from  General  Wood's  divi- 
sion, commanded  by  Colonel  Harket,  attacked  Morgan's  camp  and  captured  it, 
together  with  his  camp  equipage,  and   a  large  number  of  prisoners.     During 
the  winter  a  detachment  of  the  Third  under  command  of  Captain  E.  M.  Culier, 
under  orders  from  Colonel  Zahm,  went  up  the  Cumberland  River  to  intercept 
a  large  drove  of  mules,  and  quartermaster's  stores,  which  were  being  removed 
by  the  rebels,  accompanied  by  an  escort  of  Morgan's  force.     After  a  chase  of 
twenty-six  miles  they  succeeded  in  capturing  the   entire  train,  and  drove  off 
one  hundred  and  forty-six  mules,  routing  the  escort  and  killing  three  and  cap- 
turing seventeen,  among  whom  were  two  rebel  quartermasters  and  one  pay- 
master.     On  the  27th  of  December  the  second  attack  was  made  on  Franklin, 
in  which  the  rebels  were  completely  routed   and  driven  from  the  place.     The 
regiment  then  moved  towards  Triune,  and  before  night  again  became  engaged 
with  the  enemy,  and  on  the  28th  the  enemy  was  again  engaged  by  the  brigade 
and  was  driven   seven  miles  with   great  loss.     After   skirmishing   during  the 
day,  on  the  evening  of  the   30th  the  Third  was  assigned  a  position  on  the  ex- 
treme right  of  General  Rosecrans's  army.     At  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  |3 1st,  the  first  battalion   of  the   regiment  being  on  picket  duty,  apprised 
Colonel  Zahm  of  the  advance  of  the   rebel   forces.     The  colonel  immediately 
placed  his  brigade  in  line  of  battle  and  notified  General  McCook,  command- 
ing the  right  wing.     The   third   battalion   of  the   Third  Cavalry  were  thrown 
out  as  skirmishers.      At    four  o'clock  in    the   morning  the    skirmish  line  was 
driven  in  and  the  brigade   attacked    by   Wheeler's  rebel   cavalry.     After  two 
hours'  hard  fighting  against  a  rebel  force,  numbering  more  than  two  to  one,  the 
brigade  was  forced  from  the  field,  it  having  suffered  severely  in  loss  of  officers 
and  men.      During  the  morning  of  the  31st,  the    rebels  having  captured  Gen- 
eral McCook's  corps  ammunition  train,  were  removing  it  from  the  field  when 
the  second  and  third  battalions  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  which  had  already  stood 
the  shock  of  the  morning,  and  remained  at  their  posts,  made  a  dash  at  the  en- 
emy and  recaptured  the  train,  taking  one  hundred  and  forty  prisoners  and  kill- 
ing a  number  of  rebels,  and  horses.     During  the  afternoon  the  regiment  lost, 
in  sustaining  a  rebel  charge,  thirteen  men  killed,  and  forty-nine  wounded. 


Fulton  County.  345 


On  January  i,  1863,  the  Third  Cavalry  was  detailed  by  General  Rosecrans 
as  guard  to  a  train  of  four  thousand  wagons,  for  Nashville  after  supplies.  The 
train  was  attacked  by  Wheeler's  Cavalry,  at  Stewart's  Creek.  The  Third  being 
supported  by  the  Tenth  Ohio  Infantry,  repulsed  the  rebels  with  heavy  loss. 
Later  the  same  day  the  train  was  again  attacked  by  the  same  force,  and  eight 
hundred  men  of  the  Fifteenth  Pennsylvania  Cavalry  forming  the  rear  guard, 
were  completely  routed.  The  Third  Ohio  Cavalry  coming  up,  a  sharp  fight 
.ensued,  lasting  until  after  dark,  when  the  rebels  were  again  driven  back.  The 
train  was  safely  taken  to  Nashville,  loaded  with  supplies,  and  returned  to  Mur- 
freesboro  in  safetj'.  After  the  battle  of  Stone  River  the  regiment  went  in  pur- 
suit of  the  enemy  ;  his  rear  guard  was  overtaken  near  Middleton,  Tenn  ,  and 
one  of  his  trains  captured  and  brought  back  to  Murfreesboro.  While  the  Third 
was  in  camp  at  Murfreesboro,  in  the  winter  of  1864,  a  detachment  of  the  Third 
battalion,  while  on  a  scout  under  command  of  Lieutenant  Brennard,  were  sur- 
rounded by  the  enemy  who  demanded  their  surrender,  which  was  refused. 
Lieutenant  Brennard  then  ordered  a  sabre  charge  and  successfully  cut  his  way 
through  the  enemy's  lines  with  small  loss,  at  the  same  time  taking  a  number 
-of  prisoners. 

After  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  in  which  the  regiment  took  an  active  part, 
the  command  moved  as  the  advance  of  General  Crook's  forces,  in  pursuit  of 
General  Wheeler's  cavalry,  and  engaged  them  at  McMinville  and  Farmington, 
at  the  latter  place  completely  routing  Wheeler's  forces,  large  numbers  of  the 
«nemy  being  killed  and  wounded.  In  this  engagement  the  regiment  lost  two 
men  killed,  and  twenty-three  wounded.  In  November,  Captain  R.  O.  Wood, 
of  the  Third,  had  a  tussle  with  the  enemy  near  Dalton,  Ga.,  in  which  he.  Wood, 
■was  killed.  In  January,  1864,  the  Third  Cavalry  re-enlisted  for  another  three 
years,  and,  at  this  time,  out  of  the  original  thirteen  hundred  at  organization, 
only  four  hundred  were  left.  It  left  NashviUe  for  Ohio  on  the  4th  of  February, 
and  returned  after  two  years'  absence  to  its  old  camp  at  Monroeville.  On 
March  2d  it  reassembled  at  Camp  Monroeville,  it  having  enlisted  over  one 
thousand  new  recruits  while  on  veteran  furlough,  and  on  its  return  to  Nichols- 
ville,  Ky.,  it  numbered  over  fifteen  hundred  men.  It  was  re-equipped,  armed, 
and  mounted,  and  went  into  camp  at  Columbia,  Tenn.  It  acted  as  advance 
guard  of  the  Seventeenth  Army  Corps  from  Decatur  to  Rome,  Ga.  It  was 
in  the  fight  at  Courtland,  Ala.,  and  routed  the  rebels  under  General  Roddy's 
•command,  with  a  loss  of  a  lieutenant-colonel,  major,  and  upwards  of  thirty 
men  killed  and  wounded.  It  was  surprised  before  daylight  at  Moulton,  Ala., 
the  next  morning,  but  rallied  and  drove  the  enemy  from  the  field.  At  Rome 
the  regiment  was  assigned  to  a  position  on  the  left  flank  of  Sherman's  army, 
and  did  good  work  in  the  engagements  at  Etowah,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Noody 
Creek,  and  the  crossing  of  Chattahoochie  River.  It  went  to  Roswell,  Ga.,  and 
destroyed  the  rebel  stores  and  factories  at  that  place.     On  the  gth  of  July  four 

44 


346  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

companies  of  the  Third,  commanded  by  Major  Culver,  had  a  severe  fight  with 
a  superior  force  of  the  enemy,  killing  eight,  and  wounding  a  large  number, 
and  capturing  a  great  many  prisoners  and  horses.  It  was  engaged  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Peach  Tree  Creek  and  Decatur,  and  made  a  raid  to  Covington  and 
Stone  Mountain.  In  the  Kilpatrick  raid  the  regiment  was  in  the  brigade  in  the 
advance  till  the  rear  of  Atlanta  was  reached.  It  was  also  in  the  Stoneman  raid, 
under  General  Garrard,  and  suffered  severely.  In  the  flanking  movement  on 
Jonesboro,  the  Third  was  the  first  to  attack  the  enemy  at  Lovejoy  Station,  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  railroad,  after  the  capture  of  Atlanta.  The  regiment  fol- 
lowed up  Hood  harassing  his  rear  as  far  as  Columbia,  Tenn.  At  Franklin  the 
Third  was  engaged  with  the  rebel  cavalry.  It  was  also  engaged  in  the  battle 
before  Nashville,  and  after  Hood's  defeat  it  followed  his  retreat  across  the  Ten- 
nessee River  into  Alabama.  It  was  engaged  in  the  Wilson  raid  through  Ala- 
bama and  Georgia,  and  in  the  battles  of  Selma  and  Montgomery,  Ala.,  and 
Macon  and  Griffin,  Ga.  It  was  sent  home,  paid  off,  and  mustered  out  on  the 
14th  of  August,  1865,  having  been  in  the  service  nearly  four  years,  and  en- 
gaged in  more  raids  and  fights  than  any  other  cavalry  regiment  in  the  service 
from  Ohio,  and  having  actually  captured  over  five  thousand  prisoners. 

The  Thirty-eighth  Infantry. 

This  regiment  was  organized  at  Camp  Latty,  at  Defiance,  and  was  recruited 
from  the  counties  of  Fulton,  Henry,  Defiance,  Paulding  and  Williams.  Com- 
panies I  and  K  were  wholly  recruited  from  Fulton  county,  which  also  furnished 
nine  men  for  Company  C  ;  twenty  one  men  for  Company  E ,  five  men  for 
Company  G,  and  three  men  each  for  Companies  A  and  H,  making  a  total  of 
two  hundred  and  forty-one  men  from  this  county  mustered  into  the  regiment 
at  its  organization.  Fulton  county  also  furnished  for  the  Thirty-eighth  Regi- 
ment, during  the  war,  by  way  of  recruits,  one  hundred  and  nine  men,  making 
a  total  of  three  hundred  and  fifty.  On  the  28th  of  September,  i86i,the  regi- 
ment was  transferred  to  Camp  Dennison,  where  it  received  its  arms  and  equip- 
ments, and  was  drilled  and  disciplined,  and  then  took  cars  to  Cincinnati,  and 
thence  to  Nicholsville,  Ky.,  where  it  camped,  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  Oc- 
tober. From  this  camp,  about  the  middle  of  October,  the  regiment  was  or- 
dered to  march  to  the  relief  of  the  garrison  at  Wild  Cat,  about  sixty  miles  dis- 
tant, which  place,  after  a  forced  march,  it  reached  on  the  morning  of  the  19th 
of  October,  in  company  with  the  Fourteenth  Ohio  and  Barnett's  Battery,  the 
last  three  miles  of  which  was  a  double-quick,  through  mud  and  slush,  up  the 
Wild  Cat  Mountain.  On  the  arrival  was  found  five  companies  of  the  Thirty- 
third  Indiana,  hemmed  in  on  three  sides  by  rebel  troops,  under  General  Zolli- 
cofifer.  Barnett's  Battery  was  unlimbered  and  immediately  went  into  action, 
and  commenced  shelling  the  enemy,  while  some  of  the  Fourteenth  gained  the 
summit  and  fortified  it,  while  the  Thirty-eighth  was  deployed  in  line  of  battle  as 


Fulton  County.  347 

best  they  could  be  in  the  broken  and  rocky  condition  of  the  narrow  pass  in  the 
hills.     The  rebels  made  two  charges  but  were  both  times  driven  back,  with  loss, 
and,  being  unable  to  take  the  little  fortified  position,  abandoned  the  attack  and 
hastily  retreated  in  the  direction  of  London,  leaving  thirty  killed  and  wounded 
on  the  field.     They  were  pursued  by  the  Ohio  brigade  and  battery,  but  find- 
ing that  ZoUicoffer  had  already  retreated  from  London,  the  brigade  encamped 
,a  little  north  of  the  town  and  threw  up  fortifications.       They  remained  here 
about  two  weeks,  when  orders  were  received  to  march  back  to  Crab  Orchard. 
This  was  a  terrible  march  for  the  Thirty-eighth,  and  was  ordered  to  take  place 
in  the  evening.       Captain  Brailey's  Company,  L  was  ordered  to  assist  in  get- 
ting the  wagon  train  and  artillery  over  Rock  Castle  River  and  up  the  Wild  Cat 
hills.      The  night  was  exceedingly  dark,  a  heavy  rain  falling,  and  the  mud 
nearly  a  foot  deep,  and  so  slippery   that  the  horses  and  mules  were  unable  to 
draw  the  wagons  and  artillery.      The  river  water  was  very  cold,  and  about  one 
hundred  rods  wide  at  the  crossing,  and  hip-deep  to  the  men.       For  two  hours 
Company  I  worked  incessantly,  in  the  water,  in  hfting  and  pushing  the  wagons 
.across  the  stream,  and  during  the  entire  night,  in  pushing  and  pulling  the  wag- 
ons over  the  Wild  Cat  hills.      So  severe  was  this  night's  work  on  Company  I, 
that  on  arriving  at  Crab  Orchard,  the  next  day,  over  twenty  of  the  company 
were  so  overcome  that  they   had  to  be  left  in  the  hospital  at  that  place  ;    and 
several  of  them  were  so  completely  broken  down  that  they  were  never  after  fit 
for  duty,  and  were  afterwards  discharged  for  disability.      The  Thirty-eighth 
then  marched  to  Staunton  and  Lebanon,  and,  about  the  middle  of  December, 
was  ordered  to  Somerset,  where  it  arrived  on  the  20th,  in  a  terrible  snow  storm. 
Finding  at  that  place  that  the  Twelfth  Kentucky  was  engaged  in  exchanging 
•shots  with  Zollicoffer's  troops  across  the    Cumberland  River,  Companies  I  and 
K,  of  the  Thirty-eighth,  were  detailed  as  pickets  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river, 
and  remained  there  from  four  P.  M.  until  two  o'clock  the  next  afternoon,  with- 
out any  rations,  the  rain  and  sleet  falling  all  the  time.     The  regiment  went  into 
camp  lor  the  winter  and  threw  up  strong  fortifications   adjacent  to  the  town. 
During  the  winter  of  1861  and    1862,  the  regiment  was  constantly  on  duty. 
The  measles  broke  out   in  the  regiment,  and  camp   diarrhcea  and  pneumonia 
were  the  order  of  the  day;   and  by   the  middle  of  January,  1862,  out  of  nine 
hundred  and  ninety  men,  less  than  three  hundred  were  fit  for  duty.    The  mor- 
tality was  fearful.     During  the  month  of  January,  1862,  the  regiment  had  sev- 
•eral  skirmishes  with  the  rebel  cavalry,  and  occasionally  captured  a  few  of  the 
enemy.       On   the    19th   of  January  the  Thirty-eighth   was  ordered  out,  and 
marched  rapidly  towards  Mill  Springs.       On  arriving   at  Fishing  Creek  they 
found  it  so  swollen  by  the  recent  rains  that  a  hawser  had  to  be  stretched  across 
the  stream  for  the  men  to  hold  on  to  to  enable  them  to  cross.      This  was  slow 
work,  and  the  regiment  arrived  at  Logan's  Cross  Roads  just  in  time  to  see  the 
lenemy  routed  and  in  full  retreat  towards  their  fortifications  at  Mill  Springs. 


348  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

The  Thirty-eighth  joined  in  the  chase  after  the  retreating  foe,  and  arrived 
at  their  fortifications  about  dark,  too  late  to  assault  the  works.  The  men  lay- 
on  their  arms  during  the  night,  the  rain  falling  all  the  time,  and  the  artillery 
shelling  the  works.  At  early  dawn  the  Ohio  brigade,  to  which  the  Thirty- 
eighth  belonged,  was  ordered  to  charge  the  works,  and  on  arriving  at  the  place,, 
found  that  the  enemy  had  retreated  across  the  river  during  the  night,  except 
one  regiment,  and  a  few  sick  and  wounded,  which  were  captured  together  with 
twenty  cannon,  all  their  camp  and  garrison  equipage,  and  a  large  number  of 
hor.ses,  mules,  small  arms,  and  other  property.  In  March  the  regiment  was- 
transferred  to  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  on  the  19th  of  March  it  left  Nashville  with 
the  army  of  the  Ohio,  for  Pittsburg  Landing,  but  did  not  arrive  at  that  place  in 
time  to  participate  in  the  battle,  but  did  take  an  active  part  in  the  siege  of  Cor- 
inth. After  the  retreat  of  the  rebels  from  Corinth,  the  Thirty- eighth  joined 
in  the  pursuit  of  Beauregard  as  far  as  Boonville  ;  from  there  it  marched  back  to- 
Corinth  and  on  the  20th  of  June,  marched  with  the  Army  of  the  Ohio  to  Tus- 
cumbia,  Ala.  After  marching  around  through  Alabama  about  six  hundred 
miles,  it  on  the  7th  of  August,  1862,  reached  Winchester,  Tenn.  During  this- 
month  several  expeditions  were  sent  out  to  reconnoitre  through  the  mountains- 
in  the  direction  of  Chattanooga,  then  the  headquarters  of  the  rebel  army,  in  all 
of  which  the  Thirty-  eighth  took  an  active  part.  A  party  of  eighty  men  of  the 
Thirty-eighth  made  a  forced  march  of  thirty-six  miles,  captured  Tracy  City^ 
and  after  destroying  a  large  amount  of  tobacco,  whisky,  leather,  and  other  arti- 
cles belonging  to  the  rebels,  returned  to  camp,  having  marched  seventy-two 
miles,  and  captured  the  city,  and  destroyed  the  above  named  property,  all  in 
less  than  thirty- four  hours.  On  September,  i,  1862,  the  regiment  with  the  bal- 
ance of  Buel's  army  began  the  retrograde  movement,  which  terminated  in  the 
battle  of  Perryville,  October  8,  1862.  Here  the  Thirty-eighthbore  a  conspicu- 
ous part.  In  all  the  marching  and  fatigue,  in  excessively  hot  weather,  over 
dusty  roads,  and  suffering  for  lack  of  water,  they  arrived  at  Perrysville.  The 
enemy  was  found  in  position  on  Champion  Hills,  near  the  town.  The  Thirty- 
eighth  participated  in  this  battle,  and  afterwards  in  the  chase  after  Bragg  as  far 
as  the  Wild  Cat  Hills.  On  the  27th  of  October  it  went  into  camp  on  the  Roll- 
ing Fork.     Here  it  received  a  detachment  of  recruits  from  Fulton  countv. 

About  the  1st  of  November  it  took  up  its  march  for  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and' 
guarded  the  railroad  between  Gallatin  and  Nashville.  In  the  latter  part  of  De- 
cember the  regiment  marched  to  Nashville  to  prepare  for  the  fight  which  took 
place  at  Stone  River,  in  which  engagement  the  Thirty-eighth  was  wholly  en- 
gaged. After  the  battle  the  regiment  went  into  camp  near  the  city,  where  it 
remained  until  the  13th  of  March,  1863,  when  it  marched  to  Triune,  Ga.,  and 
on  the  23d  of  June  marched  with  the  Army  of  the'  Cumberland,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  Tullahoma  campaign.  On  the  17th  of  August  the  march  for 
Chattanooga  began.     The  Thirty- eighth  marched  with  the  center  corps,  crossed 


Fulton  County.  349- 


the  Cumberland  Mountains,  and  the  Tennessee  River  on  rafts  built  of  logs,  on 
the  night  of  September  2,  1863,  thence  marching  over  Lookout  and  Raccoon 
Mountains,  arrived  in  Lookout  Valley  about  the  middle  of  September.  The 
wagon  train  and  everything  else  that  was  cumbersome,  was  sent  to  the  rear. 
The  entire  train  of  the  army  was  sent  to  Chattanooga,  and  the  Thirty  eighth, 
detailed  by  special  order  of  General  Thomas,  was  charged  with  the  sate  transit 
of  the  same.  They  started  on  the  evening  of  the  i8th  of  September,  and  be- 
fore morning  were  safely  landed  within  six  miles  of  Chattanooga.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  detail,  the  Thirty-eighth  was  not  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga, 
On  the  25th  of  November,  1863,  the  division  to  which  the  Thirty-eighth 
belonged,  assaulted  the  fortifications  at  the  foot  of  Mission  Ridge,  ascended  the 
hill  and  carried  the  works,  driving  the  rebels.  The  regiment  was  on  the  ex- 
treme left,  and  although  Bragg  had  considered  the  slope  entirely  safe  as  against 
direct  assault,  yet  they  moved  up,  up,  up,  until  they  reached  the  summit.  The 
fire  from  the  rebel  batteries  was  terrible,  but  the  shot  went  mostly  over  their 
heads.  In  this  charge  the  Thirty-eighth  lost  seven  men  killed,  and  forty-one 
wounded.  After  pursuing  the  enemy  as  far  as  Ringgold,  Ga.,  the  regiment 
returned  to  Camp  near  Chattanooga,  where  it  re-enlisted  and  returned  home 
on  veteran  furlough.  At  the  expiration  of  its  furlough,  having  replenished  its 
depleted  ranks  by  recruits  while  at  home,  the  regiment  joined  the  army  there  at 
Ringgold,  Ga.,  and  when  Sherman  started  on  his  Atlanta  campaign,  the  Thirty- 
eighth  numbered  seven  hundred  and  forty-one  effective  men  On  the  5th  of 
May  it  marched  to  Buzzard's  Roost  Gap,  where  it  was  deployed  and  brought 
into  action,  and  after  skirmishing  two  days,  a  flank  movement  was  ordered  by 
the  way  of  Smoky  Creek  Gap,  nearly  in  the  rear  of  Resaca.  Here  the  Thirty- 
eighth  entrenched  itself  and  skirmished  almost  continually,  and  although  no- 
general  engagement  was  brought  on,  the  regiment  lost  thirty-five  men  in  killed 
and  wounded.  The  regiment  took  an  active  part  in  the  affair  at  Kenesaw,  skir- 
mishing almost  continually,  and  on  the  5th  of  July  reached  the  banks  of  the 
Chattahoochie  River.  They  crossed  the  river  on  the  17th,  and  on  the  22d  the 
Thirty-eighth  had  the  honor  of  establishing  the  picket  line  of  the  Fourteenth 
Army  Corps,  near  the  city  of  Atlanta.  It  held  this  line  until  August  3d,  when 
it  moved  to  Utoy  Creek,  and  on  the  5th  of  August  Companies  A,  C,  and  K,  of 
the  regiment  charged  the  enemy's  skirmish  line  with  success,  and  out  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  men  who  charged,  nine  were  killed,  and  forty- two  wounded, 
of  which  four'of  the  killed,  and  fifteen  of  the  wounded  were  from  Fulton  county. 
On  the  night  of  August  31st  the  regiment  took  possession  of  the  Macon  Road 
near  Red  Oak  Station,  and  on  the  night  of  September  ist,  it  was  learned  that 
the  rebels  were  fortifying  Jonesboro.  The  army  was  put  in  motion  for  that 
place,  and  about  four  o'clock  P.  M.,  came  upon  the  pickets  of  Hardee's  Corps, 
Este's  Brigade,  to  which  the  Thirty-eighth  belonged,  was  brought  up,  and  after 
an  unsuccessful  attack  by  Carlin's  Division,  assaulted  the  works.     This  brig- 


3 so  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ade  consisted  of  the  Fourteenth  and  Thirty- eighth  Ohio,  Tenth  Kentucky  and 
Seventy-fourth  Indiana.  Colonel  Este  gave  the  command  "  battalion  forward, 
guide  center;"  the  brigade  moved  steadily  forward  amidst  a  shower  of  lead. 
A  battery  was  brought  to  bear  upon  them  with  grape  and  canister,  but  they 
kept  steadily  on  ;  the  abattis  was  reached,  and  with  a  yell  and  a  cheer,  the 
febel  works  were  carried,  and  a  hand  to  hand  fight  ensued.  The  rebels  fought 
with  desperation  to  hold  their  works,  and  not  till  many  of  them  had  been 
pierced  with  the  bayonet,  or  knocked  down  with  clubbed  guns,  did  they  finally 
surrender,  and  were  marched  as  prisoners  to  the  rear.  In  this  charge  the 
Thirty-eighth  lost  out  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  men  that  went  into  the  fight, 
forty-two  killed,  and  one  hundred  and  eight  wounded,  making  a  total  loss  of 
•one  hundred  and  fifty,  or  nearly  one-half  of  the  men  engaged.  Of  this  number 
twelve  of  the  killed,  and  twenty-three  of  the  wounded  were  from  Fulton 
•county. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  fight  Corporal  O.  P.  Randall  had  the  colors;  he  fell 
lifeless;  Corporal  Baird  next  took  them,  and  he,  too,  soon  fell  dead;  Corporal 
Strawzer  next  seized  them,  and  he  fell  severely  wounded  ;  Corporal  Dorsey 
then  took  the  flag  and  bore  it  to  the  works.  Of  the  five  that  had  charge  of  the 
-colors,  but  one,  Corporal  H.  K.  Brooks,  escaped  unhurt.  He,  although  not 
wounded,  had  five  balls  pass  through  his  clothing.  This  was  the  last  of  the 
severe  fighting  of  the  Thirty-eighth,  although  it  marched  with  Sherman  to  the 
sea.  It  became  necessary  to  burn  a  bridge  on  the  Big  Ogeechee  River,  and 
the  Thirty-  eighth  was  ordered  to  perform  that  duty.  The  regiment  had  already 
marched  fifteen  miles  that  day,  and  it  was  yet  ten  miles  to  the  bridge.  After 
marching  the  ten  miles  and  biu'ning  the  bridge,  it  was  still  fifteen  miles  to  where 
the  army  went  into  camp  for  the  night.  The  regiment  took  the  wrong  road, 
marched  six  miles  out  of  the  way,  and  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  got  within 
the  picket  lines  and  went  into  camp,  having  marched  forty-six  miles  that  day, 
.and  destroyed  a  large  bridge.  After  reaching  the  sea,  the  regiment  marched 
with  Sherman  through  the  Carolinas  to  Goldsboro,  N.  C,  and  after  the  surren- 
der of  Johnson,  went  to  Richmond,  Va.,  and  from  there  to  Washington,  D.  C, 
.attended  the  grand  parade,  and  was  reviewed  by  the  president  and  his  cabinet. 
From  there  it  was  sent  by  rail  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  on  the  I2th  of  July  it  was 
-sent  home  and  mustered  out  of  the  service,  it  having  served  three  years  and 
■eleven  months. 

Thirty-Eighth  Regiment — Field  and  Staff.i 

Edwin  D.  Bradley,  colonel,  June  lo,  1861;  resigned  Feb.  6,  1862. 
Edward  H.  Phelps,  colonel,  June  10,  1861;  promoted  from  lieutentant-col- 
onel  Feb.  6,  1862  ;  killed  Nov.  25,  1863,  in  battle  of  Mission  Ridge,  Tenn. 
William  A.  Choate,  colonel,  Aug.  12,  1861  ;   promoted   to  lieutenant-col- 

iName,  rank,  date  of  entering  service,  and  disposition. 


Fulton  County.  351 


onel  from  captain  company  E,  Feb.  6,  1862;    to  colonel  Nov.  5,  1863;  died 
Sept.  12,  1864,  from  wounds  received  at  Jonesboro,  Ga. 

Charles  Greenwood,  lieutenant-colonel;  Aug.  26,  1861;  promoted  to  major 
from  captain  company  A,  Feb.  6,  1862;  lieutenant-colonel  Nov.  25,  1863  j 
resigned  Aug.  12,  1864. 

William  Irving,  lieutenant-colonel;  Sept.  S,  1861;  promoted  to  major  from 
captain  company  G,  May  9,  1864;  lieutenant- colonel  Nov.  3,  1864;  mustered 
out  July  12,  1865. 

Epaphras  L.  Barber,  major  ;  June  10,  1861  ;   resigned  Jan.  12,  1862. 

Andrew  Newman,  major;  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  promoted  from  captain  company 
H,  Nov.  3,  1864;  mustered  out  July  12,  1865. 

Israel  A.  Coons,  surgeon,  June  10,  1861  ;  resigned  Aug.  13,  1863. 

James  Haller,  surgeon,  June  10,  1861  ;  promoted  from  assistant  surgeon 
July  13,  1863;  mustered  out  Jan.  4,  1865. 

Hazael  B.  Powell,  surgeon,  June  10,  1861  ;  promoted  to  assistant  surgeon 
from  private,  company  B,  July  19,  1863;  to  surgeon  Jan.  29,  1865;  mustered 
out  July  12,  1865. 

Roster  Company  I. 

Moses  R.  Brailey,  captain,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;  promoted  to  major  Jan.  28, 
1862. 

Edward  D.  A.  Williams,  captain,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  promoted  from  first  lieu- 
tenant Jan.  28,  1862;   resigned  April  15,  1864. 

David  Renton,  captain,  Sept.  5,  1861  ;  promoted  from  first-lieutenant  com- 
pany D  Nov.  3,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Elisha  Fewlass,  first  lieutenant,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  promoted  to  second  lieu- 
tenant from  first  sergeant  March  9,  1862  ;  first  lieutenant  June  16,  1862  ;  re- 
signed April  20,  1863. 

John  S.  Templeton,  first  lieutenant,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;  promoted  to  second 
lieutenant  from  sergeant,  June  16,  1862  ;  first  lieutenant  April  20,  1863  ;  dis- 
charged Dec.  31,  1863. 

Joseph  B.  Coons,  first  lieutenant,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  promoted  from  second 
lieutenant  company  C,  April  13,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Thomas  W.  Wright,  second  heutenant,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;  resigned  June  16, 
1862. 

James  McQuillen,  second  lieutenant,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  appointed  sergeant 
from  corporal  Sept.  I,  1862;  promoted  to  second  lieutenant  April  20,  1863  ; 
died  Oct.  2,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  of  wounds  received  in  action  ;  com- 
missioned first  lieutenant  and  captain. 

Leonard  Sindel,  first  sergeant,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal  May  i, 
1862;  sergeant,  June  i,  1862;  first  sergeant.  May  23,  1863;  died  May  15,  1864, 
of  wounds  received ,  in  action,  near  Resaca,  Ga.;   veteran. 


352  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Martin  H.  Trowbridge,  first  sergeant,  Aug.  25,  1861. 

John  L.  Douglas,  first  sergeant,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  appointed  sergeant  from 
corporal  Sept.  13,  1862;  first  sergeant  June,  10,  1865 ;  mustered  out  with  com- 
pany July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

William  Stair,  sergeant,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;  discharged  June  12,  1862,  at  Cor- 
inth, Miss.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Uriah  W.  Ladow,  sergeant,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  discharged  Sept.  13,  1862,  at 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

George  W.  Dinins,  sergeant,  Aug.  28,  1861 ;  appointed  from  corporal  March 

I,  1863  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Robert  J.  Babcock,  sergeant,  Sept.  4,  i86i  ;  appointed  corporal  Dec.  11, 
1861;  captured  Aug.  7,  1862,  in  action  near  Decatur,  Ala.;  paroled;  appointed 
sergeant  Dec.  11,  1861  ;  captured  Aug.  7,  1862,  in  action  near  Decatur,  Ala.; 
paroled;  appointed  sergeant  Dec.  11,  1863;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865  ;  veteran 

John  Kain,  sergeant,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal  July  18,  1862;  ser- 
geant   ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Jonathan  Enfield,  sergeant,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal  July  18, 
1862  ;  captured  Aug.  7,  1862;  in  action  near  Decatur,  Ala.;  paroled;  ap- 
pointed sergeant  June  10,  1865  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ; 
veteran. 

Nicholas  J.  Baker,  corporal,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  died  March  25,  1862,  at  Stan- 
ford, Ky. 

Russell  B.  McCoy,  corporal,  Aug.  28,  1861;  killed  Nov.  25,  1863,  in  battle 
of  Mission  Ridge,  Tenn. 

John  M.  Hall,  corporal,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal;  mustered  out 
Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Charles  Herrington,  corporal,  Aug.  25,  i86i  ;  appointed  corporal  July  18, 

1862  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Charles  Wilbur,  corporal,  Aug.  27,  1861;  appointed  corporal  May  23,  1863; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Thomas  G.  Adamson,  corporal,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;    appointed  corporal  Dec. 

II,  1863  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

William  S.  Warner,  corporal,  Aug.  27,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal  Dec.  11, 
1863;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865;  veteran. 

Thomas  H.  Wilcox,  corporal,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;    appointed  corporal  Dec.  11, 

1863  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;   veteran. 

Ezra  Schlappi,  corporal,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal  June  i,  1865; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Louis  G.  Aton,  corporal,  Aug.  28,  1861;  appointed  corporal  June  10,  1865; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  t2,  1865  ;   veteran. 

Harlan  P.  Hall,  corporal,  Aug.  8,  1862;  transferred  from  One  Hundred  and 


Fulton  County.  353 


Fifth  O.  V.  I.,  June   i,  1865;    appointed   corporals ;    mustered  out  with 

company  July  12,  1865. 

Albert  H.  Herrick,  musician,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  discliarged  Nov.  20,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Privates. 

Aton,  David,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;    mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ; 
veteran. 

Aton,  Levi  D.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865; 
veteran. 

Abbott,  Frederick,  Oct.  20,  1862;  killed  Sept.  i,  1864,  in  battle  of  Jones- 
boro,  Ga. 

Allen,  Daniel  O.,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;   died  Dec.  6,  1861,  at  Crab  Orchard,  Ky. 
Adams,  Merritt,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  died  Jan.  27,  1862,  at  Somerset,  Ky. 

Adams,  John,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  discharged  June  17,  1862,  at  Columbus,  O., 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Ayers,  Jeremiah,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  discharged  Sept.  16,  1862,  at  Columbus, 
O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Berkey,  Horatio,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;    mustered  out  with   company   July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Bryant,  George  E.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;    mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Back,  Ferdinand  E.,  Dec.  28,  1863;    transferred  from  One  Hundred  and 
Fifth  0.  V.  I.,  June  i,  1865  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Batchman,  John,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;    discharged  March  18,  1862,    at  Clifton, 
Tenn.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Bunda,  WiUiam  R.,  Feb.  16,  1864;   discharged  May  26,  1865,  at  WiUett's 
Point,  N.  Y.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Canfield,  Pomeroy,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out   with   company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Catterel,  Eugene  F.,  Jan.  29,  1864;'  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Catterel,  Henry,  Jan.  7,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Cornell,  John  W.,  Feb.  15,    1864;   mustered   out  with   company  July   12, 
1865. 

Cole,  John,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  died  July  27,  1862,  at  Ai,  O. 

Cotilanti,  Joseph,  Aug.  25,  186 1. 

Dowty,  Hiram,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;   discharged  May  18,  1862,  at  CHfton,  Tenn., 
by  order  of  war  department. 

Daily,  John,   Aug.    25,    1861  ;    discharged   May  18,    1862,  near   Corinth, 
Miss.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Dinins,  William  H.  H.,  Aug.  28,  1861 ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865;  veteran.  *^ 


354  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Dinins,  Franklin,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Daily,  William,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Dickson,  Ezra,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865; 
veteran. 

Dayton,  Travis  F.,  Oct.  10,  1861  ;  transferred  from  Company  E,  Jan.  i, 
1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Doty,  Abraham  H.,  Dec.  i,  1863  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,. 
1865. 

Daily,  Hamilton,  Sept.  30,  1862  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Douglass,  Leroy,  Nov.  i,  1863  ;  died  May  13,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn., 

Dull,  Jeremiah,  Sept.  21,  1864;  drafted;  died  Jan.  30,  1865,  at  Savannah, 
Ga. 

Ellsworth,  Thomas,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  died  Nov.  25,  1862,  at  Delta,  O. 

Elliott,  James  A.,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  discharged  Feb.  24,  1864,  at  Columbus, 
O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Fashbaugh,  John  Q.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  wounded  Nov.  25,  1863,  in  battle  of 
Mission  Ridge,  Tenn.;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expiration  of  term  of 
service. 

Fauble,  Samuel,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Fashbaugh,  Lewis,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  died  June  24,  1864,  near  Big  Shanty, 
Ga.,  of  wounds  received  in  action. 

Francis,  Lewis  M.,  Oct.  8,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  12,  1865. 

Franks,  WilHam  A.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  transferred  to  Company  E,  Dec.  11, 
1863  ;  veteran. 

Geitgey,  Samuel,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Geer,  David,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  discharged  June  30,  1862,  at  Columbus,  0.,. 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Groff,  Philip  T.,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  mustered  out  Aug.  4,  1863,  on 
expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Gay,  Orrin  P.,  drafted  ;  mustered  out  Aug.  12,  1863,  on  expiration  of  term 
of  service. 

Griffin,  Carver  S.,  Feb.  2,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

German,  Alfred,  Jan.  13,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Hilborn,  Stephen  P.,  Sept.  10,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  ex- 
piration of  term  of  service. 


Fulton  County.  355 


Hunt,  Charles  J.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  absent,  in  hospital  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  mus- 
tered out  to  date  Sept.  13,  1864,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Howden,  Thomas,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;   died  Feb.  6,  1862,  at  Somerset,  Ky. 

Hoodless,  George,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  died  April  12,  1863,  at  Murfreesboro, 
Tenn. 

Hall,  Alfred  M.,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  discharged,  1863,  on  surgeon's  certificate 
of  disability. 

Hubbard,  Chancy  M.,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  discharged  Aug.  18,  1862,  on  sur- 
geon's certificate  of  disability. 

Hunter,  John  W.,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  mustered  out  Aug.  I2,  1863, 
on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Herrick,  Henry  C,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  prom,  to  drum  major  Sept.  10,  1861. 

Hedger,  James  R.,  Oct.  4,  1864,  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  12,  1865. 

Herrick,  Henry  C,  Oct.  S,  1863  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Hogle,  Joel  B.,  Aug.  10,  1861  ;  mustered  out  June  23,  1865,  at  Camp 
Chase,  O.,  by  order  of  the  war  department;  veteran. 

Jackson,  William  H.,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;  reduced  from  sergeant  June  i,  1862; 
discharged  Aug.  28,  1862,  at  Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disa- 
bility. 

Justice,  Henry  C,  Oct.  8,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  12,  1865. 

Jones,  Isaac  N.,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Kershner,  George  W.,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  discharged  May  18,  1862,  at  Corinth, 
Miss.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Kennedy,  John  W.,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  discharged  Aug.  16,  1862,  at  Colum- 
bus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

King,  William  G.,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  discharged  Jan.  3,  1863,  at  Cincinnati, 
0.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Kershner,  Jonathan,  Sept.  4,ji86i  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

K'irkman,  Robert,  Jan.  27,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Kinniman,  Harrison,  Oct.  7,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  com- 
pany July  12,  1865. 

Kennedy,  William,  Oct.  4,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  12,  1865. 

Kessler,  Peter,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  near 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Kyper,  Cyrus  M.,  Aug  10,  1861  ;  captured  and  paroled  March  31,  1863  ; 
transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  Dec.  12,  1863. 


3S6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Lumbert,  Nelson,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  died  Jan.  27,  1862,  at  Somerset,  Ky. 

Lindsay,  John  O.,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  died  Aug.  6,  1863,  at  Winches- 
ter, Tenn. 

Lumbert,  David,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   discharged  May  31,  1862,  at   Columbus, 
O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Livingood,  Asbury,  Oct.  7,  1864;  substitute;   mustered  out  with  company 
July  12,  1865. 

Loomis,  Daniel,  Nov.  12,  1863  ;   mustered  out  June  2,  1865,  at  Columbus,. 
O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Lightcap,  Albert  H.,  Nov.  21,   1863  ;  discharged  June  20,  1865,  on  sur- 
geon's certificate  of  disability. 

McQuillin,  Ira,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expiration 
of  term  of  service. 

McQuillin,  Elmer,  Sept.  20,  1862;   mustered  out  with   company  July  12,. 
1865. 

Marsh,  Richard,  Sept.  10,  1861  ;  discharged   March    18,    1862,  at   Clifton, 
Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Moore,  George,  Oct.  7,  1862  ;  drafted;   mustered  out  Aug.  8,  1863,  on  ex- 
piration of  term  of  service, 

Metts,  William,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865; 
veteran. 

Mills,  Jefferson   C,  Sept.  4,    1861  ;   mustered   out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Matoon,  Silas   N.,  Nov.  21,  1863;   mustered   out    with   company,  July  12, 
1865. 

Miller,  Daniel,  Sept.  20,  1862;    mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

May,  James,  Oct.  7,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Mead,  Hiram,  Aug.  21,   1861  ;  killed  Sept.    i,  1864,  in  battle  of  Jonesboro, 
Ga. ;  veteran. 

Minion,  James;  died  May  21,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

Matz,  Curtis,    Sept.    25,    1864;  drafted;   mustered   out  June    10,  1865,  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Morgan,  John  F.,  Sept.  28,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June   10,  1865, 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Metts,  Thomas  B.,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Sept. '13,  1864,  on  expi- 
ration of  term  of  service. 

Mills,  Willard  D.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;   mustered  out   Sept.  13,   1864,  on  expi- 
ration of  term  of  service. 

Marsh,  Luther,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expiration 
of  term  of  service. 

Nobbs,  Robert,  Sept.  10,  1861  ;  discharged  Sept.  8,  1862,  at  Corinth,  Miss.,. 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 


Fulton  County.  357 


Naylor,  Alfred,  Oct.  7,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company  Ju- 
ly 12,  1865. 

Pelton,  Benjamin  H.,  Sept.  8,  1861  ;  discharged  Nov.  22,  ,1862,  at  Colum- 
bus, 0.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Pool,  Ethan  A.,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  mustered  out  Aug.  12,  1863,  on 
expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Parker,  Ira,  Jan.  18,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Palmer,  Samuel  L.,  Oct.  7,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  12,  1865. 

Riley,  John  B.  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  transferred  to  veteran  reserve  corps  June  i, 
1864. 

Reed,  David,  Oct.  8,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865. 

Ross,  Christopher,  Oct.  7,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  12,  1865. 

Savage,  Nelson,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Smith,  Josiah,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expiration 
of  term  of  service. 

Sanderlin,  Thomas  J.,  Aug,  25,  1861  ;  died  Jan.  16,  1862,  at  Somerset,  Ky. 

Swank,  Peter,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  died  Sept.  5,  1864,  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  of 
wounds  received ,  in  action. 

Schell,  Adam,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;  discharged  Jan.  24,  1862,  at  Somerset,  Ky., 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Schlappi,  WilHam,  Aug.  28,  1861;  discharged  May  18,  1862,  at  Shiloh, 
Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Sellers,  John,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  discharged  May  15,  1862,  at  Louisville,  Ky., 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Savage,  Florus  F.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Smith,  Alexander,  Dec.  7,  1863;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Salsbury,  Mathias,  Feb.  15,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Salsbury,  David  E.,  Jan.  13,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Scott,  Chauncy  B.,  Jan.  5,  1864;  transferred  from  the  One  Hundred  and 
Ffth  O.  V.  I.,  June  i,  1865  ;  discharged  May  20,  1865,  at  Fort  Columbus,  N. 
Y.  Harbor,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Scott,  William,  Feb.  16,  1864;  died  Aug.  7,  1864,  at  Jeffersonville,  Ind. 

Sexton,  Seymour,  Feb.  21,  1864  ;  transferred  from  One  Hundred  and  Fifth 
0.  V.  I.,  June  I,  1865  ;  absent,  sick  at  Nashville,  Tenn.  ;  mustered  out  to  date 
July  12,  1865,  by  order  of  war  department. 


3S8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Swain,  John  C,  Dec.  29,  1863  ;  transferred  from   the    One   Hundred  and 
Fifth  O.  V.  I.,  June  i,  1865  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Stewart,  Miner  D.,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Snell,  Adam,   Sept.   23,    1864;  drafted;   mustered  out  June    10,  1865,  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Taylor,  James  A.,  Aug.  28,  1861. 

Trowbridge,  Solomon,   Nov.   9,    1863  ;  discharged  Oct.  24,  1864,  on  sur- 
geon's certificate  of  disability. 

Trowbridge,  Cornelius,   Nov.    9,    1863  ;  mustered   out  June   26,   1865,  at 
Louisville,  Ky.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Viers,  Elisha  W.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Vaughn,  Caleb  J.,  Aug.  21,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expi- 
ration of  term  of  service. 

Veness,  Charles  N.,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  died  June  22,  1864,  near  Big  Shanty, 
Ga.,  of  wounds  received  in  action. 

Vanfleet,  Garret,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;   discharged   Jan.    24,  1862,  at   Somerset, 
Ky.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Vanfleet,  George,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  discharged   March  18,  1862,  at  Clifton, 
Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Viers,  James,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  discharged  Oct.  23,  1862,  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disabilit)^ 

Viers,  Nehemiah  D.,  Aug.  28,  1861  ;  discharged   Oct.  23,  1862,  at  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Winslow,  Thomas,  Sept.   10,  1861  ;   died  Dec.  20,  1861,  at  Somerset,  Ky. 

Wood,  Edwin  W.,  Aug.  27,  1861;  died  Jan.  30,  1862,  at  Somerset,  Ky. 

Whaley,  Simeon,  Oct.    7,  1862;  drafted;   mustered  out   Aug.  8,  1863,  on 
expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Woodruff,  Samuel  T.,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  mustered  out  Aug.  8,  1863, 
on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Williams,  Roderick   C,   Jan.   27,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865. 

Worthington,  George  R.,  Feb.  9,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865. 

Wakelee,  Byron,  Dec.  29,  1863  ;  transferred  from    lOSth  O.  V.  I.,  June   i, 
1865  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Wade,  William  C,  Sept.  23,  1864;   drafted;   mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  War  Department. 

Williams,  William  W.,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  discharged  Jan.  24,  1862,  at  Somer- 
set, Ky.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Young,  Joel  F.,  Feb.  9,  1864;  died  July  31,  1864,  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  of 
■wounds  received ,  in  action  ;   right  arm  amputated. 


Fulton  County.  359. 


Zimmerman,  Jacob,  Aug.  25,  1861  ;  killed  Sept.  i,  1864,  in  battle  of  Jones- 
boro,  Ga. 

Company  K. 

Rezin  A.  Franks,  captain,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  resigned  April  15,  1864. 
Charles  H.  Gorsuch,  captain,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  promoted  from  first  lieutenant 
May  9,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Foreman  Evans,  first  lieutenant,  Aug.  19,  1861  ;  promoted  from  second 
lieutenant  Company  B,  May  9,  1864;  resigned  Nov.  14,  1864. 

David  M.  Lazenby,  first  lieutenant,  Sept.  5,  1861;  promoted  from  second 
lieutenant  Company  G,  Jan.  28,  1865  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Charles  L.  Allen,  second  lieutenant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  promoted  to  first  lieu- 
tenant and  regimental  quartermaster  March  21,  1862. 

William  Losure,  second  lieutenant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  promoted  from  first  ser- 
geant March  21,  1862;  resigned  Sept.  i,  1863. 

Emanuel  B.  Cantlebury,  second  lieutenant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed   first 

sergeant  from  sergeant ;  promoted  to  second  lieutenant  Nov.  21,  1863; 

first  lieutenant  Company  C,  Nov.  3,  1864. 

Alphonso  A.  Evans,  second  lieutenant,  Sept.  3,  1861  ;  promoted  from 
quartermaster  sergeant  June  27,  1864,  to  first  lieutenant  Company  E,  Jan.  20, 
1865. 

William  A.  Carnahan,  second  lieutenant,  Sept.  4,  1861  ;  promoted  from 
first  sergeant  Company  E,  May  18,  1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865. 

La  Fayette  B.  Price,  first  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  from  sergeant 
May  8,  1864;  killed  Sept.  i,  1864,  in  battle  of  Jonesboro,  Ga.  ;  veteran. 

Hiram  K.  Brooker,  first  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal ; 

first  sergeant,  Sept.  2,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  vet- 
eran. 

Ansel  B.  Ford,  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on 
expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Caleb  H.  Keith,  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  as  private;  appointed 

sergeant ;  killed  Sept.  i,  1864,  in  battle  of  Jonesboro,  Ga. ;  veteran. 

Francis  M.  Masters,  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  from  private  July 
7,  1864;  killed  Sept.  i,  1864,  in  battle  of  Jonesboro,  Ga.  ;   veteran. 

Jeremiah  F.  Buzzell,  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  as  private;  ap- 
pointed sergeant ;  discharged  July  7,  1864,  at  Columbus,  O.,  for  wounds 

received  Nov.  25,  1863,  in  battle  of  Mission  Ridge,  Tenn. 

Elias  D.  Willey,  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal ;  ser- 
geant, Sept.  2,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Virgil  W.  Weeks,  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  from  corporal ; 

mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 


360  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

William  H.  Tayer,  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  from  corporal  July 
10,  1864;  absent  in  hospital  from  wounds  received  Sept.  i,  1864,  in  battle  of 
Jonesboro,  Ga. ;  mustered  out  July  22,  1865,  at  Cleveland,  O.  ;  veteran. 

John  W.  Tayer,  sergeant,  Sept.  i,  1861;  mustered  as  private;  appointed 
sergeant ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

George  T.  Cottrell,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal ;  ab- 
sent in  hospital  from  wounds  received  Nov.  25,  1863,  in  battle  of  Mission 
Ridge,  Tenn.  ;  discharged  Sept.  24,  1864,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Albert  Falkner,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;    appointed  corporal ;  killed 

Sept.  I,  1864,  in  battle  of  Jonesboro,  Ga. 

Wesley  Lewis,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  i86[  ;  died  April  7,  1862,  at  Nashville, 
Tenn. 

Leonard  Falkner,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  Nov.  26,  1862,  at  Sanders- 
ville,  Tenn. 

John  Hine,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  May  28,  1862,  at  Pittsburg 
Landing,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Benjamin  Nothnougle,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  com- 
pany July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Noble  Geer,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

John  Kane,  corporal,  September  i,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal ;  mus- 
tered out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;   veteran. 

Jacob  S.  Sohn,  corporal;  appointed  corporal  Sept.  2,  1864;  mustered  out 
-with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

John  Wilson,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal ;  mustered 

out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

John  L.  Brink,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal  ;  mus- 
tered out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

WiUiam  Westfall,  corporal,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  appointed  corporal ;  mus- 
tered out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Benjamin  F.  Mattern,  corporal,  Sept.  i,    1861  ;    appointed  corporal ; 

mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 

Marriott  Losure,  musician,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  Oct.  28,  1862,  at 
Columbus,  O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Marian  Losure,  musician,  Oct.  9,  1862;  discharged  Nov.  S,  1862,,  at  Col- 
umbus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Nathaniel  Mikesell,  musician,  Feb.  20,  1864;  died  July  16,  1864,  at  Nash- 
ville, Tenn. 

Mason  Hatfield,  wagoner,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  Dec.  19,  1861,  at  Somer- 
set, Ky. 

Privates. 

Arch,  William,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expiration 
of  term  of  service. 


Fulton  County.  361 


Ackerman,  George  J.,  Oct.  6,  1864,  substitute;    mustered  out  with  com- 
pany July  12,  1865. 

Althope,  Harmon  C,   Sept.  30,  1864,  substitute;    mustered  out  June   10, 
1865,  near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Andrews,  James,  Oct.    1,1862;    discharged  April   i,    1863,  at  Murfrees- 
boro,  Tenn. 

Andrews,  Leonard,  Oct.  i,  1862;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,. 
Dec.  31,  1863. 

Borream,  Frederick,  Sept.  6,  1862  ;  died  Feb.  i,  1863,  at  Murfreesbora,. 
Tenn. 

Barnhart,  David,  Sept.  24,  1864;  drafted;  died  Jan.  29,  1865,  at  Savan- 
nah, Ga. 

Barnes,  William  S.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  to  date  July  2,  1865,  by 
order  of  war  department ;  veteran. 

Brown,  Simeon  C,  Feb.  19,  1864;  discharged  Feb.  28,  1865,  at  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Bolinger,  Andrew  J.,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,. 
1865,  near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Bartz,  John  G.,  Sept.  25,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,. 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Bingaman,  Benjamin  F.,  Sept.  i,  1861;  discharged  Nov.  4,  1862,  at  Co- 
lumbus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Brown,  Thompson,  Sept.  9,  1862  ;  discharged  Jan.  9,  1863,  at  Columbus,. 
0.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Butler,  Marshall  W.,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  mustered  out  July  27,  1863,, 
on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Cantlebury,  Levi,  Feb.  26,  1864;  absent  in  hospital  from  wounds  received 
Aug.  5,  1864,  in  action  near  Atlanta,  Ga.  ;  mustered  out  July  5,  1865,  at 
Camp  Dennison,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Clutter,  Robert  D.,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  absent,  sick ;  mustered  out 
July  6,  1865,  at  David's  Island,  New  York  Harbor,  by  order  of  war  depart- 
ment. 

Christie,  James,  Jan.  4,  18C4  ;  transferred  from  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifth 
0.  V.  I.  June  I,  1865  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Coss,  Martin  V.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expiration 
of  term  of  service. 

Coss,  William  G.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  absent  in  brigade  hospital;  mustered  out 
Sept.  15,  1864,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Crane,  Jefferson,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  July  14,  1862,  at  Tuscumbia,  Ala. 

Cochran,  Robert  F.,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted  ;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,. 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Cone,  Henry,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  May  i,  1862,  at  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing, Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability.  *^ 


362  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Childs,  John  M.,  Sept.  i,  1861;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  Dec. 
31,  1863. 

Dunbar,  William  W.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  Nov.  18,  1863,  at  Chattanooga, 
Tenn. 

Dunbar,  Gurdon  R.  B.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  killed  Sept.  i,  1864,  in  battle  of 
Jonesboro,  Ga.  ;   veteran. 

Donielson,  Henry,  Sept.  23,  1862;  mustered  out  June  lO,  1865,  near  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Dougherty,  Henry,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  March  6,  1863,  at  Murfrees- 
boro,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Eddy,  John  G.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865; 
veteran. 

Emerich,  Josiah  D.,  Feb.  10,  1864;  absent  from  wounds  received  August 
5,  1864,  in  battle  of  Utoy  Creek,  Ga. ;  mustered  out  to  date  Aug.  14,  1865,  by 
jarder  of  war  department. 

Everett,  William,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Ford,  Austin  K.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Fankhouser,  John,  Oct.  8,  1862  ;  killed  August  5,  1864,  in  battle  of  Utoy 
Creek,  Ga. 

Foster,  Henry  F.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Fellows,  Hiram  N.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  June  15,  1865,  at  Dennison 
U.  S.  General  Hospital,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability ;  veteran. 

Fuller,  Martin  H.,  Jan.  21,  1864;  transferred  from  One  Hundred  and  Fifth 
O.  V.  I.,  June  I,  1865  ;  mustered  out  June  2,  1865,  by  order  of  war  depart- 
ment. 

Franklin,  Jacob,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Fairchild,  George  W.,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10, 
3865,  near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Ferguson,  James,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  the  war  department. 

Fairchild,  David,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  May  29,  1862,  at  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Frock,  Jacob,  Oct.  7,  1862  ;  drafted;  mustered  out  July  27,  1863,  on  ex- 
piration of  term  of  service. 

Gray,  James  E.,  Jan.  4,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Grant,  Isaac  M.,   Oct.   6,    1864;  substitute;   mustered   out  with  company 

July  4.  1865. 

Gould,  Lewis  B.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  Jan.  24,  1865,  at  York,  O.;  veteran. 


Fulton  County.  363 


Gunsaullus,  Daniel  E.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  Oct  i,  1864,  at  Franklin,  O.; 
veteran. 

Geer,  Israel  S.,  Feb.  13,  1864;  died  March  8,  1864,  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

Gunsaullus,  George,  Sept.  25,  1862;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  near 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Gray,  George  E.,  Oct.  i,  1862;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  near  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Gorman,  William,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  June  21,  1865,  at  Camp 
Dennison,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department;  veteran. 

Griffin,  William,  Sept.  i,  1861. 

Gorsuch,  Rezin,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  May  3,  1862,  at  Columbus,  O., 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Gorsuch,  Andrew  J.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  Aug.  4,  1862,  at  Colum- 
bus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Gwin,  John,  Oct.  i,  1862;  discharged  Aug.  12,  1863,  on  surgeon's  certifi- 
cate of  disability. 

Hanna,  Julius  J.,  Oct.  i,  1862;  killed  Sept.  i,  1864,  in  battle  of  Jones- 
boro,  Ga. 

Heckman,  John,  Dec.  29,  1863;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Howard,  Edward  L.,  Jan.  4,  1864;  transferred  from  One  Hundred  and  Fifth 
0.  V.  I,  June  I,  1865  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Heiligher,  Oscar  C.  F.,  March  31,  1864;  transferred  from  One  Hundred 
and  Fifth  0.  V.  I.,  June  i,  1865  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Hendricks,  Jackson,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  accidentally  drowned  Feb.  17,  1862, 
in  the  Ohio  River. 

Hopkins,  Edwin  E.,  Feb.  i,  1864;  died  July  2,  1864,  at  Dallas,  Ga. 

Hale,  Justus  H.,  Feb.  15,  1864;  died  June  16,    1864,  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Harrington,  George  W.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  Sept.  i,  1862,  at  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Howard,  Ruel  S.,  Sept.  27,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Henderson,  William  M.,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10, 
1865,  near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Hayward,  Robert,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Henkey,  Charles,  Sept.  22,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865, 
near  Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Hodges,  David  D.,  Sept.  23,  1862  ;   died  Nov.  28,  1862,  at  Gallatin,  Tenn. 

Herbert,  Robert  M.,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  died  Feb.  2,  1863,  at  Mur- 
freesboro,  Tenn. 

Hicker,  Daniel,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  May  i,  1862,  at  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing, Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 


364  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Harrington,  George  W.,  March  24,  1864;  discharged  May  22,  1865,  on 
surgeon's  certificate  of  disabihty. 

Hunter,  Isaac  H.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  June  12,  1862,  at  Columbus, 
O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disabihty. 

Inman,  Ebenezer,  Sept.  i,  1861;  died  June  3,  1862,  at  Danvihe,  Ky. 

Jones,  Judson,  Sept.  I,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ; 
veteran. 

Jay,  Brice  H.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  prom,  to  sergt.-maj.  March  16,  1863. 

King,  James  F.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Keeser,  Sewell,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ; 
veteran. 

Kuney,  Lanson,  Feb.  i,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Kane,  Anthony,  Jan.  5,  1864;  transferred  from  One  Hundred  and  Fifth 
O.  V.  I., ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Kain,  William,  Sept.  24,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  near 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Le  Clere,  Lafayette,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  killed  Nov.  25,  1863,  in  battle  of  Mis- 
sion Ridge,  Tenn. 

Looker,  David,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  absent  in  hospital  from  wounds  received 
Aug.  6,  1864,  in  action  near  Atlanta,  Ga.;  mustered  out  July  5,  1865,  at  Camp 
Dennison,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department;   veteran. 

Lamberson,  William  W.,  Feb.  16,  1864  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865. 

Linder,  John,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  near 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Looker,  James  K.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  transferred  to  U.  S.  Engineer  Corps 
July  15,  1864;  veteran. 

Lunger,  John,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  Dec. 
31,  1863. 

McCutchen,  William,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  absent  in  hospital  from  wounds  re- 
ceived Nov.  25,  1863,  in  battle  of  Mission  Ridge,  Tenn.;  mustered  out  Sept. 
17,  1864,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

McVicor,  Elijah,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;   veteran. 

McKibben,  William,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

McClarran,  Cornelius  R.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865  ;   veteran. 

McKibben,  Robert  J.,  Feb.  29,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865. 

McMaster,  Leonard,  Jan.  21,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
.1865. 


Fulton  County.  365 


McCambridge,  Patrick,  April  6,  1864;  transferred  from  One  Hundred  and 
Fifth  O.  V.  I.  June  i,  1865  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

McClarran,  William,  Oct.  i,  1862;   mustered  out  May  27,  1865,  at  Camp 
Dennison,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

McKenzie,  Samuel,  Oct.  7,    1862;   drafted;  mustered   out  July  27,    1863, 
on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

McGowen,  Riley,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  March  26,    1862;  at   Lebanon,  Ky. 

McMichael,  Leroy,   Oct.    i,    1862  ;  transferred  to  Veteran   Reserve   Corps 
Dec.  31,  1863. 

Murray,  Atwell,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;   mustered  out   Sept.  13,    1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Matthias,  FrankHn  D.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Mikesell,  Stillman,  Sept.    i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July    12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Moore,  Edson,  Jan.  21,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company   July  12,  1865. 

Mikesell,  Charles,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  killed    Aug.   S,  1864,  in  battle   of  Utoy 
Creek,  Ga.  ;  veteran. 

Mattern,  Jacob,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  May  10,  1862,  at  Gorham,  O. 

Mattern,  Jerome  P.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;   discharged  Feb.  12,  1863,  at  Murfrees- 
boro,  Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Moses,  James,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;   discharged  April   22,  1863,  to  enlist  in  ma- 
rine brigade. 

Mankins,  Silas,  Oct.  7,  1862  ;  drafted;    mustered  out  July  27,  1863,  on  ex- 
piration of  term  of  service. 

Miller,  Edmond,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  Sept. 
30,  1863. 

Noonan,  John,  Oct.  9,  1862;   mustered   out  with  company  July   12,  1865. 

O'Donal,  John,  Dec.  13,  1863;    transferred   from    lOSth   O.  V.  I.,  June  i, 
1865;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Osterhaut,  Henry  H.,  Sept.  i,  1861. 

Osterhaut,  John  W.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  Aug.  29,  1862,  at  Colum- 
bus, O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Palmer,  David  B.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;    mustered   out  with   company  July    12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Pomeroy,  Henry  B.,  Dec.  29,  1863  ;    mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Parker,  William  H.,  Jan.  5,  1864;   transferred  from  lOSth  O.  V.  I.,  June  i, 
1865  ;  absent;  sick  since  Jan.  26,  1865  ;  no  further  record  found. 

Pfefferley,  Charies,  Oct.  4,  1 864 ;  substitute  ;  mustered  out  with  company 
July  12,  1865. 

Penny,  Isaac,  Sept.  i,  1861;  discharged   July  14,   1862,  at  Columbus,  O., 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 


366  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Powers,  William,  Sept.  27,  1864;  substitute;   never  reported  for  duty;  ab- 
sent, sick ;   no  further  record  found. 

Pike,  Hiram,  Sept.  i,  1861;  discharged  Sept.  2,  1862,  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Pelton,  Thomas   J.,  Sept.  13,  1862;   discharged  Jan.  22,  1863,  at  Gallatin,. 
Tenn.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Rice,  Harvey  M.,  Feb.  i,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Rawdon,  Caleb  L.,  Jan.  2,  1864;  transferred  from  105th  O.  V.  I.,  June  i, 
1865  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Russell,  Elijahs.,  Dec.  20,  1863  ;  transferred  from  lOSth  O.  V.  I.,  June  i,. 
1865  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Rowe,    James,  March  4,   1864;  transferred  from  105th  O.  V.   I.,   June   i,' 
1865  ;    mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Reed,  Eli  S.,  Feb.  2,  1864;  transferred  from  105th  O.  V.  I.,  June  i,  1865; 
mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Rember,  Christopher,  Sept.  21,   1864;   drafted;  absent,   sick  in  hospital; 
mustered  out  to  date  July  12,  1865,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Reigle,  Adam,  Sept.  24,  1864;   drafted;  absent,  sick  in  hospital ;   mustered 
out  to  date  July  6,  1865,  at  New  York  City,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Rohr,  George,  Sept.  24,  1864;  drafted;   mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  near 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Rodgers,  John,  Sept.  21,  1864;  drafted  ;   mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  near 
Washington,  D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Rock,  George,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  June  i,  1862,  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Rice,  Joseph  G.,  Sept.    i,  1861  ;   discharged  June    19,  1862,  at  Columbus,. 
O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Sellers,  William,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Sept.  13,    1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Shorten,  Daniel  G.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Sept.  13,  1864,  on  expi- 
ration of  term  of  service. 

Snow,  Sardis  D.,  Sept.    i,   1861  ;    mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865  ;  veteran. 

Scribner,  Luke,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ^ 
veteran. 

Stewart,  James,  Feb.  10,  1864;   transferred  from    105th  O.  V.  I.,  June  i, 
1865  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Stewart,  Cyrus,  Jan.  18,  1864;  transferred  from    105th  O.  V.  I.,  June   i, 
1865  ;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 

Single,  Henry,  Oct.  3,  1864;  substitute;  mustered  out  with  company  July 
12,  1865. 

Stout,  Jesse,  Sept.  26,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  July  20,  1865,  at  Camp 
Chase,  O.,  by  order  of  war  department. 


Fulton  County.        .  367 


Spire,  Andrew,   Oct.    3,    1864;  substitute;    mustered  out  with   company 
July  12,  1865. 

Smith,   John,   Oct.   8,  1864;  substitute;  assigned,  but  never  reported  for 
duty  ;  absent,  sick  in  hospital ;   no  record  of  muster  out  found. 

Skeels,  William  S.,  Oct.  9,  1861  ;   mustered  out  Oct.  17,  1864,  on  expira- 
tion of  term  of  service. 

Shell,  George,  Sept.  23,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  Jan.  3,  1865,  at 
Savannah,  Ga.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Supinger,  Benjamin  F.,  Sept.  24,  1864;  drafted;  mustered  out  June  10 
1865,  near  Washington,  D.  C.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Schseffer,  Reuben,  Sept.  15,  1862;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  "sar 
Washington,  D.  C.,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Smith,  Sala,  Sept.  19,  1862;  mustered  out  June  10,  1865,  near  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  by  order  of  war  department. 

Skeels,  Lyman  H.,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps, 
March  27,  1865  ;  mustered  out  Aug.  26,  1865,  at  Washington,  D.  C,  by  or- 
der of  war  department  ;  veteran. 

Snyder,  John  E.,  Sept.  15,  1862  ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps 
March  27,  1865. 

Struble,  Cornelius,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  died  Feb.  S,  1862,  at  Somerset,  Ky. 
Snow,  Henry,  Oct.  i,  1862  ;   died  Nov.  21,  1862,  at  Pilot  Knobb,  Tenn. 
Struble,  William,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged   Oct.  15,  1862,  at  Cincinnati, 
O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Showers,  Lewis,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged ,  for  wounds  received  Nov. 

25,  1863,  at  battle  of  Mission  Ridge,  Tenn. 

Schaffer,  Reuben  C,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  mu.stered  out  July  27,  1863^ 
on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Schaffer,  Enoch,  Oct.  7,  1862;  drafted;  mustered  out  July  27,  1863,  on 
expiration  of  term -of  service. 

Thomas,  Jacob,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  accidentally  killed  Nov.  17,  1 861,  by  the 
falling  of  a  tree,  at  Wild  Cat,  Ky. 

Taylor,  John,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;   died  June  28,  1862,  at  Cincinnati,  O. 
Thomas,  Simon,  Oct.  7,  1862  :   drafted  ;  absent,  sick  at  Nashville,  Tenn.  ; 
mustered  out  Aug.  19,  1863,  on  expiration  of  term  of  service. 

Tremain,  Daniel  M.  ;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865  ;  veteran. 
Vandlin,  Daniel  B.,  Sept.    i,  1861  ;   discharged   June  19,  1862,  at  Colum- 
bus, 0.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

Vanarsdale,  Garrett,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  discharged  July  i,  1862,  at  Columbus, 
O.,  on  surgeon's  certificate  of  disability. 

White,  Daniel  W.,  Feb.  22,  1864;  mustered  out  with  company  July  12, 
1865. 

Wing,  Otis  J.,  Feb.  i,  1864;   mustered  out  with  company  July  12,  1865. 


368  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Walters,  Jacob  F.,  Feb.  5,  1864;  died  Feb.  11,  1865,  of  wounds  received 
Dec.  15,  1864,  in  battle  of  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Wise,  Michael  L.,  Oct.  i,  1862  ;  mustered  out ,  by  order  of  war  de- 
partment. 

Wells,  Thomas,  Oct.  8,  1862  ;  died  March  27,  1863,  at  Murfreesboro,  Tenn. 

Woodward,  Jeremiah,  Sept.  i,  1861  ;  transferred  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps 
Sept.  I,  1863. 

The  Forty-Seventh  Infantry. 

This  regiment  was  principally  raised  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  State. 
It  first  went  into  camp  near  Cincinnati,  but  was  afterward  transferred  to  Camp 
Dennison.  Here  the  odds  and  ends  of  several  companies  joined  it,  among 
which  were  fifty-two  men  from  Fulton  county,  forty-two  of  which  were  mus- 
tered into  Company  I,  and  the  other  eleven  joined  other  companies  of  the 
regiment. 

On  the  27th  of  August,  1861,  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  Clarksburgh, 
W.  Va.,  and  on  arriving  at  that  place  reported  to  General  W.  S.  Rosecrans. 
The  regiment  did  a  vast  amount  of  marching  and  picketing  in  West  Virginia, 
and,  in  the  autumn  it  marched  to  BuUstown,  on  the  Little  Kanawha  River, 
and  was  brigaded  with  the  Ninth  and  Twenty-eighth  Ohio,  afterwards  known 
as  the  "Bully  Dutch  Brigade."     Its  first  battle  was  at  Cornifex  Ferry. 

In  the  month  of  January,  1862,  the  Forty-seventh  was  ordered  by  General 
J.  D.  Cox  to  make  an  expedition  to  Little  Sewell  Mountain,  and  drive  the 
rebels  from  that  place.  After  driving  the  rebels  out  of  their  works,  and  tak- 
ing a  number  of  prisoners,  the  Forty-seventh  proceeded  to  destroy  the  works. 
They  returned  to  camp  on  the  22d  of  April,  1863.  A  detail  of  three  com- 
panies was  sent  on  an  expedition  to  Lewisburg,  and,  on  the  loth  of  May,  was 
joined  by  one  company  of  the  Forty-fourth  Ohio,  one  from  the  Forty-seventh 
Ohio,  and  one  from  the  Second  battalion  of  the  Second  Virginia  Cavalry. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Elliott  took  command,  and  immediately  advanced  upon 
Lewisburg.  The  expedition  was  a  complete  success.  The  rebels  were  com- 
pletely routed,  and  the  camp  equipage,  horses,  wagons,  and  many  prisoners  fell 
into  their  hands.  In  their  flight  the  rebels  threw  away  their  arms,  blankets, 
coats,  and  everything  that  would  impede  their  escape.  Soon  after  this  expe- 
dition the  Forty-seventh  was  brigaded  with  the  Thirty-sixth  and  Forty-fourth 
Ohio  Regiments,  which  was  called  the  Third  Provisional  Brigade. 

On  August  6th  Major  Perry  was  dispatched  with  Company  I  and  three 
other  companies  to  reconnoitre  the  northern  part  of  Greenbriar  and  Pocahon- 
tas counties,  and  capture  or  drive  the  rebels  out  of  the  county.  This  was  suc- 
cessfully done,  and  after  a  great  deal  of  hard  marching  and  skirmishing,  the 
guerillas  were  driven  across  the  river  to  White  Sulphur  Springs. 

The  Forty-seventh  took  an  active  part  in  the  siege  and  capture  of  Vicks- 


Fulton  County.  369 


burg,  doing  a  great  deal  of  fighting,  and  capturing  many  prisoners,  being  nearly- 
all  the  time  in  the  front  line,  and  at  the  time  of  the  surrender  occupying  Sem- 
inary Hill  Fort.  The  next  day  after  the  surrender  the  Forty-seventh  was  dis- 
patched towards  Jackson,  Miss.,  after  Johnson's  rebel  force,  and  assisted  in  the 
attack  and  capture  of  Jackson,  and  destroyed  the  fortifications  around  the  city. 
It  took  an  active  part  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  October  24,  1863,  the 
Forty-seventh  being  on  the  skirmish  line  when  the  advance  was  made,  and  did 
its  part  of  the  fighting.  On  the  25th  it  marched  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and 
on  the  28th  entered  Grayville  and  destroyed  a  store-house,  mills,  and  machine- 
shop  used  by  the  rebels  for  manufacturing  arms.  On  March  6,  1864,  the  regi- 
ment re-enlisted  for  three  more  years,  and  left  on  return  furlough  for  home, 
arriving  in  Cincinnati,  March  22. 

After  the  expiration  of  its  furlough  it  returned  to  the  field  and  reached  its 
brigade  at  Stevenson,  Ala.,  May  3,  1864.  The  regiment  was  actively  engaged 
in  all  the  fights  from  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  to  Atlanta,  Ga.  It  marched,  with 
Sherman's  army  to  the  sea,  and  participated  in  the  charge  on  Fort  McAlister, 
December  13th,  being  in  the  advance.  The  fort  was  carried,  the  Forty-sev- 
enth being  the  first  to  enter.  When  the  Forty-seventh  entered  the  field  it  had 
eight  hundred  and  thirty  men,  but  when  it  reached  Savannah  it  numbered  only 
one  hundred  and  twenty,  except  some  recruits  that  reached  the  regiment  at 
Atlanta.  It  was  paid  off"  and  mustered  out  August  24,  1865,  having  served 
over  four  years. 

The  Sixty-Seventh  Infantry. 

This  regiment  was  organized  by  the  consolidation  of  two  regiments  partly 
filled,  viz.,  the  Forty- fifth  and  the  Sixty-seventh,  besides  a  few  recruits  from 
Lucas  and  Fulton  counties.  At  the  muster  in  of  the  regiment  there  were  211 
men  from  Fulton  county,  as  follows ':  Company  A,  63  men  ;  Company  B,  30 
men;  Company  C,  18  men;  Company  D,  2  men;  Company  E,  17  men; 
Company  F,  35  men;  Company  I,  46  men;  total,  211.  The  regiment  left 
Columbus  for  the  front  January  19,  1862,  going  to  West  Virginia,  and  spent 
the  winter  at  Bloomway  Gap  and  Pau  Pau  Tunnel.  Skirmishing  was  frequent 
on  the  picket  line  between  the  Sixty-seventh  and  Ashby's  Cavalry. 

On  the  14th  of  March  the  regiment  reported  to  General  Banks,  at  Win- 
chester, and  soon  engaged  the  enemy  and  drove  them  until  darkness  put  an 
end  to  the  fight.  They  lay  on  their  arms  all  night,  and  the  next  morning  were 
the  first  to  engage  the  foe.  After  the  fight  had  fairly  begun,  the  Sixty-sev- 
enth was  ordered  to  reinforce  General  Taylor's  Brigade,  and,  in  order  to  reach 
that  command  it  had  to  pass  over  an  open  field  for  more  than  a  mile,  exposed 
to  a  heavy  fire  from  the  enemy.  The  regiment  took  the  double  quick,  reached 
Taylor's  Brigade,  and  immediately  went  into  action.  It  lost  in  this  battle  fif- 
teen killed  and  thirty-two  wounded.     For  the  next  three  months  the  regiment 

47 


370  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

was  on  the  march  all  over  Virginia,  and  on  the  29th  of  June  embarked  on  a 
steamer  and  barge  for  the  James  River,  to  reinforce  General  McClellan.  At 
the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  the  hawser  attached  to  the  barge  in  tow  by 
the  steamer  parted,  and  the  latter  lay  tossing  in  the  trough  of  the  heavy  sea 
for  more  than  hour  before  the  steamer  could  again  make  fast  to  it.  Horses 
arms,  camp  and  garrison  equipage,  and  many  of  the  men  were  washed  over- 
board and  lost. 

At  Harrison's  Landing  it  campaigned  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  until 
McClellan  retreated  from  the  Peninsula,  when  it  marched  to  Suffolk,  Va.  At 
this  time  the  regiment  had  been  reduced  to  but  three  hundred  men  fit  for  duty, 
out  of  the  eight  hundred  and  fifty  it  had  when  it  left  Columbus,  in  January, 
1862.  Passing  over  the  next  five  months,  which  were  nearly  all  occupied  in 
marching,  and  being  transported  from  one  place  to  another,  on  April  2,  1863, 
it  landed  on  Cole's  Island,  where,  for  seven  months,  it  endured  all  the  hard- 
ships of  the  siege.  It  took  an  active  part  in  the  charge  on  Fort  Wagner, 
where  it  lost  heavily.  It  was,  at  last,  allowed  a  fews  days'  rest  before  starting 
on  its  expedition  into  Florida.  The  men  re- enlisted  and  returned  to  Ohio  in 
February,  1864,  where  they  rested,  visited,  and  recruited  until  the  expiration 
of  their  furlough,  when  they  again  returned  to  the  front,  about  seven  hundred 
strong.  Forty-nine  of  the  recruits  came  from  Fulton  county.  They  reached 
General  Butler  at  Bermuda  Hundred  on  the  6th  of  .May,  1864,  and  on  the  9th 
were  detached  to  guard  the  right  flank  of  the  Tenth  Corps,  at  the  railroad  at 
Chester  Station,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  road  from  there  to  Peters- 
burg. The  regiment  was  placed  on  the  turnpike  from  Richmond  to  Peters- 
burg, with  one  section  of  artillery,  with  orders  to  hold  the  position  at  all 
hazards.  During  the  night  reinforcements  arrived,  and  the  next  morning  the 
rebels  made  a  general  attack  upon  them.  The  Sixty- seventh  maintained  its 
position.  The  rebels  made  four  successive  charges  and  were  as  often  repulsed 
by  the  Sixty-seventh.  The  section  of  artillery  was  captured,  and  was,  for  a  short 
time,  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  but  was  soon  recaptured  by  the  gallant  Com- 
pany F,  of  the  Sixty-seventh.  The  loth  of  May,  1864,  will  always  be  remem- 
bered by  the  regiment  as  a  sad,  but  glorious  day.  Seventy- six  officei's  and 
men  were  killed  and  wounded  in  this  battle.  On  the  20th  of  May  the  Sixty- 
seventh,  with  other  regiments,  were  ordered  to  recapture  a  portion  of  our 
force  which  had  been  taken  by  the  enemy.  They  took  the  lines  by  a  desper- 
ate charge,  in  which  they  lost  sixty-nine  officers  and  men  killed  and  wounded. 
They,  too,  in  this  charge,  captured  the  rebel  general,  W.  H.  S.  Walker,  and  his 
sword  was  delivered  to  Colonel  Voorhis  as  a  trophy  of  this  victory.  On  the 
1 6th  of  August  four  companies  of  the  Sixty-seventh  charged  the  rifle  pits  at 
Deep  River,  and  the  first  volley  of  the  enemy  killed  and  wounded  one-third 
of  the  charging  column,  but,  before  the  rebels  could  reload,  the  rifle  pits  were 
in  possession  of  the  Sixty-seventh.      On  the  7th,  13th,  27th  and  28th  of  Oc- 


Fulton  County.  371 


tober,  the  regiment  was  engaged  with  the  enemy,  and  it  is  a  fact  that  during 
the  campaign  of  1864,  the  Sixty-seventh  was  under  fire  two  hundred  times, 
and  had  lost  in  killed  and  wounded,  during  that  time,  over  four  hundred  men. 
In  the  spring  of  1865  the  regiment  participated  in  the  assault  on  the  rebel 
works  in  front  of  Petersburg,  and  on  April  2,  led  the  charge  on  Fort  Gregg 
and  Appomattox  Court-house,  and  was  in  the  last  fight  the  Union  forces  had 
with  the  army  of  Virginia.  The  regiment  was  at  the  grand  review  at  Wash- 
ington, and  was  not  mustered  out  of  service  until  the  12th  day  of  December, 
1865. 

The  Sixty-Eighth  Infantry. 

This  regiment  was  recruited  in  the  counties  of  Defiance,  Fulton,  Henry, 
Paulding  and  Williams,  during  the  fall  and  winter  of  1861-62.  One  full  com- 
pany was  recruited  in  Fulton  county.  The  regiment  rendezvoused  at  Camp 
Latty,  and  moved  to  Camp  Chase  in  January,  1862.  It  left  Camp  Chase  Feb- 
ruary 7,  1862,  for  the  front,  and  arrived  at  Fort  Donaldson,  Tenn.,  on  the  14th, 
when  it  was  assigned  to  General  C.  F.  Smith's  division  on  the  left  of  the  line, 
and  constantly  engaged  in  skirmishing  during  both  days  of  the  fighting.  It 
guarded  the  supply  and  ordnance  trains  of  General  Lew  Wallace,  during  the 
battle  of  Pittsburgh  Landing;  it  was  actively  engaged  during  the  siege  of  Cor- 
inth in  building  roads,  bridges  and  entrenchments.  The  regiment  participated 
in  the  battles  of  luka  and  Monmouth.  In  the  spring  of  1863  it  was  assigned 
to  the  Second  Brigade,  Third  Division,  Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  and  serVed 
in  that  command  until  the  close  of  the  war.  It  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Thompson  Hill,  May  i,  1863,  and  in  the  battles  of  Raymond,  Jackson,  Cham- 
pion Hills  and  Black  Jack,  all  in  the  month  of  May,  1863.  In  all  of  these  en- 
gagements it  suffered  serious  loss,  especially  at  Champion  Hills.  It  was  con- 
stantly engaged  in  all  the  fighting  during  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  It  took  an 
active  part  in  the  fight  of  Baker's  Creek,  February  S,  1863.  It  veteranized, 
and  on  the  15th  of  December,  1863,  embarked  for  home  on  its  veteran  furlough. 
It  received  recruits  while  at  home,  and  an  additional  number  when  returning ; 
one  hundred  and  seventy  men  that  had  been  sent  to  it  about  the  time  it  went 
north  on  furlough,  in  all  a  total  of  over  three  hundred,  and  when  the  regiment 
arrived  in  Georgia,  where  it  joined  General  Sherman's  army  on  the  Atlanta 
campaign,  it  had  over  seven  hundred  men  for  duty.  During  the  remainder  of 
the  Atlanta  campaign  the  regiment  was  almost  constantly  under  fire,  and  for 
sixty-five  days  and  nights  was  on  the  advance  line.  It  was  in  the  battles  at 
Neuces,  Nickajack,  Atlanta,  and  on  the  28th  Jonesboro  and  Lovejoy.  After 
the  capture  of  Atlanta  the  regiment  marched  with  Sherman  to  the  sea,  and 
through  the  Carolinas,  and  after  the  surrender  of  Johnston,  marched  to  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  and  participated  in  the  grand  review;  from  there  to  Louisville, 
Ky.,  and  on  the  i8th  of  July  was  mustered  out  of  service,  and  returned  home. 


372  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

For  a  more  detailed  account  of  the  Sixty-eighth  Regiment  see  the  report  of 
its  achievements  in  the  history  of  the  regiment  in  the  military  chapter  of  Henry 
county  in  this  volume,  and  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  together  as  well  as  pos- 
sible, the  names  of  all  who  were  in  this  command,  the  roster  will  be  found  in 
connection  with  the  history  proper  of  it. 

The  Eighty- Fifth  Infantry — Three  Months  Regiment. 

The  Eighty-fifth  Regiment,  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  was  organized  at 
Camp  Chase,  on  the  loth  day  of  June,  1862.  It  was  raised  for  the  purpose  of 
guarding  prisoners  at  Camp  Chase,  Ohio.  About  the  middle  of  July,  1862, 
the  guerilla,  Morgan,  made  a  raid  into  Kentucky  and  threatened  Frankfort,  the 
capital  of  that  State.  Aid  being  necessary,  and  there  being  no  other  available 
troops  at  hand,  a  battalion  of  four  companies  of  the  Eighty-fifth  was  dispatched 
to  their  assistance,  under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Sowers.  On  arriv- 
ing at  Frankfort  they  found  the  loyal  people  of  that  place  greatly  alarmed,  and 
the  rebel  portion  equally  jubilant.  The  next  day  after  the  arrival  of  the  bat- 
talion of  the  Eighty-fifth  they  were  ordered  out  by  Adjutant- General  Leslie 
Combs,  about  six  miles  in  the  country,  to  intercept  a  force  of  Morgan's  cavalry 
which  were  camped  at  that  place;  but  the  rebels  having  been  apprised  of  our 
approach  beat  a  hasty  retreat  just  as  the  battalion  came  in  sight  of  their  camp. 
The  battalion  was  ordered  to  double-quick,  but  soon  found  that  infantry  was  no 
match  for  horses,  and  so  gave  up  the  pursuit  and  returned  to  the  city.  The 
next  day  they  were  joined  by  a  battalion  of  Pennsylvania  troops,  and  five  com- 
panies of  Kentuckians  and  a  day  or  two  later  Morgan  hastily  left,  and  the  bat- 
talion of  the  Eighty-fifth  again  reported  for  duty  at  Camp  Chase,  where  it 
remained  until  about  the  middle  of  October,  when  it  was  paid  off  and  dis- 
charged. Fulton  county  furnished  one  full  company,  G,  for  this  regiment, 
ninety-seven  men  rank  and  file. 

The  Eighty-Sixth  Infantry — Six  Months  Regiment. 

This  regiment  was  recruited  from  the  northern  counties  of  Ohio,  Fulton 
county  contributing  one  whole  company.  Company  H.  It  was  organized  at 
Camp  Cleveland,  and  recruited  to  ;i  full  regiment  in  the  month  of  June  and 
early  part  of  July,  1863.  About  the  time  of  its  muster  in  the  rebel  general, 
John  Morgan,  was  making  his  famous  northern  raid  through  Indiana  and 
Southern  Ohio.  The  regiment  was  immediately  placed  under  marching  or- 
ders and  joined  in  the  chase  of  the  guerillas,  the  rebels  having  just  been  de- 
feated at  Buffington's  Island  by  Generals  Judah  and  Shackleford's  troops,  and 
being  thus  prevented  from  crossing  the  Ohio  River  at  that  point,  turned  in  a 
northeasterly  direction  and  marched  to  the  Muskingum  River,  which  they 
reached  a  short  distance  below  Zanesville.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Eighty-Sixth 
at  Zanesville,  a  detachment  of  two  hundred  men,  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 


Fulton  County.  373, 


tenant-Colonel  McFarland,  were  sent  to  Eagleport,  where  it  was  presumed 
Morgan  would  attempt  to  cross  the  Muskingum.  The  detachment  arrived  just 
in  time  to  witness  the  crossing  of  the  rear  guard.  Colonel  McFarland  imme- 
diately commenced  skirmishing  with  the  enemy  and  detained  them  some  time, 
thus  allowing  General  Shackleford  to  gain  some  precious  time  in  pursuit.  In 
the  meantime  Major  Karns,  with  the  remainder  of  the  Eighty-sixth,  had  been 
ordered  to  Cambridge  to  intercept  Morgan  at  that  point.  He  arrived  at 
Washington  on  the  turnpike,  a  few  minutes  after  Morgan's  forces  had  passed. 
Shackelford  then  coming  up  with  the  forces  under  his  command,  the  two  joint- 
ly pursued  the  enemy  to  a  place  near  Salineville,  Columbiana  county,  where  the 
rebels  were  overtaken  and  captured.  The  Eighty-sixth  returned  to  Camp 
Tod,  at  Columbus,  and  on  the  8th  of  August  proceeded  to  Camp  Nelson,  Ky., 
where  they  joined  the  forces  under  Colonel  De  Courcy,  in  an  expedition  to  cap- 
ture Cumberland  Gap  then  held  by  the  enemy.  The  expedition  left  Camp 
Nelson  August  17th,  and  on  the  8th  of  September  arrived  in  front  of  Cumber- 
land Gap.  The  force  under  the  command  of  De  Courcy  consisted  of  the 
Eighty-sixth  and  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- ninth  Ohio  Infantry,  detachments 
of  the  Ninth  and  Eleventh  Tennessee  Cavalry,  and  Captain  Neil's  Twenty- 
Second  Ohio  Battery.  The  country  being  filled  with  rebel  spies,  De  Courcy 
divided  all  his  regiments  into  two  battalions,  making  each  regiment  appear  as 
two.  This  was  done  in  order  to  deceive  the  enemy,  who  greatly  outnumbered 
him.  It  was  then  represented  to  the  rebel  commander  that  De  Courcy's  force 
numbered  ten  or  twelve  thousand.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  De  Courcy's  force 
on  the  Kentucky  side,  Major-General  Burnside  arrived  with  his  force  on  the 
Tennessee  side  of  the  Gap,  thus  completely  investing  the  rebel  garrison  under 
General  Frazer.  On  the  9th  of  September  the  Eighty- sixth  formed  in  line  of 
battle  along  the  Harlan  Road,  with  skirmishers  in  front,  two  pieces  of  Neil's 
battery  on  the  left  occupying  an  elevated  plateau,  with  the  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-ninth  in  supporting  distance  in  the  rear.  The  remainder  of  Neil's  bat- 
tery was  in  position  in  front  of  the  Gap,  and  the  cavalry  on  the  Barberville 
road.  This  disposition  of  troops  being  made  on  the  north  side  in  conjunction 
with  General  Burnside's  forces  on  the  south  side  of  the  Gap,  a  formal  sum- 
mons was  sent  by  General  Burnside  to  the  rebel  commander  demanding  the 
surrender  of  the  place.  This  demand  was  acceded  to  by  General  Frazer,  thus 
saving  great  loss  of  life,  as  the  Gap  could  have  been  stoutly  defended  and  the 
loss  of  life  would  have  been  very  great  had  it  been  taken  by  direct  assault. 
The  Eighty- sixth  immediately  marched  into  the  fort  and  took  possession, 
hoisting  the  stars  and  stripes  in  place  of  the  rebel  flag,  which  had  been  defiant- 
ly waving  in  the  same  place  for  so  many  months.  The  result  of  this  victory 
was  two  thousand  eight  hundred  prisoners,  five  thousand  stand  of  arms,  thir- 
teen pieces  of  artillery,  and  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition,  quartermaster's 
and  commissary  stores.     The   Eighty-sixth   remained  in  the  Gap  as  a  part  of 


374  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  garrison  until  its  term  of  service  expired.  It  being  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  the  Gap  to  its  base  of  supplies,  over  bad  roads,  the  troops  were 
compelled  to  subsist  in  a  great  measure  off  of  the  country,  and  foraging  par- 
ties had  to  go  a  great  distance  to  reach  anything  eatable,  and  the  country  be- 
ing filled  with  guerillas,  conflicts  were  of  almost  daily  occurrence.  The  time 
for  which  the  regiment  enlisted  having  expired  on  the  i6th  of  January,  1864, 
it  started  for  Ohio,  and  after  a  seven  days'  hard  march  it  reached  Nicholsville 
on  January  23.  It  left  for  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  it  arrived  on  the  26th,  and 
was  mustered  out  of  the  United  States  service  February  loth,  1864.  Com- 
pany H  had  ninety-four  men  all  from  Fulton  county. 

The  One  Hundredth  Infantry. 

This  regiment  was  organized  at  Camp  Toledo,  near  Toledo,  and  was  mus- 
tered into  the  United  States  service  on  the  ist  day  of  September,  1862.  It 
was  recruited  in  the  northwestern  counties  of  the  State,  Fulton  county  furnish- 
ing one  Company  H,  and  about  twenty  other  men  scattered  through  the  dif- 
ferent companies  of  the  regiment.  It  immediately  left  for  Cincinnati,  and  on 
the  9th  camped  in  Covington,  Ky.  On  the  8th  of  October  it  marched  for  Lex- 
ington, and  from  there  on  to  Danville,  where  it  arrived  the  26th  of  December. 

On  the  2d  of  January,  1863,  it  marched  to  Frankfort,  Ky.,  and  in  Febru- 
ary returned  to  Lexington,  and  thence  to  Crab  Orchard,  Mt.  Vernon  and  Som- 
erset. On  the  13th  of  August  it  again  went  into  camp  at  Danville,  and  from 
there  in  the  latter  part  of  August  the  regiment  started  on  its  march  with  the 
Ninth  Corps  for  East  Tennessee.  On  arriving  at  Knoxville  a  portion  of  the 
regiment,  two  hundred  and  forty  strong,  under  Major  Hayes,  was  sent  up  the 
West  Virginia  line  to  guard  the  railroad,  where,  on  the  4th  of  September,  the 
entire  detachment  was  captured  by  the  enemy  after  a  spirited  resistance  lasting 
more  than  two  hours ;  and  not  until  the  detachment  had  fired  the  last  shot  in 
their  cartridge  boxes  did  they  yield.  The  regiment  participated  in  the  defense 
of  Knoxville,  and  did  valuable  service  during  the  winter  of  1863—4,  in  and 
about  that  place,  being  constantly  on  duty,  as  were  all  of  Burnside's  troops. 
In  the  spring  of  1864,  the  regiment,  with  the  Twenty-third  Army  Corps, 
marched  from  Knoxville  to  join  Sherman,  then  at  Tunnel  Hill,  Ga.  It  moved 
with  Sherman  on  the  Atlanta  campaign  and  was  present  at  almost  every  bat- 
tle from  Rocky  Face  Ridge  to  Atlanta.  On  the  6th  of  August  it  was  engaged 
in  an  assault  on  the  rebel  works  in  front  of  Atlanta,  and  lost  one  hundred  and 
three  men  in  killed  and  wounded,  out  of  three  hundred  engaged.  Thirty-six 
of  these  were  killed  on  the  field  and  eight  more  died  of  their  wounds  shortly 
after.  Colonel  Slevin  was  rendered  a  cripple  for  life.  After  the  capture  of 
Nashville  the  regiment  went  in  pursuit  of  Hood  and  was  hotly  engaged  with 
the  enemy  in  the  battles  of  Franklin  and  Nashville.  It  then  went  with  the 
Twenty-third  Corps   to  Washington,  North  Carolina,  and   was  there  actively 


Fulton  County.  375 


engaged,  after  which  it  marched  to  Goldsboro,  and  from  there  with  Sherman's 
army  to  Raleigh  ;  thence  to  Greensboro  ;  and  thence  was  sent  to  Cleveland,^ 
0.,  where  it  was  mustered  out  of  service  on  the  ist  day  of  July,  1865. 

The  One  Hundredth  lost,  during  its  two  years  and  ten  months'  service,  sixty- 
five  men  killed  in  action  ;  one  hundred  and  forty-two  wounded,  twenty-seven  of 
whom  died  of  wounds  ;  one  hundred  and  eight  died  of  disease  ;  and  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  were  captured  by  the  enemy,  eighty-five  of  whom  died 
in  rebel  prisons. 

Of  this  regiment  Company  H  was  recruited  wholly  from  Fulton  county  in 
July  and  August,  1862.  It  was  organized  by  the  election  of  L.  Berry  Smith, 
captain;  John  L.  Palmer,  first  lieutenant,  and  Emmet  Losure,  second  Heuten- 
ant,  and  was  mustered  into  the  service  with  the  regiment  at  Toledo,  Septem- 
ber I,  1862,  and  numbered  one  hundred  rank  and  file  at  muster  in.  Captain 
L.  Berry  Smith  resigned  November  27,  1862,  and  Lieutenant  John  H.  Palmer 
succeeded  him  as  captain  of  the  company.  Emmet  Losure  was  promoted  to 
first  lieutenant,  and  Albert  B.  Smith  was  promoted  from  first  sergeant  to  sec- 
ond lieutenant.  John  H.  Palmer  resigned  March  27,  1863,  and  Emmet  Losure 
succeeded  him  as  captain ;  Albert  B.  Smith  was  promoted  from  second  to  first 
lieutenant,  and  First  Sergeant  John  J.  Hines  to  second  lieutenant.  Captain 
Emmet  Losure  died  of  small  pox  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  January  12,  1864,  and 
First  Lieutenant  Albert  B.  Smith  was  promoted  to  the  captaincy  of  the  com- 
pany and  served  as  such  until  January,  1865.  At  the  same  time,  January  14, 
1864,  sixteen  of  this  company  were  transferred  to  other  commands,  and  to  the 
invalid  corps.  Eight  men  were  killed  in  battle,  and  two  died  from  gun-shot 
wounds  received  in  battle  ;  twenty  died  of  disease  contracted  in  the  service, 
and  ten  died  in  rebel  prison  pens.  The  company  was  with  the  regiment  in  all 
its  marches  and  battles ;  at  the  siege  of  Knoxville,  Mossy  Creek,  Strawberry 
Plains,  Tenn.;  at  Resaca,  Tunnel  Hill,  Rocky  Face  Ridge,  Ala.;  at  the  siege 
of  Atlanta,  in  the  fights  at  Dallas,  Etowah  Creek,  in  Georgia,  and  at  the  battles 
of  Franklin  and  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  at  Johnson's  surrender  to  Sherman  in 
North  Carolina.  The  company  received  sixteen  recruits  from  Fulton  county 
during  its  term  of  service,  and  at  its  muster  out  had  but  fifty-one  out  of  the 
one  hundred  and  sixteen  men  in  the  organization. 

Company  Roster. 

Muster  out  roll  of  Company  H,  of  the  One  Hundredth  Ohio  Vol.  Inf , 
showing  rank,  date  of  enlistment,  and  township  of  residence  of  each  member. 

Albert  B.  Smith,  captain,  July  31,  1862,  Clinton  twp.,  promoted  from  first 
sergt.  to  second  lieut.  Nov.  27,  1862;  to  first  lieut.  March  17,  1863  ;  to  capt. 
Jan.  14,  1865,  and  Heut-col.  by  brevet. 

John  J.  Hine,  first  lieut.  Aug.  2,  1862,  Clinton  twp.,  promoted  to  first  sergt. 
Nov.  27,  1862;  to  second  lieut  March  17,  1863;  to  first  Heut.  Jan.  14,  1865  ^ 
taken  prisoner  at  Limestone,  Tenn.,  Sept.  8,  1863  ;  paroled  March  i,  1865. 


3/6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Jacob  R.  Ely,  first  sergt.,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Gorham  ;   promoted  to  first  sergt. 
March  17,  1864. 

William  Weir,  sergt,  Aug.  5,  1862,  Clinton  ;  appt.  sergt.  Sept.  2,  1862. 

David  Kesler,  sergt,  Aug.  11,  1862,  Clinton;   appt.    corp.    Sept  2,    1862; 
prom,  to  sergt.  March  17,  1864. 

Oscar  F.  Tayer,  sergt.,  Aug.  6,  1862,   Gorham,   appt  sergt.   May  i,   1864. 

David  D.  Donahue,  sergt.,  Aug.  7,  1862,  York  ;  appt.  sergt  Sept  16,  1864; 
missing  in  action  at  Franklin,  Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 

George  W.  Vrooraan,  corp.,  Aug.  16,  1862,  Clinton;  appt  corp.  June  14, 
1864. 

Leonard  Hartan,  corp.,  Aug.  5,  1862,  Franklin,  appt  corp.  Sept  16,  1864. 

Elias  Sellers,  corp.,  July  24,  1862,  Dover;  appt.  Oct.  14,  1864. 

Silas  Fausey,  corp.,  July  29,  1862,  Chesterfield;  appt  Jan.  10,  1865. 

Amzie  Stiles,  corp.,  Aug.  11,  1862,  Chesterfield;  appt  Feb.  28,  1865. 

George  S.  Miller,   corp.,  Aug.    11,    1862,    Clinton;  appt.   corp.  April   29, 
1865. 

Manasset  V.  B.   Phillips,   corp.,  Aug.  7,    1862,   Fulton;  appt.   Feb.    1864; 
missing  in  action  at  Franklin,  Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 

Henry  Beaver,  corp  ,  Aug.  5,  1862,  Dover;   missing  in  action  at  Franklin, 
Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 

Thomas  J.  Case,  wagoner,  July  25,  1862,  Clinton  ;  no  record. 

Solomon  S.  Abbott,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Dover;   no  record. 

Oliver  P.  Barnes,  private,   July  22,    1862,    Clinton;  absent  in   hospital  at 
muster  out. 

James  W.  Baxter,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Franklin  ;   no  record. 

Campbell  Bayes,  private,  Aug.  9,    1862,    Clinton;   wounded  at  Franklin, 
Tenn.,  absent  in  hospital  at  muster-out. 

Josiah   Braas,    private,  Aug.  6,  1862,    Gorham;   reduced   April   26,    1865, 
from  corporal  to  private. 

Allen  Barden,  private,  Aug.  i,  1862,  Royalton  ;  missing  in  action  at  Frank- 
lin, Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 

Benjamin  M.  Black,  private,  Aug.  8,  1862,  Clinton;   missing  in   action   at 
Franklin,  Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 

Alexander  Cameron,  private,  Aug.  2,  1862,  Pike;  no  record. 

Addison  Crew,  private,  Aug.  9,  1862,  York;   no  record. 

Benjamin  Crew,  private,  Aug.  11,  1862,  Clinton  ;   no  record. 

Micajah  Crew,  private,  Aug.  7,    1862,  CHnton  ;   missing  in  action  at  Frank- 
lin, Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 

Jacob  Collins,  private,  Aug.  9,  1862,  Clinton;  absent  in  hospital. 

Harper,  Earl,  private,  Aug.  2,  1862,  York;   no  record. 

John  Grove,  private,  Aug.  11,  1862,  Clinton,  missing  in  action  at  Franklin, 
Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 


Fulton  County.  377^ 


Henry  J.  Harrington,  private,  Aug.  11,  1862,  Clinton,  no  record. 
James  Hodge,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Clinton,  no  record. 
John  P.  Holland,  private,  Aug.  9,  1862,  Royalton,  no  record. 
Leonard  Huth,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Fulton,  no  record. 
Thomas   Hess,   private,   July   28,    Clinton,    missing  in  action  at  Franklin, 
Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 

Mathias  Miller,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Gorham,  no  record. 

Phillip  Moore,  private,  Aug.  9,  1862,  York,  no  record. 

Charles  J.  McFarlinge,  private,  Aug.  i,  1862,  Dover,  no  record. 

Jesse  W.  Miles,  private,  Aug.  2,  1862,  Clinton,  no  record. 

George  W.  Persons,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Gorham,  no  record. 

William  H.  Pelton,  private,  Aug,  2,  1862,   Pike,  appointed  sergeant  Sept. 
2,  1862,  reduced  to  private  May  i,  1864,  by  order  Colonel  P.  S.  Slevin. 

John  F.  Raker,  private,  July  28,  1862,-  Swan  Creek,  no  record. 

Harrison  E.  Randall,  private,    July  29,  1862,   Clinton,   appointed  corporal 
June  14,  1863,  reduced  to  private  Feb.  28,  1865. 

Daniel  Steinbarger,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Fulton,  no  record. 

Isaac  E.  Smith,  private,  Aug.  12,  1862,  Pike,  no  record. 

John  Stair,  private,   Aug.   7,   1862,  Fulton,  missing  in  action  at  Frankhn,. 
Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864,  unofficial  notice  of  discharge. 

Sylvearns  Walter,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Clinton,  no  record. 

Jonas  Weeks,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Fulton,  no  record. 

Samuel  S.  O.  Warren,  private,  July  31,  1862,  Chesterfield,  absent  in  hos- 
pital, 

Edwin  M.  Watrous,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Clinton,  reduced  from  corporal 
to  ranks,  date  lost. 

Frankhn  Wallace,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Gorham,  absent  in  hospital. 

The  following  roll  will  show  those  who  were  members  of  the  company,  but 
who  ceased  from  the  assigned  cause  to  belong  to  it: 

L.  Berry  Smith,  captain,  July  19,  1862,   Clinton,  resigned  Nov.  27,  1862, 
cause,  physical  disability. 

John  H.  Palmer,  captain,  Aug.  2,  1862,  Gorham,  promoted  Nov.  27,  1862,, 
vice  Smith  resigned  March  17,  1863. 

Harlan  J.  Bates,  first  sergeant  Aug,   7,  1862,  Clinton,  discharged  Feb.  19, 
1864,  to  enable  him  to  accept  commission  as  second  lieutenant. 

John  H.  Corbett,  private,   July  24,  Dover,  discharged   by  order  of  major- 
General  Burbridge  to  accept  commission  as  first  lieutenant. 

Benjamin   Kellogg,   private,   July  28,   1862,  Clinton,  discharged  Sept.  21,, 
1863,  cause,  disability. 

Jesse  L.  Pelton,  private,  Aug.  2,  1862,  Pike,  discharged  June  16,  1863,  dis- 
ability. 

Allen  Shadle,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Dover,  discharged  Dec.  3,  1862,  dis- 
ability. *^ 


378  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Henry  Young,  private,  Aug.  5,  1862,  Royalton,  discharged  Dec.  5,  1862, 
disability. 

George  Ziegler,  private,  Nov.  20,  1863,  Toledo,  discharged  May  20,  1865, 
order  war  department. 

J.  Neal  McManus,  sergeant,  July  24,  1862,  Clinton,  transferred  to  invalid 
corps  March  15,  1864. 

Alexander  W.   Baker,  private,   Ang.  i,  1862,   Royalton,  transferred  to  in- 
valid corps,  1863,  record  lost. 

Silas  P.  Bowerman,  private,  Aug.  9,  1862,  York,  transferred  to  invalid  corps, 
T863,  record  lost. 

William  H.  Grove,  private,  Dec.  17,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  130th  0. 
V.  Inf 

Newton  Gamble,  private,  Dec.  12,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  O.  V. 
Inf 

Martin  V.  Hatfield,  private,  Nov.  26,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  0. 
V.  Inf 

James  H.  Haines,  private,  Nov.  20,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  O.  V. 
Inf 

Franklin  Hickman,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Gorham,  transferred  to  invalid 
corps,  1863. 

David  Lambert,  private,  Nov.  20,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  O.  V. 
Inf 

Wilson  A.  Olas,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Amboy,  transferred  to  invalid  corps 
1863. 

Alexander  Percy,  private,   Nov.   20,    1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d,  0. 
V.  Inf 

Julius  N.  Parker,  private,  Nov.  20,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  O.  V. 
Inf 

Alexander  Pierson,  private,  Dec.  31,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  O. 
V.  Inf 

Noble  Paige,  private,  Dec.  30,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  O.  V.  Inf 

Wolcott  Russell,  private,  Aug.  2,  1862,  Pike,  transferred  to  183d  O.  V.  Inf 

John  P.  Sigsby,  private,  Dec.   3,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  O.  V. 
Inf 

Warren  P.  Sigsby,  private,  Dec.  3,  1863,  Toledo,  transferred  to  183d  O.  V. 
Inf 

Joseph  P.   Miller,  private,   Aug.   6,  1862,  Fulton,  transferred  to  Vet.  Res. 
Corps  April  i,  1865. 

Alva  F.  Mallory,  sergeant,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Gorham,  killed  at  battle  of  Utoy 
Creek,  Aug.  6,  1864. 

James  Stulesman,  corporal,  July  30,  1862,   Chesterfield,  killed  at  battle  of 
Utoy  Creek  Aug.  6,  1864. 


Fulton  County. 


379 


Anderson  E.  Bradley,  private,  Aug,  ii,  1862,  Chesterfield,  killed  in  battle 
at  Franklin,  Tenn.,  Nov.  30,  1864. 

Martin  Markley,  private,  July  24,  1862,  Dover,  killed  near  Atlanta,  Ga., 
June  26,  1864. 

David  T.  McLaughlin,  private,  Aug.  5,  1862,  Franklin,  killed  at  Utoy  Creek, 
Ga.,  Aug.  6,  1864. 

Orlan  W.  Masters,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Gorham,  killed  at  Limestone, 
Tenn.,  Sept.  8,  1863.  ; 

Benjamin  Pelton,  private,  killed  at  Utoy  Creek,  Ga.,  Aug.  6,  1864. 

William  E.  Stoddard,  private,  Aug.  8,  1862,  Gorham,  killed  at  Utoy  Creek, 
Ga.,  Aug.  6,  1864. 

Emmett  Losure,  captain,  July  19,  1862,  Clinton,  promoted  to  first  lieu- 
tenant Nov.  27,  1862,  to  captain  March  17,  1863,  died  at  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
Jan.  12,  1864,  of  small-pox. 

Isaac  Smith,  corporal,  Aug.  5,  1862,  Dover,  died  Feb.  14,  1863,  of  pneu- 
monia, at  Richmond,  Ky. 

Erastus  C.  Briggs,  corporal,  ^Aug.  2,  1862,  York,  died  at  Crab  Orchard, 
Ky,  May  i,  1863,  of  typhoid  pneumonia. 

John  Agle,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  York,  died  at  Mount  Vernon,  Ky.,  June 

13,  1863,  of  consumption. 

David  Booream,  private,  Aug.  8,  1862,  Gorham,  died  at  Marietta,  Ga., 
Sept.  14,  1864,  of  gunshot  vi^ound  received  in  battle. 

Carroll  Collins,  private,  Aug.  2,  1862,  York,  died  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  Nov. 

14,  1862,  of  typhoid  pneumonia. 

Davis  Dodge,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  York,  died  on  flag  of  truce  boat  April, 
1864. 

Dusign  Cadrick,  private,  died  at  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

Orrison  Dee,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Gorham,  died  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  Jan. 

9,  1864,  of  small-pox. 

John  B.  Demaresq,  private,  Aug.  9,  1862,  York,  died  at  Richmond,  Va., 
while  a  prisoner  of  war,  Nov.  18,  1863. 

Simeon  Elliott,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Pike,  died  at  Richmond,  Va.,  while 
a  prisoner  of  war,  March  2,  1864. 

Daniel  Ely,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Gorham,  died  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  April 

10,  1863,  of  typhoid  pneumonia, 

Robert  M.  Foster,  private,  Aug.  2,  1862,  Clinton,  died  at  Andersonville, 
Ga.,  while  a  prisoner  of  war,  April  2,  1864. 

William  Fausey,  private,  July  31,  1862,  Chesterfield,  died  March  24,  1864, 
of  chronic  diarrhea. 

Champlain  Gardiner,  private,  Aug.  6,  1862,  Gorham,  died  a  prisoner  at 
Richmond,  Va.,  March  30,  1864. 

Mordecia  Gorsuch,  private,  Aug.  8,  1862,  Clinton,  died  at  Richmond,  Va., 
while  a  prisoner  of  war,  March  30,  1864. 


380  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

George  H.  Herrick,  private,  Aug.   9,   1862,  Royalton,  died  at  Annapolis, 
Md.,  April  2,  1864,  of  typhoid  pneumonia. 

George  Harlan,  private,  Aug.  5,  1862,  Franklin,  died   at   Lexington,  Ky., 
■Oct.  27,  1862. 

Abraham  Hartzel,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  Fulton,  died  at  Mount  Vernon, 
Ky.,  July  I,  1863. 

Charles  L.  Jones,  private,  July  30,  1862,  Chesterfield,  died  at  Knoxville, 
Tenn.,  Jan.  8,  1864,  of  small-pox. 

Isaac  Metts,  private,  July  29,  1862,  Clinton,  died  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  Jan. 
31,  1864,  of  small-pox. 

Ezra  M.  Osti:ander,  private,  July  30,  1862,  Chesterfield,  died  at  Richmond, 
Va.,  while  a  prisoner,  March  10,  1864. 

John  H.  Reece,  private,  July  30,  1862,  Chesterfield,  died  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
Jan.  I,  1865,  of  wound  received  in  battle. 

Isaac  Robinson,  private,  Aug.  11,  1862,  Clinton,  died  at  Richmond,  Ky., 
Dec.  20,  1862,  of  typhoid  pneumonia. 

Robert  P.  Smith,  private,  Aug.  11,  1862,  Chesterfield,  died  at  Richmond, 
Va.,  while  a  prisoner,  March,  1864. 

John  J.  Tremaine,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  York,  died  at  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
Jan.  9,  1864,  of  small-pox. 

Jasper  C.  Fulton,  private,  Aug.  9,  1862,  Fulton,  died  at  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
Feb.  14,  1864,  of  wound  received  in  battle. 

George  Wortman,  private,  Aug.  7,  1862,  York,  died  at  Covington,  Ky., 
Nov.  23,  1862,  of  congestion  of  the  lungs. 

Horace  G.  Wilcox,  private,  July  29,  1862,  Clinton,  died  at  Richmond,  Va., 
while  a  prisoner  of  war,  March  4,  1864. 

Phineas  Braley,  private,  Nov.  20,  1863,  Toledo,  deserted  at  Burnt  Hickory, 
Ga.,  May  29,  1864. 

j      Jabez  Lambert,  private,  Nov.  20,  1863,  Toledo,  deserted  at  Columbus,  0., 
Jan.  22,  1865. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Infantry. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Ohio  Infantry  Regiment  was  raised  in 
Lucas,  Wood,  Fulton,  Williams,  Sandusky  and  Defiance  counties,  in  the  month 
of  August,  1862.  It  took  the  field  at  Covington,  Ky.,  on  the  nth  of  Septem- 
ber, 1862,  and  on  the  i8th,  with  four  other  new  regiments  and  a  battery,  it 
made  a  reconnoissance  to  Crittenden,  Ky.,  and,  after  driving  the  rebel  cav- 
alry of  Kirby  Smith,  from  that  place,  it  returned  to  Covington.  On  the  25th  it 
took  transports  to  Louisville,  where  it  was  assigned  to  General  Buel's  army,  in 
the  Twenty-third  Brigade,  Twelfth  Division,  under  the  command  of  General  Du- 
mont.  It  moved  on  Shelbyville,  October  3,  and,  on  the  eighth  took  the  ad- 
vance  in   the  movement  on  Frankfort,    where  it  had  a   slight  skirmish  with 


Fulton  County.  381 


Bragg's  Cavalry.  It  moved  on  Lawrenceburgh,  October  11,  and  from  thence 
to  Crab  Orchard,  where  it  joined  the  whole  army  of  General  Buel.  After 
Bragg's  army  had  escaped,  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  moved,  by  rapid 
inarches,  to  Bowling  Green,  Ky.,  where  it  remained  garrisoning  forts  and 
guarding  railroads,  from  that  place  to  Nashville,  until  the  29th  of  May,  1863, 
when  it  was  ordered  to  Glasgow,  Ky.,  where  it  was  assigned  to  the  Second  Bri- 
gade, Second  Division  Twenty-third  Army  Corps,  where  it  remained  during 
the  remainder  of  the  war,  and  until  mustered  out  of  service.  From  Glasgow  it 
took  part  in  the  movement  on  Scottsville  and  Tompkinsville.  On  the  4th  day 
of  July,  1863,  Morgan  having  crossed  the  Cumberland  River  about  six  miles 
above  Tompkinsville,  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  gave  chase  and  marched 
from  Tompkinsville  to  Glasgow,  a  distance  of  thirty-two  miles,  carrying  guns, 
•equipments  and  forty  rounds  of  ammunition.  On  the  6th  the  regiment 
marched  to  Munfordville,  and  on  the  9th  took  cars  for  Louisville,  Morgan, 
now  having  crossed  the  Ohio  River,  a  short  distance  below  that  point,  the  One 
Hundred  and  Eleventh  crossed  to  New  Albany,  Ind.,  from  there  to  Jefferson- 
"ville,  and  took  transports  for  Cincinnati.  On  the  way  up,  on  an  island,  ten 
miles  above  Louisville,  the  regirnent  was  landed,  and  a  detachment  of  Morgan's 
men  were  captured,  with  about  twenty-five  horses.  The  regiment  arrived  at 
Cincinnati  on  the  13th,  and  at  Portsmouth  on  the  i8th.  Learning  of  the  cap- 
ture of  most  of  Morgan's  command,  the  regiment  returned  to  Cincinnati,  where 
the  first  captured  portion  of  Morgan's  command,  being  about  thirty- five  hun- 
-dred,  were  turned  over  to  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh,  who  took  the  pri- 
vates and  non-commissioned  officers  to  the  military  prison  at  Indianapolis,  and 
the  commissioned  officers  to  Johnson's  Island  without  the  loss  of  a  single  man. 
The  regiment  at  this  time  presented  a  rather  sorry  appearance,  it  having  been 
for  four  weeks  on  the  chase  after  Morgan,  and  taking  the  rebels  to  prison, 
without  a  change  of  clothing,  so  was,  indeed,  rather  rusty_;  but  was  mustered 
for  pay,  and  on  the  29th  of  July  was  paid.  The  boys  here  drew  new  clothing, 
and  the  officers  took  a  bath  and  "rigged  up  in  their  best,"  and  really  made  a 
fine  appearance  that  evening  on  dress  parade,  in  the  presence  of  several  thou- 
sand Cincinnatians.  About  the  1st  of  August  the  regiment  returned  to  Ken- 
tucky. Arriving  at  Lebanon  it  marched  to  New  Market,  where  the  Second 
Division  of  the  Twenty-third  Army  Corps  rendezvoused,  preparatory  to  their 
march  into  East  Tennessee.  This  movement  began  on  the  19th  of  August  and 
the  command  arrived  at  Jamestown,  on  the  Cumberland  Mountain,  eighty-five 
miles  distant  from  Knoxville,  on  the  26th.  The  night  of  the  25th  was  a  hard 
one  on  the  men.  The  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  was  detailed  to  help  the 
division  wagon  train  and  artillery  up  the  mountain.  This  was  accomplished 
by  fastening  a  hawser  to  the  end  of  the  wagon  pole  and  a  company  of  men, 
with  hand  spikes  twisted  in  the  hawser,  drawing  the  wagons  up  the  almost  per- 
pendicular side  of  the  mountain.   From  Jim  Town  the  division  moved  by  rapid 


382  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

marches  through  Yarman's  Gap,  and  on  the  30th  of  August  arrived  at  Mont- 
gomery.     On  the  2d  of  September  it  forded  the  Big  Emory  River  and  arrived 
at  Loudon,  Tenn.,  on  the  Tennessee  River,  on  the  4th,  where  it  remained  un- 
til the  14th  of  November,  where  it  took  part  in  the  movement  on  New  Market, 
to  check   the  rebel   advance  from  Virginia.       It   also   took  part  in  numerous- 
marches,  scouts  and  skirmishes  along  the  Tennessee  and  Holston  Rivers.     On 
the  22d   of  October  General   Longstreet  appeared  with  his  army  in  front  of 
Loudon,  and  skirmishing  began  and  was  constantly  kept  up,  between  the  divis- 
ion to  which  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  belonged,  and  the  rebel  advance. 
On  the  14th  of  October  reinforcements  met  the  division  at  Lenoir,  and  the 
Second   Brigade  was  ordered   to   Huff's  Ferry,  three  miles   below  Loudon,  to- 
contest  the  crossing  of  Longstreet's  troops.      The  roads  were  almost  impassa- 
ble, and  it  was  dark  before  the  Ferry   was  reached.       On  a  high  bluff,  about  a 
mile  from  the  river,  a  brigade  of  rebels  were  encountered  ;  the  Second  Brigade 
were  immediately  formed   in  single  line  and   made  a  successful  charge;  the 
enemy  was  driven  back  with  considerable  loss,  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh 
having  but  few  wounded,  as  it  was  on  the  right  flank  and  partly  under  cover 
of  a  dense  woods.     The  brigade  stood  to  arms  all  night  in  a  pelting  rain.     At 
daylight  the  division  fell  back,  the  One   Hundred  and  Eleventh  covering  the 
retreat.      At  Loudon  Creek  a  lively  skirmish  took  place  between  the  regiment, 
and  the  Sixth  South   Carolina  Sharpshooters  of  Longstreet's  Division.      The 
rebels  were  held  in  check  until  Henshaw's  Illinois  Battery  was  moved  up  the 
hill  above  the  creek.      In  this  engagement  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  lost: 
four  killed  and  twelve  wounded.     The  command  then  marched  rapidly  to  Le- 
noir, and,  during  the  night,  destroyed  all  its  camp  and  garrison  equipage,  and' 
on  the  morning   of  the   i6th,  at  three  o'clock,  it  marched  in  the   direction  of 
Knoxville.      On  this  morning  Lieutenant  Omer  P.  Norris,  with  fifty-two  men,, 
of  Company  B,  of  the  regiment,  were  captured  by  the  rebels  while  on  picket. 
Of  these  fifty-two,  thirty-six  were  starved  to  death  in  Anderson  prison.      At 
Campbell  Station  General   Burnside  concluded  to  halt  the  command  and  give 
battle  to  General  Longstreet,  in  order  to   impede  the  progress  of  the   enemy 
until  the  fortifications  around  Knoxville  could  be  completed.     In  this  engage- 
ment the  One  Hundred   and  Eleventh  were  in  the  front  line,  immediately  in. 
front  of  two  rebel  batteries,  where,  for  six  hours,  it  was  exposed  to  the  shells  of 
the  enemy  ;  yet  it  lost   but  eight  men  in  , killed  and  wounded,  as  the  enemy's 
shells  mostly  fell  in  rear  of  the   line.      That  night  the  regiment  marched  into 
Knoxville,  having  been  three  days  without  sleep,  food  or  rest,  and  having  been 
engaged  in  three  separate  fights.     It  occupied  Fort   College  Hill   during  the 
siege  of  Knoxville,  and  had  six  men  killed  and  wounded.      After  the  retreat  of 
Longstreet  the  regiment  was  in  the  skirmishes  at  Blain's  Cross  Roads,  Danville 
and  Strawberry  Plains,  and  when  General  Schofield  fell  back  a  second  time  on 
Knoxville,  the  regiment  occupied  an  outpost   seven  miles   from  the  city.      In. 


Fulton  County.  383 


protecting  the  crossing  of  the  Second  Division,  at  Strawberry  Plains,  on  the 
2ist  of  January,  1864,  the  regiment  had  one  man  killed.  On  the  9th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1864,  General  Schofield  arrived  at  Knoxville,  and  assumed  command  of 
the  department.  On  the  14th  of  March  the  regiment  marched  to  Morristown, 
East  Tenn. 

On  the  following  day  it  was  on  the  picket  line  and  had  a  lively  skirmish 
with  the  enemy's  cavalry.     The  regiment  was   then  ordered  back  to  Mossy 
Creek,  where  it  remained  until  April  20,  when  it  was  sent  to  Charleston,  on  the 
Hiawassa  River  about  one  hundred  miles  distant,  which  march  it  accomplished 
in  four  days,  arriving  at  Charleston   on    the  last  day  of  April.     From  here  it 
marched  to  Red  Clay,  Ga.     At  this  point  a  junction  was  formed  between  the 
left  wing  of  General  Sherman's  army   and  the   army  of  the  Ohio,  prepara- 
tory to  starting  on  the  Atlanta  campaign.     On  the  7th  of  May  the  regiment 
marched  to  Tunnel  Hill,  and  on   the   8th   skirmished  into  position  in  front  of 
Buzzard's  Roost,  and  on  the  9th  an  advance  was  made  on  Rock)'  Face  Moun- 
tain.    The  regiment  being  on  the  advance  line  of  skirmishers,  in  the  short  dis- 
tance of  three-fourths  of  a  mile,  it  lost  nine  men  in  killed  and  wounded.     On 
•  the  9th  it  marched  through   Snake  Creek  Gap,  and  halted  in  front  of  Resaca. 
On  the  1 6th  it  charged  the  enemy's  work  but  was  unsuccessful  for  want  of  ar- 
tillery support.     Here  the  regiment  lost  heavily  ;   out  of  the  seven  companies 
■engaged  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  lost  seven  killed  and  thirty  wounded. 
In  the  second  day's  fight  at  Resaca,  the  regiment  being  in  the  supporting 
column,  was  not  injured  and  after  an  unsuccessful  night  attack  by  the  rebels, 
they  evacuated  the  place.     On  the    i6th,  while   the   One   Hundred  and  Elev- 
enth were  in  pursuit,  they  had  a  lively  skirmish  with  the  rebel  cavalry  and  cap- 
tured six  prisoners.     On  the  27th    while   a   rebel  brigade  was   making  an  ad- 
vance on  the  Union  lines,  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  was  ordered  out  on 
the  double  quick  and  charged   and   broke  the   rebel  lines.     In  this  charge  the 
regiment  lost  fifteen  men  in  killed  and  wounded.     It  took  an  active  part  in  the 
whole  campaign  against   Atlanta.      It   was   engaged  in  the  siege  of  Kenesaw, 
the  battles  of  Pine  Mountain,  Lost  Mountain,  Dallas,  on  the  Chattahoochie  River 
near  Nicojack  Creek,  Decatur,  Peachtree  Creek,  and  in  the  siege  of  Atlanta, 
and  the  skirmishes  at  Rough  and  Ready,  Lovejoy's  Station,  and  Utoy  Creek. 
When  it  started  on  the  Atlanta  campaign  it  had  three  hundred  and  eighty  ef- 
fective men,  and  of  this  number  it  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  two  hundred  and 
twelve.     On  the  8th  of  September  the  regiment  went  into  camp  at  Decatur, 
Ga.,  where  it  remained  until  the  4th  of  October,  when  the  movement  against 
Hood's  forces  commenced. 

During  the  stay  of  the  regiment  at  Decatur,  it  made  a  reconnoissance  to 
"Stone  Mountain,  where  it  had  a  fight  with  rebel  cavalry  and  lost  a  few  men. 
It  marched  next  to  AUatoona  Pass,  eighteen  miles  from  Chattanooga,  where 
the  twenty-third  corps  was  ordered  into  Alabama  in  pursuit  of  General  Hood's 


384  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

army.     At  Cedar  Bluffs  on  the  Coosa  River,  in  a  skirmish  with  the  rebel  cav- 
alry, one  officer  and  three  men  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  were  cap- 
tured while   on   picket.      At   Rome,   Ga,   the   regiment  had  a  brisk  skirmish 
with  the   rebels.      It  reached   Resaca  on  the   evening  of  the  first  of  Novem- 
ber, 1864,  and  from  there   the  regiment   went   to  Jonesville,  on  the  Tennes- 
see River,  to  protect  the  place  from  a  threatened  rebel  raid.      It  left  Jonesville 
on  the  20th  of  November,  and  moved  by  rail  to  Columbia,  Tenn.,  and  assisted 
in  checking  General  Hood's  advance  on  Nashville.      It  was  in  the  skirmishes 
in  and  about  Columbia,  and   was   rear   guard  at  the  fording  of  Duck  River, 
while  the  army  under  General  Thomas  fell  back  on  Franklin.     The  regiment 
was  twice  attacked  while  guarding  the  wagon  train  to  Franklin,  each  time  re- 
pulsing the  enemy.     That  night  it  marched,  by  the  outposts  of  General  Hood's 
army  in  bringing  up  the   rear.     It  reached   Franklin   on   the  morning  of  the 
30th  of  November,  and  was  immediately  placed  in  the  front  line  of  the  works, 
on  the  left  flank  of  the  second  division.  Twenty-third  army  corps,  to  the  right 
of  the  turnpike,  and  in  that  fight  the  regiment  that  day  lost  twenty-two  men 
killed  and  forty  wounded,  out   of  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  men  en- 
gaged.     Many  men  on  both  sides  were  killed  by   bayonet  thrusts.     The  con- 
test was  so  close  that,  at  one  time,  the  flag  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh 
was  snatched  from  the  hands  of  the  color  sergeant  by  a  rebel,  who  was  instant- 
ly killed  and  the  flag  recovered.     During  the  charge  the  troops  on  the  imme- 
diate left  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  fell  back,  and  the  rebels  on  this  part 
of  the  line  for  some  time  poured  an  enfilading  fire  along  the  line  of  the  second 
brigade.     Owing  to  the  loss   of  officers   in    this  and  former  actions,  it  became 
necessary  to  make  a  detail  from   other  regiments  to  command  the  companies. 
On  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  December,  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  again 
entered  Nashville  and  was  immediately  placed  in  the  line  of  defenses,  and  was 
severely  engaged  in  both  days  of  the  fight  before  Nashville.     It  captured  three 
rebel  battle-flags,  and  a  large   number  of  prisoners  in  the  second  day's  fight. 
Its  loss  was  seven  killed  and   fifteen   wounded.     After  the   fight  the  regiment 
was  sent  in  pursuit  of  General  Hood,  and  on  the  17th  of  January,  1865,  it  took 
transports  at  Clifton,   Tenn.,    to  make   the  campaign   in   North   Carolina.     It 
passed   through   Cincinnati  and   Columbus,    O.,    on   the    23d   and  arrived  in 
Washington,    D.    C,  on   the    31st.     It  embarked  at  Alexandria  on  an  ocean 
steamer   for   Fort  Fisher,    where   it  joined   the   army  under   General  Terry, 
and  was  actively   engaged   in   the   capture  of  Fort  Anderson,  and  in  the  skir- 
mish at  Mosby's  Hall  and  Goldsboro.      After  the  surrender  of  General  Johnson 
the  regiment  was  sent  to  Salisbury,  North  Carolina,  doing  garrison  duty  there 
until  ordered  home  for  muster  out.     It  arrived  at  Cleveland,  O.,  July  S,  1865. 
The  regiment  had  one  thousand   and   fifty  men  at  muster  in.     It  received 
eighty-five  recruits.      Of  the  command  two  hundred  were  discharged  for  disa- 
bility, disease  and  wounds  ;  two  hundred  died   of  disease  while  in  the  service 


Fulton  Countv.  385 


two  hundred  and  fifty-two  were  killed   in  battle,  or  died   of  wounds,  and  four 
hundred  and  one  were  mustered  out. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Regiment  probably  was  as  well  drilled  as 
any  in  the  Union  army,  and  did  as  much  hard  marching,  skirmishing,  and 
severe  fighting  as  any  other,  and  received  as  much  praise  from  its  superior  offi- 
cers for  its  gallantry  and  obedience  to  orders.  It  was  always  ably  commanded. 
It  went  out  in  the  fall  of  1862,  under  command  of  Major  M.  R.  Brailey,  who 
remained  in  charge  during  the  fall  campaign,  thoroughly  disciplining  and  drill- 
ing the  men.  In  December,  Colonel  John  R.  Bond  arrived  at  Bowling  Green, 
Ky.,  and  took  the  command.  Major  Brailey  was  promoted  to  lieutenant-colo- 
nel in  January,  1863,  and  Lieutenant  I.  R.  Sherwood  was  made  major  of  the 
regiment.  Colonel  Bond  was  an  excellent  military  officer,  and  commanded  the 
regiment  with  marked  ability,  but  he  was  absent  a  large  share  of  the  time,  and 
the  command  devolved  on  Lieutenant-Colonel  Brailey,  until  January,  1864,  at 
which  time  he  was  ordered  discharged  at  the  officer's  hospital  in  Cincinnati,  on 
account  of  abscess  of  the  lungs  and  other  disabilities,  and  Major  Sherwood  was 
promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel.  Colonel  Bond  having  been  mustered  out  of 
the  service  in  the  spring  of  1864,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Sherwood  was  promoted 
to  colonel,  and  ably  commanded  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  to  the  close 
of  the  war.  Colonel  Brailey  and  Colonel  Sherwood  were  both  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  brevet-brigadier-general  for  bravery  and  meritorious  service.  This 
regiment  had  sixty-two  men  from  Fulton  county  including  recruits. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Infantry. 

This  regiment.  First  Regiment  Ohio  National  Guards,  one  hundred  days 
service,  was  raised  in  Lucas  and  Fulton  counties,  and  was  organized  during  the 
early  part  of  May,  1864.  Fulton  county  reported  with  three  full  companies, 
but  there  being  eleven  companies  already  reported,  one  of  them  from  Fulton 
county  was  broken  up  and  distributed  among  the  other  companies  of  the  regi- 
ment, fiUing  those  companies  nearly  to  the  maximum  number.  The  regiment 
reported  to  General  C.  W.  Hill,  at  Sandusky,  and  after  muster-in,  was  ordered 
to  Johnson's  Island,  in  Sandusky  Bay,  to  guard  the  rebel  prisoners  confined 
there.  While  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  was  on  the  island,  the  prisoners 
attempted  to  escape  by  tunnehng  out,  but  their  plans  were  discovered  in  time 
to  prevent  the  act.  On  the  4th  of  June  the  regiment  received  orders  for  re- 
moval, and  soon  after  crossed  the  bay  and  took  the  cars  for  Washington,  D.  C. 
At  Belair,  the  State  arms,  with  which  the  regiment  had  been  supplied,  were 
turned  over,  and  the  command  given  such  as  used  by  other  military  organiza- 
tions in  active  service.  The  regiment  then  proceeded  to  Washington,  where  it 
remained  three  days,  when  it  was  ordered  to  report  to  General  Butler,  at  Ber- 
muda Hundred.  It  was  ordered  by  General  Butler  to  Point  of  Rocks,  on  the 
Appomattox.  The  rebels  being  in  close  proximity  to  that  place,  and  threat- 
49 


386  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ening  an  attack,  the  regiment  was  left  under  arms  for  several  days.  After  the 
enemy  had  left  that  place  the  command  returned  to  Bermuda  Hundred,  and 
went  into  camp  near  General  Butler's  signal  tower,  on  the  left  of  the  line  of 
entrenchments,  where  it  was  employed  in  digging  rifle-pits,  and  picketing. 
The  brigade  consisted  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth,  One  Hundred  and 
Thirty- second,  One  Hundredth,  One  Hundred  and  Thirty- fourth,  One  Hundred 
and  Forty-second,  and  One  Hundred  and  Forty-eighth  Ohio,  it  being  the  Sec- 
ond Brigade,  Third  Division,  Tenth  Army  Corps.  On  the  22d  of  June  the  brig- 
ade had  a  sharp  skirmish  with  the  rebel  pickets,  in  which  the  One  Hundred 
and  Thirtieth  had  one  man  severely  wounded.  On  the  iith  of  August  the 
regiment  went  in  transports  to  Fort  Powhattan,  where  it  remained  on  guard 
duty  until  it  was  ordered  to  be  mustered  out.  On  the  7th  of  September  the 
regiment  embarked  on  the  steamer  Keyport,  and  passed  down  the  James  River. 
During  the  passage  a  severe  squall  struck  the  steamer,  and  a  serious  disaster 
was  barely  averted.  On  arriving  at  Washington,  the  regiment  took  cars  for 
Toledo,  Ohio,  where  it  was  paid  off,  and  mustered  out  of  service.  Fulton  county 
furnished  two  hundred  and  fifty-one  men  for  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth 
Regiment. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Eighty-Second  Infantry — One  Year 

Service. 

This  was  a  one  year  regiment,  and  was  recruited  from  different  parts  of 
the  State,  Fulton,  Henry,  Williams,  Lucas  and  Wood  counties  contributing 
five  companies.  These  five  companies  went  by  rail  to  Camp  Chase,  near  Col- 
umbus, O.,  where  five  other  companies,  made  up  of  different  squads  from  all 
parts  of  the  State,  were  added,  making  a  full  regiment,  which,  on  the  28th  of 
October,  1864,  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States.  On  the 
1st  of  November  the  regiment  proceeded,  under  orders,  to  Nashville,  Tenn., 
where  it  joined  General  Thomas's  forces.  For  the  next  few  weeks  it  was  en- 
gaged in  drilling,  standing  guard,  and  doing  out-post  duty.  In  the  early  part 
of  December  General  Hood,  with  his  rebel  army,  made  his  appearance  before 
Nashville,  and  invested  that  place.  The  regiment  was  activelj'  engaged  both 
days  in  the  battle  of  Nashville,  and  afterward  remained  in  Nashville,  doing 
duty  until  the  7th  of  July,  1865,  when  it  was  mustered  out  of  the  service,  and 
sent  to  Camp  Chase,  O.,  where,  on  the  13th,  it  was  paid  off  and  discharged. 
Fulton  county  furnished  sixty-one  men  for  this  regiment,  forty-five  for  Com- 
pany B,  and  sixteen  for  Company  K. 

The  Forty-Fourth  Illinois  Infantry — Fulton  County's 
Contingent  Therein. 

This  county  furnished  one  entire  company  for  this  regiment  (Company  D), 
commanded  by  Captain  E.  L.  Hayes ;  first  lieutenant,  Jacob  Hoffmire ;  second 


Fulton  County.  387 


lieutenant,  Jacob  Fashbaugh.  The  regiment  was  raised  in  Illinois,  Ohio,  Indi- 
ana, and  some  other  of  the  Western  States,  and  was  to  be  called  the  North- 
western Sharp-shooters,  but  as  the  officers  from  other  States  were  commis- 
sioned by  the  governor  of  Illinois,  they  came  under  the  control  of  that  State, 
and  despite  the  agreement  that  the  regiment  should  be  known  as  the  First 
Regiment  Northwestern  Sharpshooters,  it  was  mustered  into  the  United  States 
service  as  the  Forty-fourth  Illinois  Infantry,  and  served  as  such  during  the 
war.  Captain  Hayes  and  others  made  strenuous  opposition,  but  without  avail. 
Many  of  the  officers  were  put  under  arrest  on  account  of  their  opposition  to 
being  forced  to  go  into  an  organization  for  which  they  did  not  volunteer,  and 
for  the  first  year  and  a  half  after  the  regiment  entered  the  service,  there  was  a 
continual  quarrel  and  dispute  between  the  officers  and  men  representing  the 
different  States.  It,  however,  quieted  down  to  some  extent,  and  the  regiment 
for  the  last  two  years  of  the  war  did  efficient  service.  At  the  muster  in  of  the 
regiment  Company  D  had  ninety-seven  men,  including  officers,  and  during  the 
war  it  received  twenty-seven  recruits  from  Fulton  county. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
THE  BENCH  AND  BAR  OF  FULTON  COUNTY. 

ON  the  28th  day  of  February,  1850,  the  act  creating  the  county  of  Fulton 
passed  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  and  immediately  thereafter  became 
a  law.  After  setting  forth  and  stating  the  boundaries  and  description  of  the 
newly  created  county,  the  Act  contained  among  other  provisions,  which  it  is 
unnecessary  to  mention  here,  the  following :  "  That  all  suits,  whether  of  a 
civil  or  a  criminal  nature,  which  shall  be  pending  within  those  parts  of  the 
counties  of  Lucas,  Henry  and  Williams,  so  set  off  and  erected  into  a  new 
■county,  previous  to  the  first  Monday  in  April,  1850,  shall  be  prosecuted  to 
final  judgment  and  execution  within  the  said  counties  of  Lucas,  Henry  and 
Williams,  respectively  in  the  same  manner  as  though  the  said  county  of  Ful- 
ton had  not  been  erected  ;  and  the  officers  of  said  counties  respectively,  shall 
execute  all  such  process  as  shall  be  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  such  suits, 
prosecutions  and  judgments."  And  there  were  also  embodied  in  the  Act  cer- 
tain other  necessary  provisions  as  follows :  "  That  said  county  of  Fulton  shall 
be  attached  to  and  made  a  part  of  the  thirteenth  judicial  circuit  of  the  State 
of  Ohio,  and  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  and  the  Supreme  Courts  of  the 
county  shall  be  holden  at  some  convenient  house  in  the  township  of  Pike,  to 
be  designated  by  the  associate  judges  of  said  county  until  the  permanent  seat 


388  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

of  justice  shall  be  established  within  and  for  said  county,  and  that  Laurin 
Dewey,  of  Franklin  county,  Matthias  H.  Nichols,  of  Allen  county,  and  John 
Riley,  of  Carroll  county,  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  appointed  commissioners 
to  fix  upon  and  locate  the  seat  of  justice  of  said  new  county  of  Fulton,  agree- 
ably to  the  provisions  of  the  act  entitled  '  An  act  for  the  establishment  of  seats 
of  justice.'  " 

It  will  occur  at  once  to  any  one  at  all  familiar  with  the  history  of  legal 
practice  and  procedure  in  Ohio,  that  here  was  quite  a  fair  chance  for  a  com- 
paratively even  start,  and  in  nearly  a  clear  field  for  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  the 
newly  created  county  ;  because  but  little  more  than  three  years  later  than  the 
erection  of  the  county  by  law,  the  present  code  of  civil  procedure  of  Ohio  went 
into  effect,  and  with  but  slight  alteration  or  amendment  has  subsequently  con- 
tinued, abrogating  and  sweeping  away  the  technical  learning  relating  to  the 
rules  of  pleading  at  common  law,  and  in  chancery,  but  not,  however,  affecting 
the  underlying  principles  of  the  logical  or  legal  statement  of  those  ultimate 
facts  which  constitute  the  cause  of  action  or  defense  in  civil  proceedings,  and 
which  are  called  in  the  phraseology  of  the  law  the  pleadings,  the  term,  how- 
ever at  common  law  not  comprehending  the  declaration.  Previous  to  the 
adoption  of  the  code  which  went  into  effect  on  the  first  day  of  July,  1853,  the 
the  common  law  practice,  both  as  to  forms  and  rules  of  procedure,  except  in 
criminal  proceedings,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  state,  prevailed  in  the  State  of 
Ohio,  and  in  nearly  every  State  of  the  Union,  and  especially  as  to  that  portion 
of  it  designated  and  known  as  pleading,  was  strict,  subtle  and  quite  too  fre- 
quently special.  In  respect  also  to  the  different  kinds  of  actions  and  the  forms 
thereof  it  was  cumbersome  and  arbitrary.  But,  following  the  example  of  New 
York,  the  pioneer  code  State,  by  a  few  words  through  the  medium  of  her  Leg- 
islature, and  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  code  commissioners,  Ohio  cleared 
away  the  technical  rubbish  of  centuries,  and  substituted  therefor  the  "  one  form 
of  action  which  shall  be  known  as  a  civil  action,"  as  the  expression  is  in  the 
initial  words  of  the  act.  The  forms  of  pleadings  were  also  defined  in  a  few 
plain  words,  and  restricted  to  petition,  demurrer,  answer  and  reply ;  feigned 
issues  were  abolished,  and  it  was  enacted  that  the  language  of  the  law  should 
be  ordinary  and  concise  so  far  at  least  as  the  pleadings  are  concerned.  This 
was  nearly  a  revolution  in  legal  procedure,  but  as  revolutions  outside  of  the 
domain  of  municipal  law  are  sometimes  salutary,  so  this  one  within  also  was, 
as  nearly  forty  years  of  experience  have  amply  demonstrated. 

The  code  of  civil  procedure  in  Ohio,  and  the  county  of  Fulton  are  nearly 
coeval.  Before  the  inhabitants  of  the  county  scarcely  realized  that  they  had 
been  organized  under  a  new  county  government,  certainly  before  all  the  in- 
cidents of  organization  had  been  settled,  the  new  method  of  legal  procedure 
had  been  established,  and  the  code  and  the  county  started  almost  together, 
and   although  the  fact  may  not  in   view  of  the   usual  methods  of  legal  study 


Fulton  County.  389 


and  former  practice,  have  been  of  any  special  permanent  value  to  the  attor- 
neys who  went  to  the  new  county  to  practice,  yet  the  newness  of  procedure 
corresponded  with  the  general  sense  of  newness  that  pervaded  everything. 
Everything  was  novel  because  everything  was  new. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  state  here,  and  mainly  for  the  benefit  of  the  un- 
professional reader  who  may  be  attracted  to  this  chapter  on  the  bench  and  bar 
of  Fulton  county,  that  the  organization  and  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  of  Ohio 
were  unaffected  by  the  code,  and  also  to  name  them,  and  briefly  to  outline  their 
distribution  of  jurisdiction.  The  Supreme  Court,  the  Circuit,  the  Common 
Pleas,  the  Probate,  and  the  Courts  of  Justices  of  the  Peace  constitute  the  judicial 
department  of  Ohio.  There  are  also  a  few  superior  courts,  but  they  are  of  spe- 
cial character,  and  to  meet  special  exigencies,  and  can  hardly  be  called  a  part 
of  the  general  judicial  system  of  the  State.  The  Circuit  Court  is  a  recent  sub- 
stitution for  the  old  District  Court,  and  has  about  the  same  appellate  jurisdic- 
tion. To  employ  the  terms  of  the  common  law,  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  is 
the  highest  court  in  the  realm,  that  is  in  the  Commonwealth,  and,  as  if  having 
the  English  model  in  view,  has  no  original  jurisdiction,  unless  the  issuing  of 
writs  in  mandamus  and  quo  warranto  may  be  called  that.  Its  main  function  is- 
the  determination  of  disputed  or  unsettled  questions  of  law,  upon  petition  in 
error,  reserved  now  in  the  Circuit  Court,  but  formerly  in  the  District  Court. 
The  appellate  jurisdiction  from  the  Common  Pleas,  is  the  Circuit  Court.  The 
Common  Pleas  Court  has  original  jurisdiction  in  criminal  cases,  but  not  exclu- 
sively so,  some  minor  offenses  being  assigned  to  the  Probate  Court  for  hearing 
and  determination  there,  but  as  to  divorce  and  alimony  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Common  Pleas  Court  is  original  and  exclusive.  Its  appellate  jurisdiction  arises 
from  the  Probate  Court,  from  Courts  of  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  in  certain 
cases  from  the  board  of  county  commissioners.  The  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the 
Court  of  Probate  is  confined  to  probate  and  testamentary  matters,  administra- 
tors and  guardians,  inquests  of  lunacy,  appropriations  of  private  property  by 
corporations,  and  minor  crimes.  The  civil  jurisdiction  of  justices  of  the  peace 
is  usually  confined  to  their  respective  townships,  but  their  criminal  jurisdiction 
which  is  only  preliminary,  is  co-extensive  with  the  county.  There  are  also  some 
special  civil  cases  within  their  jurisdiction,  and  they  possess  some  distinctive 
powers  not  necessary  here  to  be  stated.  But  the  assertion  may  be  ventured  that 
there  can  be  no  greater  conservator  of  good  order  and  peace  in  any  community, 
and  especially  among  a  rural  people,  than  an  intelligent,  thoughtful,  honorable 
justice  of  the  peace. 

It  is  needless  to  describe  the  thirteenth  judicial  circuit  to  which  by  tlie 
creative  act  Fulton  county  was  attached,  because  as  a  result  of  the  provisions- 
of  the  State  constitution  of  185  i,  that  circuit  was  abolished,  and  by  section 
twelve  of  article  eleven  thereof,  Fulton  county  was  made  a  part  of  the  second 
subdivision  of  the  third  judicial  district.      Under  the  constitution  of  1802,  how- 


390  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ever,  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  consisted  of  a  president  judge  and  not  more  than 
three,  nor  less  than  two  associate  judges,  and  had  common  law,  and  chancery 
jurisdiction  "  in  all  such  cases  as  shall  be  directed  by  law."  Therefore  both 
law  and  equity  were  for  a  brief  period  administered  in  Fulton  county  under  the 
old  system  ;  that  is  by  a  president  judge,  usually  a  lawyer,  assisted  by  laymen, 
quite  generally  justices  of  the  peace,  but  sometimes  having  the  sole  qualifica- 
tion, or  rather  recommendation  of  being  politically  prominent.  The  constitu- 
tion of  1802  provided  also  for  three  circuits,  and  empowered  the  Legislature 
after  the  lapse  of  five  years,  if  necessary,  to  increase  them,  which  was  accord- 
ingly done  from  time  to  time,  until  in  1850  there  were  at  least  thirteen  circuits. 
It  should  be  noted  also,  that  the  Common  Pleas  judges  were  all  elected  by  the 
Legislature,  there  being  about  that  feature  of  Ohio's  first  constitution  the 
strong  suggestion  of  English  precedent,  to  be  succeeded,  however,  by  an  entirely 
elective  judiciary  by  the  express  provisions  of  the  constitution  of  1851. 

Population,  property,  and  therefore  sources  of  litigation  increasing  in  the 
second  subdivision  as  well  as  elsewhere  in  the  State,  and  consequently  business 
in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in  1878,  this  subdivision  was  again  divided,  and 
Fulton  county  was  allotted  to,  and' is  now  a  part  of  the  third  subdivision  of  the 
third  judicial  district,  the  other  counties  in  the  subdivision  being  Henry  and 
Putnam,  and  now  constitute  the  sphere  of  the  judicial  labors  of  Hon.  William 
H.  Handy. 

In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  creative  act,  to  which  reference 
has  been  made,  the  first  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  held  in  Fulton 
county,  was  in  Pike  township,  and  at  the  house  of  Robert  Howard,  who  kept 
an  old-fashioned  inn  or  tavern.  Judge  Palmer,  of  Paulding  county  presided. 
The  attorneys  then  residing  in  the  county  were  the  Hon.  Amos  Hill,  Lucius 
H.  Upham,  and  Hon.  Reuben  C.  Lemmon,  now  a  Common  Pleas  judge  of 
Lucas  county,  and  one  of  the  leading  jurists  of  the  State.  It  being,  however, 
the  purpose  of  this  chapter,  as  its  heading  imports,  more  particularly  to  sketch 
the  character  and  career  of  the  respective  members  of  the  Fulton  bench  and 
bar,  no  description  will  be  attempted  either  from  any  slight  records  that  may 
possibly  exist,  or  any  reminiscences  that  may  be  gathered,  of  the  first  court 
held  in  the  county,  and  no  reflections  indulged  as  to  any  contrasts,  differences 
or  resemblances,  either  real  or  fanciful,  between  the  present  means  and  methods 
of  administering  justice  and  conserving  the  peace  in  Fulton  county,  and  what 
they  were  nearly  forty  years  ago. 

Brief  Sketches  of  .Early  and  Present  Practitioners. 

Hon.  Lucius  H.  Upham.  Immediately  following  the  formation  of  Fulton 
county,  Mr.  Upham  located  at  Delta  and  opened  a  law  office.  He  was  then  in 
the  prime  of  life,  having  been  born  in  1808,  at  Windsor  county,  Vt.,  and  receiving 
a  thorough  preliminary  education  for  the  active  business  of  life  at  Chester  Insti- 


Fulton  County.  391 


tute,  in  his  native  county.  He  then  came  to  Ohio  and  located  and  hved  for  sev- 
eral years  at  Wooster,  Wayne  county,  and  in  1841  began  studying  law  with 
Judge  Levi  Cox.  In  1843  Mr.  Upham  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  for  the 
first  six  years  thereafter  practiced  his  profession  at  Wooster,  from  which  place 
he  removed  to  Fulton  county.  Mr.  Upham,  R.  C.  Lemmon  and  Amos  Hill 
became  citizens  of  the  county  about  the  same  time.  In  1856  Mr.  Upham  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  and  served  one  term  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
•sentatives  thereof,  his  constituency  being  the  counties  of  Lucas  and  Fulton. 

It  was  but  recently  that  Mr.  Upham  withdrew  from  active  business. 
Though  starting  in  the  law  somewhat  late  in  life,  he  has  been  a  successful  law- 
yer. His  knowledge  of  legal  principles  as  exemplified  in  his  active  practice,, 
and  as  counsel,  was  thorough  and  profound.  He  knows  well  the  maxims  of 
the  law,  and  always  was  apposite  in  applying  them.  Of  the  pleasantest  humor, 
sterling  honesty,  and  manners  of  kind  simplicity,  it  always  has  been  a  pleasure 
to  his  brethren  to  transact  the  business  of  the  bar  and  the  courts  with  him. 
About  five  years  ago  quietly  and  informally  he  withdrew  from  the  courts,  and 
now  is  but  seldom  seen  in  the  haunted  places  of  business  activity  of  any  kind,, 
preferring  to  spend  his  closing  days  in  the  retirement  of  contemplative  quiet. 

Mr.  Upham  was  twice  married,  and  his  oldest  son  is  an  attorney  and  re- 
sides in  the  State  of  California,  but  does  not  practice  law,  finding  other  business 
more  congenial. 

Hon.  Amos  Hill.  On  the  loth  day  of  June,  1850,  and  within  a  few  months 
after  the  legal  creation  of  the  county,  Hon.  Amos  Hill  became  one  of  its  resi- 
dents, and  immediately  opened  a  law  office.  Mr.  Hill  still  survives,  but  is  not 
now  and  for  several  years  past  has  not  been  actively  engaged  in  the  legal  pro- 
fession owing  to  ill  health.  In  point  of  continuous  practice  he  is  the  oldest 
attorney  in  the  county.  He  is  a  native  of  Stark  county,  O.,  and  was  born 
April  4,  1824.  Early  in  life  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Williams  county, 
where  he  grew  to  young  manhood  on  a  farm,  receiving  in  the  meantime  a  good 
common  school  education,  and  teaching  school  for  a  brief  period.  He  studied 
law  with  the  Hon.  S.  E.  Blakeslie,  at  Bryan,  O.,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
a  few  months  previous  to  his  settlement  in  Fulton  county.  He  resided  at 
Ottokee,  the  county  seat,  until  1870,  when  he  removed  to  Wauseon,  whither 
the  seat  of  justice  had  just  previously  been  removed.  For  the  first  twenty 
years  of  his  practice  he  was  recognized  as  among  the  very  foremost  of  the 
attorneys  of  the  Fulton  county  bar.  By  nature  thoughtful,  studious,  and  pains- 
taking, and  zealous  in  behalf  of  any  interest  intrusted  to  him,  he  acquired, 
and  for  many  years  transacted  a  lucrative  professional  business.  While  not 
brilliant  as  an  advocate,  yet  he  most  thoroughly  and  exhaustively  prepared  his 
cases,  both  as  to  the  law  and  the  facts,  which,  combined  with  his  soundness  of 
judgment  and  unfailing  rectitude  and  integrity  in  all  matters  entrusted  to  his 
professional  confidence,  gave  him  marked  success  both  as  an  office  and  a  trial 
lawyer. 


392  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

In  1866  he  was  elected  to  represent  Fulton  county  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  Ohio,  where  he  served  his  constituents  with  fidelity  and  ability 
for  four  years,  having  been  re-elected  in  1868.  He  still  resides  at  Wauseon, 
but,  as  has  been  stated,  because  of  his  physical  infirmities,  is  no  longer  en- 
gaged in  active  practice,  confining  himself  to  office  work. 

The  Hon.  Reuben  C.  Lemmon  is  a  native  of  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  and  is 
now  aged  sixty-two  years.  In  his  youth  he  removed  to  Ohio,  and  studied  law, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Tiffin,  Seneca  county,  this  State.  At  the  date 
of  his  admission  he  was  twenty-five  years  old.  A  year  later,  in  April,  1851, 
he  became  a  citizen  of  Fulton  county,  locating  in  Pike  township,  the  courts 
of  the  county  being  held  there  at  that  time.  In  1852  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  Henry  S.  Commager  and  went  to  Maumee  city,  then  the  seat  of  justice  of 
Lucas  county.  Early  in  1854  Toledo  became  the  seat  of  justice,  about  which 
time  Mr.  Lemmon  went  to  Toledo,  where  he  has  since  resided.  Until  1874 
Mr.  Lemmon  assiduously  and  very  successfully  practiced  law  in  Lucas  and  the 
adjoining  counties,  never  relinquishing  his  large  business  in  Fulton  county  until 
he  became  Common  Pleas  judge  at  the  above  date.  The  judge  has  been  twice 
married,  his  first  wife  dying  in  1857.  In  1859,  at  London,  Eng.,  he  married 
an  estimable  English  lady.  His  son,  Charles  H.,  by  his  first  wife,  is  his  only 
child,  and  is  prominent  among  the  younger  members  of  the  Lucas  county  bar. 

Mr.  Lemmon  was  a  very  successful  lawyer,  and  is  a  learned  and  competent 
judge.  But  few  lawyers  or  judges  have  attained  the  honorable  standing  that 
he  has  occupied  for  many  years,  and  no  attorney  at  the  bar  of  either  Lucas  or 
Fulton  county,  was,  or  is  more  generally  and  highly  esteemed  for  learning, 
integrity  and  solid  mental  and  moral  worth  than  Judge  Lemmon. 

Michael  Handy,  esq.,  one  of  the  most  prominent  leaders  of  the  Fulton 
•county  bar  for  upwards  of  thirty  years,  was  not  to  the  "manor  born,"  but  came 
to  Lucas  county,  O.,  from  New  York,  his  native  State,  in  1840,  having  previ- 
ously seen  considerable  of  the  world,  both  in  the  States  and  in  Canada.  He 
began  active  life  as  a  school  teacher  and  farmer,  having  previous  to  his  admis- 
sion to  the  bar  in  1 850,  at  the  mature  age  of  forty  years,  taught  school  in 
many  districts  in  Fulton  county,  and  redeemed  a  farm  therein  from  the  wil- 
derness. He  was  a  robust,  many-sided  man,  with  natural  endowments  both 
mental  and  physical  of  splendid  vigor  and  activity.  He  was  Fulton  county's 
second  prosecuting  attorney,  succeeding  John  H.  Reid  to  that  office  in  1852, 
the  same  year  of  his  admission  to  the  bar.  In  1886  he  died  full  of  years  and 
honors  honestly  won  and  maintained.  For  many  years  he  was  associated 
with  his  son,  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Handy,  now  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
in  law  practice,  and  was  a  foeman  well  worthy  the  steel  of  the  ablest  lawyers 
of  Northwestern  Ohio.  As  a  jury  lawyer  he  was  especially  strong.  He  was 
a  man  of  the  people  and  knew  them,  their  excellences,  their  weaknesses,  their 
prejudices.      Upon  his  professional  name   or  his    reputation  as  a  citizen,  there 


Fulton  County.  393- 


never  was  blown  the  breath  of  dishonorable  suspicion  or  accusation.  His  wife 
preceded  him  to  the  grave  several  years,  but  to  his  five  children  who  survive 
him,  two  of  whom  were  most  gallant  and  meritorious  Union  soldiers,  he  left 
the  priceless  heritage  of  a  spotless  name  and  a  high  and  honorable  professional 
reputation. 

Nathaniel  Leggett,  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  bar  of  Fulton  county, 
died  in  February,  1862,  being  then  in  the  prime  of  hfe.  Of  his  early  career 
but  little  can  be  ascertained.  Before  the  formation  of  Fulton  county  he  re- 
sided in  that  part  of  it  now  embraced  in  Swan  Creek  township,  where  he 
hunted  and  cleared  the  land  surrounding  him,  and  engaged  somewhat  in  farm- 
ing. Making  the  acquaintance  of  members  of  the  Lucas  county  bar  at  Mau- 
mee  city,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  becoming  a  lawyer,  and  with  that  in  view 
borrowed  books  of  Hosmer  and  Hall  of  Maumee  city,  and  in  the  solitude  of 
the  then  almost  unbroken  wilderness  of  the  southeastern  part  of  the  county,. 
began  and  prosecuted  his  studies,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  early  in  the  fif- 
ties. His  natural  qualifications  for  business  were  excellent  and  he  was  of  val- 
uable service  to  the  company  then  building  the  "Air  Line"  railway  in  assist- 
ing to  procure  the  right  of  way  through  Lucas  and  Fulton  counties.  He  was 
also  treasurer  of  Fulton  county  two  terms.  Together  with  Barber  and  Sargent 
he  laid  out  the  village  of  Wauseon,  and  became  the  owner  of  considerable  val- 
uable real  estate  in  the  village.  Being  immersed  in  matters  of  general  business 
he  never  found  the  time,  or  so  adjusted  the  circumstances  of  his  life  as  to  devote 
himself  exclusively  to  his  chosen  profession.  He  is  spoken  of  by  those  who 
knew  him  best,  as  of  sterling  mental  qualities  and  full  of  energy  and  ambition. 
He  contracted  the  disease  which  culminated  in  his  death  in  Kentucky  whither- 
he  had  gone  on  official  business  connected  with  the  Union  army.  His  remains- 
were  laid  to  rest  in  the  beautiful  cemetery  of  Wauseon,  he  being  the  first  per- 
son buried  therein.  A  modest  memorial  stone  placed  there  by  his  old  friend i 
and  business  associate,  Col.  E.  L.  Barber,  marks  the  location  of  his  last  earthly- 
home. 

Hon.  Moses  R.  Brailey  is  a  native  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  was  born 
at  Ontario  county,  in  that  State,  on  the  2d  day  of  November,  1816.  In  1837, 
having  just  attained  his  majority,  he  started  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  West,  as; 
Ohio  was  then  called,  locating  in  the  same  year  in  Huron  county.  He  had' 
been  in  Ohio  but  a  short  time  before  he  began  to  take  an  active  part  in  locaB 
politics,  and  his  attention  was  thereby  directed  to  the  legal  profession  as  a. 
means,  among  other  objects,  of  securing  prominence  and  influence.  Being  en- 
couraged by  his  neighbors,  who  had  begun  to  appreciate  his  talents  and  energy,, 
and  having  received  in  his.  boyhood,  in  New  York,  the  rudiments  of  a  sound 
English  education,  which  had  been  supplemented  by  considerable  reading  and 
close  observation  of  human  nature,  he  concluded  to  study  law.  In  1840  he  en- 
tered the  office  of  Stone  and  Kellogg,  a  leading  firm  at  Norwalk,  the  county 

50 


394  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


seat  of  Huron  county,  and  after  two  years  of  close  application,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1842,  and  at  once  opened  an  office  in  Norwalk.  Devoting  himself 
assiduously  to  his  profession,  he  soon  secured  a  living  business,  and  in  1852 
was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  that  county,  the  duties  of  which  he  dis- 
charged with  excellent  success.  Having  real  estate  interests  of  considerable 
value  and  promise  in  the  then  new  county  of  Fulton,  in  1857  he  removed  to 
that  county,  and,  opening  a  law  office,  in  1858  he  was  elected  prosecuting  at- 
torney, and  was  again  elevated  thereto  in  i860,  acquiring  also  a  large  civil 
business  in  the  meantime. 

Immediately  on  the  first  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  troops  to  defend  the 
government  from  the  assaults  of  armed  rebellion,  and  on  the  17th  day  of  April, 

1 86 1,  Mr.  Brailey  enlisted  as  a  private  in  a  company  which  was  recruited  for, 
and  expected  to  become,  a  part  of  the  historic  14th  Ohio  Volunteers,  the  first 
colonel  of  which  was  the  gallant  James  B.  Steedman.  For  some  reason,  known 
best  to  the  military  anthorities  of  the  State,  the  company  was  disbanded  in 
June,  1 86 1,  without  being  sent  to  the  field  of  active  military  operations.  On 
the  13th  of  August,  1 86 1,  Mr.  Brailey  again  enlisted  in  the  Union  army,  and 
-was  commissioned  captain  of  Company  I,  in  the  38th  Ohio  Volunteer.  Infantry, 
and  on  the  ist  day  of  January,  1862,  was  promoted  to  be  major  of  the  regiment. 
In  March,  of  the  same  year,  by  reason  of  ill  health,  he  was  compelled  to  re- 
sign ;  but  devoting  all  his  time  and  energies  to  the  cause  of  his  country,  as  soon 
as  his  health  had  been  somewhat  restored.  Major  Brailey  set  about  the  work  of 
recruiting  under  the  authority  of  the  adjutant-general  of  the  State,  and  in  June, 

1862,  had  raised  a  company  for  the  85th  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  which 
was  assigned  to  the  duty  of  guarding  rebel  prisoners  at  Camp  Chase.  In  this 
■regiment  he  held  the  commission  of  a  captain,  but  was  transferred  therefrom  in 

August  of  the  same  year,  to  the  iiith  Regiment  of  Ohio  Infantry,  with  the 
rank  of  major,  and  commanded  that  regiment  in  the  field  until  the  winter  fol- 
lowing. In  January,  1863,  Major  Brailey  was  promoted  to  the  lieutenant- 
colonency  of  his  regiment,  and  on  the  report  of  the  Boafd  of  Army  Surgeons 
attached  to  the  military  department  of  the  Southwest,  in  January,  1864,  he 
■was  discharged  for  disability,  having  just  previously,  for  meritorious  service, 
been  brevetted  brigadier-general.  Immediately  thereafter  he  was  appointed 
pay  agent  for  the  State  of  Ohio,  with  headquarters  at  Columbus,  and  collected 
and  disbursed  over  four  millions  of  the  money  of  Ohio  soldiers,  losing  not  a 
cent ;  a  splendid  record  and  a  glittering  jewel  in  Colonel  Brailey's  crown  of 
earthly  honors,  and  no  doubt  a  precious  and  consoling  remembrance  to  him  in 
his  old  age.  In  addition  to  his  other  duties,  while  acting  as  pay  agent.  General 
Brailey  assisted  in  the  organization  and  equipment  of  eleven  regiments  of  Ohio 
troops,  for  the  field.  At  the  State  election,  in  1865,  the  patriotic  people  of 
Ohio  further  rewarded  the  efforts  of  General  Brailey,  in  behalf  of  his  country, 
by  electing  him  Comptroller  of  the  State   treasury,  to  which  position   he  was 


Fulton  County. 


395 


again  elected  three  years  later,  holding  that  high  and  responsible  office  for  six 
years. 

In  1872  he  returned  to  Fulton  county  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, since  which  time,  until  overtaken  by  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  and  the 
increasing  severities  of  chronic  maladies  contracted  in  the  army,  he  has  been 
active  and  unceasing  in  all  the  varied  and  laborious  work  of  the  profession. 

As  a  lawyer,  General  Brailey  has  been  somewhat  of  a  specialist,  inclining 
most  to  the  criminal  branch  of  the  practice,  in  which  he  has  shown  signal  abil- 
ity, both  in  the  management  and  advocacy  of  that  class  of  cases.  He  is  quite 
familiar  not  only  with  the  general  principles  underlying  the  administration  of 
law,  but  with  the  rules  of  practice  as  based  on  the  Ohio  Code  of  Civil  Pro- 
cedure, and  that  large  amount  of  what  may  be  termed  judge-made  law,  or  the 
common  law  as  embodied  in  the  reports  of  this  and  other  States,  and  which,  as 
the  late  Judge  Walker  said,  referring  to  the  reports  of  England,  is  nothing  less 
than  the  stupendous  work  of  judicial  legislation.  General  Brailey  possesses  a 
mind  naturally  ready  and  clear.  For  the  speeches  and  arguments  of  eminent 
lawyers  he  always  had  a  great  fondness  ;  and  no  other  attorney  in  Northwestern 
Ohio,  probably,  can  so  readily  and  completely  summarize  the  history  of,  and 
the  legal  questions  involved  in  the  celebrated  trials  in  this  country  and  England 
during  the  last  century  and  a  half 

He  was  married  but  once,  and  survives  his  wife.  To  them  eleven  children 
were  born,  three  of  whom  are  buried  by  the  side  of  their  mother  in  the  quiet 
country  churchyard  of  the  Viers  church  in  Fulton  township. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  and  on  Wednesday,  the  i8th  day  of  January, 
1888,  General  Brailey  was  stricken  with  apoplexy  and  died  at  the  residence  of 
his  son,  James  S.,  in  Wauseon.  He  was  buried  in  the  family  burial  lot  in  the 
Viers  cemetery  on  January  20,  1888. 

Sydenham  Shaffer  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  born  in  1829.  His  father  was 
a  prominent  Methodist  clergyman.  In  1865  the  subject  of  this  sketch  became 
a  resident  of  Wauseon,  and  began  practicing  law.  He  held,  from  time  to  time, 
different  municipal  offices,  and  served  one  term  as  mayor  of  Wauseon.  A  short 
time  subsequent  to  his  locating  in  Fulton  county  he  married  the  only  daughter 
of  Elnathan  C.  Gavitt,  prominent  in  the  history  of  pioneer  Methodism  in  north- 
western Ohio.  On  the  2d  day  of  March,  1886,  Mr.  Shaffer  died,  leaving  his 
wife,  but  no  children.  He  did  not  assiduously  devote  himself  to  his  profession 
except  as  pension  attorney  and  solicitor.  He  was  a  man  of  good  natural  en- 
dowments, but  his  predilections  were  literary  rather  than  legal. 

John  W.  Roseborough,  now  somewhat  past  middle  age,  has  been  practic- 
ing law  at  the  village  of  Burlington,  Fulton  county,  for  about  fifteen  years 
Prior  to  his  locating  there  he  was  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county  two 
terms,  during  which  time  his  office  was  at  Ottokee.  He  has  taught  school  in 
different  parts  of  the  county,  and  been  somewhat  engaged  in  farming.     For  the 


396  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

past  seven  years  he  has  been  prominent  among  the   leading  advocates  of  the 
principles  of  the  prohibition  party  thoughout  the  State. 

Elbridge  T.  Greenough  was  a  ijative  of  New  Hampshire,  and  was  born  at 
Boscawen  in  1808.  He  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1828,  and 
studied  law  in  the  office  of  Ezekiel  Webster,  a  brother  of  the  "godlike  Dan." 
Soon  after  Mr.  Greenough's  admission  to  the  bar,  and  about  the  year  1830,  he 
removed  to  Danville,  Pa.,  where  he  practiced  law  six  years.  He  then  returned 
to  his  native  State,  and  embarked  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Saulsbury. 
In  i860  he  came  to  Wauseon,  at  which  place  he  engaged  in  law  business  and 
Teal  estate  operations  until  his  death,  which  occurred  May  31,  1875. 

Mr.  Greenough  was  a  man  of  thorough  literary  and  legal  training,  but  in- 
terested himself  mainly  in  commercial  transactions,  speculation,  and  cases  at 
law  of  an  ex  parte  nature.  The  honors  of  the  profession  he  cared  nothing 
about,  and  hence  he  did  not  achieve  that  local  eminence,  the  reward  of  active, 
successful  nisi prius  work. 

Octavius  Waters  was  of  English  birth,  but  left  the  land  of  his  nativity  to 
become  a  sailor  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years.  He  received  his  education  at  an 
institution  called  Guy's  Academy,  in  Worcestershire.  During  his  career  as  a 
sailor  he  visited  many  portions  of  the  globe,  landing  finally  at  New  York  city 
in  1844.  Immediately  thereafter  he  came  to  Ohio  and  located  in  Wood  county, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  Christian  ministry,  and  for  several  years 
was  known  as  a  devoted  and  eloquent  Methodist  clergyman.  In  1851  he 
located  in  Fulton  county,  having  just  previously  married,  and  engaged  for  a 
short  time  in  mercantile  pursuits  at  the  village  of  Delta.  Occupying  all  his 
leisure  time  for  the  next  five  years  in  legal  study,  in  1856  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  at  once  began  practicing  law  at  Delta,  at  that  time  the  most 
enterprising  and  populous  place  in  the  county.  He  was  prosecuting  attorney 
of  Fulton  county  for  two  terms,  and  a  representative  for  one  term  in  the  fifty- 
sixth  general  assembly  of  Ohio,  and  served  as  a  presidential  elector  at  the 
elections  of  Grant  and  Garfield  to  the  presidency.  At  the  date  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  at  Delta,  he  was  sixty- four  years  old. 

Mr.  Waters  was  very  prominent  as  a  Mason,  and  as  a  Republican  politician. 
His  ability  as  a  lawyer,  which  undoubtedly  would  have  been  successful  and 
conspicuous,  was  sacrificed  at  the  shrine  of  his  shining  talents  for  popular 
oratory.  He  was  a  very  brilliant  speaker,  and  as  such  could  ill  brook  the  dire- 
ful treadmill  work  and  wearisome  details  of  practice.  Hence  he  was  little 
known  as  a  lawyer,  and  undoubtedly  was  careless  of  his  reputation  for  legal 
ability.  Had  he  loved  the  law  his  native  and  acquired  abilities  were  such  as 
unquestionably  would  have  made  him  a  great  lawyer. 

William  H.  Handy.  Judge  Handy  was  born  in  Pike  township,  Fulton 
county,  on  the  29th  day  of  January,  1847,  and  was  the  second  son  of  M. 
Handy,  esq.      He  received  his  education  at  the  village   school,  but  left  home 


%l 


Fulton  County. 


397 


at  the  age  of  sixteen  to  become  a  Union  soldier.  From  the  summer  of  1863 
until  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  at  the  front  and  participated  with  his  regiment, 
the  gallant  Sixty- seventh  Ohio  Infantry,  in  all  that  stubborn  and  bloody  cam- 
paign, which,  beginning  at  the  Wilderness  culminated  in  the  capture  of  the 
Confederate  capital,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Rebellion.  On  his  return  home 
he  immediately  commenced  studying  law  with  his  father,  but  completed  his 
studies  in  the  city  of  Toledo  with  the  Hon.  R.  C.  Lemmen.  In  1869  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  was  immediately  associated  with  his  father  in  business. 
From  that  period  until  December,  1884,  when  he  was  appointed  judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas  Court  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  elevation  of  Hon. 
J.  J.  Moore  to  the  bench  of  the  Circuit  Court,  Mr.  Handy  practiced  law  in 
Fulton  county,  except  a  brief  interval  during  which  he  allowed  himself  to  be 
diverted  from  his  profession  by  the  charms  of  local  journalism,  when  he  edited 
the  Expositor,  a  weekly  newspaper  published  at  Wauseon. 

For  a  clear,  comprehensive,  ready  knowledge  of  the  law,  Judge  Handy  has 
probably  never  had  a  superior  at  the  Fulton  county  bar,  and  during  his  prac- 
tice was  recognized  as  especially  able  in  the  domain  of  pleading.  In  1885  he 
was  elected  judge  and  in  that  position  has  given  general  satisfaction  through- 
out the  subdivision  and  wherever  he  has  been  called  to  preside  in  the  courts 
•of  the  district.  But  few  of  his  decisions  have  been  reversed  by  the  Appellate 
Courts. 

Judge  Handy  is  married,  and  the  father  of  three  children. 

William  C.  Kelley  was  of  Irish  descent  and  a  native  of  Hancock  county,  O. 
He  was  born  in  1837.  His  early  opportunities  to  acquire  an  education  were 
-somewhat  meager  but  by  strict  self  denial  and  perseverance  he  had  accumu- 
lated a  sufficient  stock  of  knowledge  to  teach  school  by  the  time  he  arrived  at 
man's  estate.  After  teaching  several  terms  in  the  counties  of  Hancock  and 
Putnam,  he  began  studying  law  with  Henry  Brown,  esq.,  a  prominent  attor- 
ney of  Findlay,  the  seat  of  justice  of  Hancock  county,  but  relinquished  his 
studies  to  enter  the  Union  army  as  lieutenant  of  a  company  of  Ohio  In- 
fantry, which  office  he  resigned  and  came  home  by  reason  of  trouble  occasioned 
by  the  loss  of  his  eye  which  he  had  sustained  when  a  boy.  Completing  his 
studies  at  a  law  college,  then  in  existence  at  the  city  of  Cleveland,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  the  courts  of  Ohio,  and  came  to  Wauseon,  Fulton  county, 
in  1864.  Entering  upon  his  profession  with  energy  and  vigor  he  soon  secured 
a  large  share  of  the  legal  business  of  the  county,  and  rose  rapidly  to  a  place 
among  the  foremost  attorneys  of  the  county.  For  twenty- one  years  Mr. 
Kelley  maintained  a  large  professional  business,  and  succeeded  in  acquiring  a 
very  large  property.  In  the  midst  of  his  success  and  activity  he  was  seized 
with  a  fatal  illness,  dying  on  the  27th  day  of  June,  1885.  He  was  married  in 
1869  to  Miss  Minnie  Ayers,  of  Burlington,  la.,  who  survives  him.  Mr.  Kelly 
■was  a  shrewd  and  able  lawyer,  very  prompt  in  the  disposition  of  his  business. 


398  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

and  expected  others  to  come  strictly  up  to  the  mark  of  his  own  promptness- 
and  exactness.  When  the  docket  was  called  he  was  ready.  He  seldom  asked 
for  favors,  professional  or  otherwise,  and  as  seldom  conferred  them  on  any  one. 
He  had  the  reputation  of  being  somewhat  hasty  and  harsh,  which  if  true  prob- 
ably arose  from  the  bitterness  and  hardships  of  his  early  and  rough  experience. 
He  was  not  a  man  of  polish,  and  wasted  but  little  time  or  thought  on  the. 
pleasant  amenities  of  life.  He  was  careless  of  the  form  in  which  he  presented 
an  argument  or  a  pleading  and  heartily  despised  sham  and  pretense,  but  the 
substance  and  the  vital  points  in  a  case  he  always  held  to  with  a  firm  and  un- 
relaxing  grasp.  Tried  by  his  final  success,  which  is  the  standard  of  the  rougk 
justice  of  the  world,  Mr.  Kelley  may  be  pronounced  to  have  been  an  able 
lawyer. 

William  W.  Touvelle  was  born  at  Steubenville,  O.,  on  May  12,  1847,  and 
is  of  French  extraction.  His  infancy  and  youth  were  spent  at  Celina,  Mercer 
county,  whither  his  parents  removed  in  1848.  He  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Celina,  and  at  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis,  Md. 
Resigning  his  cadetship  there  after  the  expiration  of  two  years,  he  began  the 
study  of  law  with  the  Hon.  Frank  C.  Le  Blond,  of  Celina,  with  whom  he  re- 
mained the  customary  two  years,  applying  himself  most  assiduously  to  law, 
but  not  entirely  neglecting  other  reading  and  study.  In  1868  he  was  admitted, 
to  the  bar,  and  locating  in  Fulton  county  he  immediately  entered  into  part- 
nership with  Hon.  Amos  Hill,  at  that  time  one  of  the  most  prominent  attor- 
neys in  the  county. 

Mr.  Touvelle  entered  with  energy  and  zeal  upon  the  practice  of  law,  but 
still  kept  up  his  study  not  only  of  legal  principles  but  of  general  literature 
through  all  the  varied  and  attractive  avenues  of  history,  biography  and  poetry;, 
giving  also  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  the  attractive  and  effective  gifts  as  a 
public  speaker  with  which  he  had  naturally  been  endowed.  In  1872  he  was 
elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county,  and  two  years  later  was  re-elected. 
It  is  disparagement  to  none  of  the  able  lawyers  who  have  filled  that  office  in 
Fulton  county  to  say  that  the  duties  and  responsibilities  thereof  were  never 
discharged  and  taken  care  of  with  more  consummate  skill  and  ability  than  by 
Mr.  Touvelle.  Since  1876  he  has  devoted  his  attention  entirely  to  his  prac- 
tice untrammeled  by  office  or  the  desire  therefor,  though  taking  an  ardent  and 
influential  part  in  politics  both  local  and  general  as  a  Republican  of  the  strictest, 
sect.  He  has  a  leading  practice,  and  is  especially  able  and  successful  as  a  trial 
lawyer,  whether  the  issue  be  one  of  law  for  the  court,  or  one  of  fact  for  the 
jury.  He  possesses  that  faculty,  the  lack  of  which  can  be  supplied  to  a  lawyer 
by  no  other  gifts  or  acquirements,  the  unerring  sense  of  discernment  of  the 
strong  and  weak  points  of  a  case,  and  that  skill  and  tact  which  can  never  be 
diverted  from  the  vital  points  of  the  questions  at  issue.  He  probably  never 
undertook  a  case    unprepared,  which  is  a  fairly  safe  indication   of  that  chival- 


Fulton  County.  399 


Tous  affection  for  the  arduous  calling  of  the  law  without  which  no  permanent 
or  satisfactory  success  can  be  achieved  in  it. 

Mr.  Touvelle  is  married  and  has  a  pleasant  home,  devoting  to  it  and  his 
family  both  provident  care  and  tender  solicitude. 

Henry  H.  Ham,  for  many  years  prominent  at  the  bar  of  Fulton  county, 
came  hither  from  Pennsylvania  in  1870,  and  at  once  opened  a  law  office  in 
connection  with  his  brother,  Thomas  F.  Ham,  in  Wauseon.  Henry,  the  elder 
of  the  firm,  was  born  at  Honesdale,  Pa.,  on  the  25th  day  of  August,  1846,  and 
was  educated  at  Wyoming  College,  Luzerne  county,  in  that  State.  He  stud- 
ied law  with  the  firm  of  S.  E.  and  W.  H.  Dimmick,  able  and  prominent  law- 
yers at  Honesdale,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  month  of  December, 
1869,  but  remained  at  the  office  of  his  preceptors,  until  his  departure  for  and 
■settlement  at  Wauseon  the  following  year.  Nine  years  later,  being  then  in  the 
successful  and  competent  discharge  of  his  duties  as  prosecuting  attorney  of 
Fulton  county,  Mr.  Ham  returned  to  Pennsylvania  and  married  Kate,  the 
youngest  daughter  of  Erastus  Barnes,  esq.,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Warren 
county  in  that  State.     They  have  one  child,  a  daughter. 

Mr.  Ham  has  since  his  location  in  Fulton  county,  been  conspicuous,  not 
only  as  an  able  and  talented  lawyer,  but  in  business  enterprises  as  well.  He 
always  has  been  ready,  not  only  with  his  means  but  his  personal  encourage- 
ment and  co-operation  in  every  useful  local  enterprise  dependent  upon  public 
spirit,  and  in  addition  to  a  large  and  successful  legal  business  which  the  firm 
has  acquired  by  faithful  and  diligent  effort,  and  which  always  has  been  well 
managed,  he  has  found  time  and  energy  to  embark  in  and  assist  in  the  con- 
duct of  private  business  enterprises  that  have  conduced  much  to  the  prosper- 
ity of  his  adopted  town  and  county.  His  splendid  personal  presence  and  man- 
ners of  the  most  genial  courtesy,  would  attract  attention  anywhere,  and  he  is 
celebrated  for  his  power  and  influence  as  an  advocate  and  as  a  ready  and 
■effective  political  orator.  His  mental  and  physical  organization  is  powerful, 
and  he  probably  does  not  know  the  meaning  of  fear  in  the  thick  of  a  legal 
fight.  As  a  jury  lawyer  he  is  at  his  best  but  disdains  technicalities.  He  has 
not,  and  does  not  pretend  to  any  mental  grasp  of  what  may  be  called  tech- 
nical points,  but  fights  and  wins  or  loses  fairly  on  the  merits.  He  is  a  man  of 
great  kindness  of  heart,  and  of  the  most  generous  impulses,  and  is  popular  with 
both  his  legal  brethren  and  the  people  generally. 

Thomas  F.  Ham  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  born  at  the  city  of 
Honesdale  on  the  first  day  December,  1847.  He  received  his  literary  education 
•at  Wyoming  College,  in  Luzerne  county,  a  noted  historic  place  in  the  common- 
wealth of  Pennsylvania.  Upon  attaining  his  majority  he  entered  the  office  of 
C.  P.  and  G.  G.  Waller,  of  Honesdale,  where  he  remained  two  years  as  a  law 
■student,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  month  of  December,  1869.  In  the 
spring  of  1870  he  located  with  his   brother   Henry  in  Fulton  county,  O.,  and 


400  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

with  him  opened  a  law  office  at  Wauseon.  Previous  to  his  leaving  the  State 
of  his  nativity  he  married  Miss  Charlotte  Scudder,  the  mother  of  his  three 
promising  sons,  Thomas,  Frank,  and  Harry. 

In  the  office  of  H.  H.  and  T.  F.  Ham  the  rule  and  system  of  a  division  of 
labor  has  always  been  observed  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  since  the  estab- 
lishment of  their  professional  business,  has  been  distinctly  and  avowedly  the 
office  lawyer.  In  the  main  the  purely  business  branch  of  the  law  has  devolved 
upon  him,  and  much  of  the  advisory  part  and  largely  the  direction  of  the  cler- 
ical work.  He  is  a  safe  counsellor  and  a  careful  and  methodical  business  and 
commercial  lawyer,  and  is  well  versed  in  legal  principles. 

L.  M.  Murphy  is  of  Irish  descent  but  was  born  in  Belmont  county,  O.,  on 
the  28th  of  September,  1849.  He  received  an  academic  'education  and  en- 
gaged in  public  school  work  in  different  parts  of  the  State  until  1876,  when 
because  of  ill  health,  produced  by  continuous  teaching,  he  gave  up  the  work 
which  he  had  chosen  for  a  life  vocation  and  began  studying  law  with  Southard 
and  Southard  of  Zanesville,  O.  Remaining  with  this  firm  but  about  six  months 
he  then  went  to  Mt.  Vernon,  O.,  and  studied  in  the  office  of  Mclntyre  and 
Kirk,  prominent  attorneys  of  that  city,  for  two  years,  when  in  1879  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar.  In  1880  he  located  in  Wauseon,  O.,  and  in  point  of  time  as 
a  legal  practitioner,  is  the  youngest  at  the  Fulton  county  bar.  He  was  asso- 
ciated with  Mr.  Slusser  in  business  for  about  four  years  and  with  M.  Handy,  esq., 
for  one  year.  He  was  mayor  of  Wauseon  for  nearly  five  years  and  for  the  last 
four  years  has  been  president  of  the  Fulton  county  board  of  school  examiners, 
still  evincing  much  interest  in  and  giving  considerable  attention  to  educational 
matters.  It  should  not  be  left  unmentioned  that  Mr.  Murphy  became  a  Union 
soldier  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  and  honorably  and  faithfully  served  his  coun- 
try in  the  field  during  the  last  year  of  the  rebellion. 

In  point  of  scholarly  qualifications  Mr.  Murphy  is  probably  excelled  by  no 
member  of  the  bar  of  Northwestern  Ohio,  either  as  to  range  or  thoroughness. 
His  early  education  was  by  no  means  neglected  and  his  most  intimate  asso- 
ciates have  been  his  books,  yet  neither  his  tastes  nor  his  experience  as  a 
teacher  has  made  him  pedantic.  As  a  lawyer  he  may  safely  for  his  experi- 
ence be  pronounced  a  very  excellent  general  practitioner,  and  is  conspicuously 
able  as  an  advocate.  If  eloquence  be,  as  defined  by  a  celebrated  modern  his- 
torian, a  fusion  of  reason  and  passion,  then  Mr.  Murphy  is  an  eloquent  orator. 
A  lawsuit  with  him  is  a  kingdom  to  be  conquered  by  hard  fighting  and  he 
gives  blows  often  with  fierceness  and  always  receives  them  with  equanimity. 
Of  great  warmth  of  feeling  and  temperament  it  is  not  likely  that  he  ever  har- 
bored a  resentment  a  moment  after  the  occasion  therefor  passed  away. 
Among  the  leaders  of  the  Fulton  county  bar  he  is  fast  becoming  conspicuous 
and  evinces  promising  talent  as  a  nisi  prius  lawyer. 

While  prosecuting  his  legal  studies  Mr.  Murphy  was  married  and  is  the 
father  of  three  children. 


Fulton  County.  401 


Mazzini  Slusser,  the  present  prosecuting  attorney  of  Fulton  county,  is  thirty- 
five  years  old,  and  received  his  legal  education  in  the  office  of  A.  C.  Baldwin, 
at  Pontiac,  Mich.,  and  at  the  Michigan  University,  graduating  in  the  law  de- 
partment thereof,  in  1876.  His  rudimentary  and  literary  training  was  acquired 
in  the  public  schools  of  Bryan,  O.,  and  at  an  academy  which  flourished  there 
some  years  ago.  After  spending  two  years  in  public  school  work,  Mr.  Slusser 
located  at  Wauseon,  in  1878,  and  followed  the  business  of  general  insurance 
until  1880,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  L.  M.  Murphy,  esq.,  and  began 
the  active  practice  of  the  law.  In  1885  he  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of 
Fulton  county,  since  which  time  he  has  had  no  partnership  associate. 

Though  yet  young  in  the  law  practice,  Mr.  Slusser  has  attained  to  a  profit- 
able business,  and  gives  earnest  of  fine  ability,  especially  in  the  direction  of 
chancery  proceedings.  He  is  well  versed  in  legal  principles,  and  is  careful  and 
painstaking.  He  possesses  excellent  business  ability,  without  which  no  perma- 
nent and  substantial  success  can  be  acquired,  especially  in  the  domain  of  civil 
practice.  As  prosecuting  attorney,  he  has  achieved  success  in  a  fair  degree, 
but  the  bent  of  his  mind,  and  the  whole  tenor  of  his  legal  training,  seems  more 
in  the  direction  of  that  responsible  class  of  legal  business  which  is  taken  care 
of  and  receives  its  final  disposition  on  the  equity  side  of  the  court,  as  it  is  called 
in  the  careless  language  of  the  practicing  lawyer.  Mr.  Slusser  is  a  married 
man,  the  father  of  three  promising  boys.  His  conduct  in  all  the  relations  of 
life  is  most  exemplary.  He  is  sober,  relf- respecting,  and  though  not  brilliant, 
is  destined  to  solid  prominence  both  as  a  citizen  and  lawyer. 

William  H.  Gavitt  was  born  in  Franklin  county,  O.,  on  the  12th  day  of  No- 
vember, 1844.  He  is  the  son  of  a  prominent  Methodist  clergyman,  who  made 
Northwestern  Ohio  the  scene  of  his  active  labors  in  the  dispensation  of  the  gos- 
pel during  the  years  it  was  slowly  emerging  from  the  wilderness.  Mr.  Gavitt 
was  educated  at  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  one  of  the  most  prominent  edu- 
cational institutions  in  the  country  under  the  immediate  ecclesiastical  control 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  On  the  12th  day  of  January,  1863,  he  be- 
gan studying  law  with  M.  Handy,  esq.,  at  Ottokee,  the  old  county-seat  of  Ful- 
ton county,  but  completed  his  studies  at  Delaware,  in  the  office  of  James  R. 
Hubble,  at  that  time  a  leading  lawyer  of  Central  Ohio.  On  November  25, 
1865,  Mr.  Gavitt  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  immediately  opened  an  office  at 
Wauseon.  Wearying  somewhat  of  the  law  after  a  few  years,  he  went  to  Isabel 
county,  Mich.,  where  in  connection  with  Dr.  S.  T.  Norden,  whose  daughter  he 
had  married,  he  engaged  in  the  drug  business.  In  1876  he  returned  to  Fulton 
.  county,  and  again  embarked  in  the  legal  practice,  this  time  at  Delta,  where 
he  has  since  resided.  In  1880  he  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  Fulton 
county,  and  two  years  later  was  re-elected. 

Mr.  Gavitt  is  a  good  general  lawyer.  He  is  in  no  sense  a  specialist,  but 
seems  as  much  at  home  in  one  department  of  the  law  as  another.     He  is  a  good 

51 


402  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

pjeader,  and  a  good  advocate,  yet  has  always  given  careful  attention  to  com- 
mercial and  office  practice.  He  is  noted  as  a  speaker  who  is  never  at  a  loss  for 
something  weighty  and  plausible  to  say  in  defense  of  a  cause  which  has  all  the 
appearance  of  hopelessness,  and  he  can  be  daunted  by  no  discouragements. 
His  manners  are  dignified  and  pleasant,  and  he  is  deservedly  popular  with  his 
legal  brethren. 

John  Quincy  Files  is  a  native  of  Greene  county,  O.,  and  was  born  Septem- 
ber 21,  1846.  He  was  educated  at  the  village  school  of  a  small  and  antiquated 
place  designated  indifferently  in  local  parlance  as  Oldtown,  or  old  Chilicothe  in 
that  county.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  years  Mr.  Files  left  home,  and  began  the 
battle  of  life  for  himself  In  1870,  being  then  a  resident  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  he 
completed  the  course  of  book-keeping  in  Bryant  and  Stratton's  business  col- 
lege of  that  city,  after  which  for  several  years  he  was  a  traveling  salesman,  and 
sold  goods  throughout  many  of  the  western  States.  In  1875  he  located  at 
Holland,  Lucas  county,  and  for  three  years  followed  farming.  Here  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  B.  T.  Geer,  esq.,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Lucas  county,  with 
whom  in  1878,  he  began  studying  law,  finishing  his  course  and  being  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1880,  since  which  time  he  has  been  practicing  at  Swanton,  and  has 
met  with  considerable  success. 

Though  beginning  the  law  somewhat  late  in  life,  by  energy  and  good  busi- 
ness judgment,  added  to  careful  mastery  of  elementary  principles,  Mr.  Files  has 
risen  rapidly,  and  become  justly  prominent  among  the  leading  lawyers  of  Ful- 
ton county.  As  an  evidence  of  the  esteem  with  which  he  is  regarded  by  his 
fellow- citizens,  we  may  mention  that  he  is  mayor  of  the  village  of  Swanton,  and 
for  several  years  was  solicitor  of  that  incorporation.  He  has  been  twice  mar- 
ried, having  lost  his  first  wife  and  child  by  death  before  he  became  a  lawyer. 

William  W.  Williams  is  a  native  of  Michigan.  He  was  born  at  Monroe 
county,  in  that  State,  in  1836,  but  early  in  life  came  to  Ohio,  and  received  his 
education  in  the  common  schools  of  Fulton  county.  During  the  war  he  served 
his  country  with  credit  as  a  volunteer  soldier,  incurring  disabilities  from  which 
he  has  not  recovered.  At  the  mature  age  of  thirty-six,  he  began  the  study  of 
law,  at  Delta,  with  Lucius  H.  Upham,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1875, 
since  which  time  he  has  resided  at  Delta,  and  practiced  in  Fulton  county. 

Charles  F.  Greenough,  son  of  Elbridge  T.  Greenough,  was  born  July  29, 
1849,  at  Saulsbury,  New  Hampshire.  He  came  with  his  parents  to  Fulton 
county,  O.,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Wauseon.  He  studied 
law  in  his  father's  office,  and  was  licensed  to  practice  in  the  courts  of.  Ohio,  in 
1872,  since  which  time  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Fulton  county  bar. 

Cicero  E.  G.  Roseborough  is  the  eldest  son  of  John  W.  Roseborough,  and 
has  always  resided  in  Fulton  county.  He  was  born  in  1863,  and  in  1884  was 
graduated  at  the  Fayette  Normal  School.  He  studied  law  in  the  office  of  his 
father,  and  was  licensed   to   practice   by  the  Supreme   Court  of  the  State,  in 


Fulton  County.  403 


1886.  He  at  once  opened  an  office  in  Wauseon,  but  failing  health  compelled 
him  to  relinquish  the  profession  for  which  he  had  thoroughly  qualified  himself 
He  now  resides  at  the  home  of  his  parents  at  Burlington. 

This  chapter,  which  has  been  devoted  to  a  brief  history  of  the  bench  and 
bar  of  Fulton  county,  and  a  slight  attempt  at  estimating  the  professional  quali- 
ties and  more  salient  characteristics  of  those  who  have  occupied  and  now  are 
occupying  places  thereat,  may,  perhaps,  be  properly  concluded  by  an  enumer- 
ation of  those  fugitive  and  evanescent  characters,  who,  from  unsteadiness  of 
purpose,  from  causes  which  it  would  be  unkind  and  uncharitable  to  mention, 
or  from  the  thirst  and  desire  for  brighter  and  more  profitable  worlds  to  con- 
quer, tarried  not  long  in  Fulton  county,  or  sadly  fell  by  the  wayside,  or  re- 
nounced and  gave  up  that  most  laborious  calling  which,  as  Blackstone  says, 
"  employs  in  its  theories  the  noblest  faculties  of  the  soul,''  long  before,  by  toil 
and  perseverance,  they  had  climbed  up  into  "the  gladsome  light  of  jurispru- 
dence." Their  names  are  given  here  that  the  list  of  the  bench  and  bar  of  Ful- 
ton county  may  be  complete,  and  that  the  worthy  impulse  and  the  honorable, 
though  wavering,  ambition  which  prompted  them  to  essay  the  difficulties  of 
legal  study  and  practice,  may  not  be  left  entirely  unremembered  and  unre- 
corded :  Richard  Patterson,  Henry  H.  McElhinny,  John  T.  Birdseye,  William 
Welker,  Ray  McConahey,  Rezin  Franks,  Worling  B.  Leggett,  George  Den- 
man,  George  R.  Walker,  Henry  Hogaboam,  Edward  Tiffany,  S.  M.  Huyck, 
Warren  Upham,  Henry  Tiffany,  and  Allen  G.  Carmichael. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION. 

FOR  all  time  in  the  history  of  this  portion  of  our  State,  prior  to  about  thirty 
or  forty  years  ago,  it  was  generally  believed  by  people  that  had  no  under 
standing  of  medicine  or  surgery,  that  the  most  successful  curatives  were  "roots 
and  herbs ;"  and  in  various  places  in  this  work  will  be  found  mentioned  the 
names  of  persons,  men  and  women,  who  were  positive  blessings  to  the  commu- 
nity on  account  of  their  ready  understanding  of  each  and  every  "  case,"  which 
•could  be  easily  brought  into  subjection  by  a  timely  "  potion  "  of  boneset,  cat- 
nip, pennyroyal  or  ginger  tea,  and  that  the  presence  of  a  man  of  science,  or 
physician,  was  unnecessary,  and  only  entailed  a  needless  expense.  This,  in  a 
measure,  is  an  undeniable  truth,  for  it  does  seem  that  half  a  century  ago  there 
were  not  the  tenth  part  of  the  ailments  and  diseases  that  now  afflict  mankind, 
■or  at  least  there  were  not,  by  far,  so   many  named   diseases  as  now  present 


404  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

themselves  for  professional  treatment.  It  was  a  common  remark,  forty  years 
ago,  that  the  presence  of  a  doctor  in  any  rural  community  meant  future  trou- 
ble—  in  fact  that  doctors  "bred  disorders."  Notwithstanding  these  there  not 
infrequently  came  the  hour  when  the  physician  proved  a  blessing,  and  his 
efforts  were  duly  appreciated,  though  there  stood  by  at  the  time  the  redoubt- 
able "  root  and  herb"  devotee,  with  the  ever- ready  "hot  drink  of  boneset"  or 
other  "infallible  cure,"  unless  the  patient  died. 

The  history  of  the  medical  profession  has  been  written  in  the  life  and  prac- 
tice of  every  physician  now,  or  heretofore,  in  this  county.  It  is  written  in  the 
innumerable  hasty  calls  from  home  at  midnight,  and  frequently  when  tired 
nature  seeks  and  needs  rest  and  repose.  How  great  seems  the  hardship  to  be 
compelled  to  start  from  home  and  ride  perhaps  ten  or  fifteen  miles  through 
rain  and  storm,  to  fetch  the  doctor  to  some  loved  one  in  the  family.  But  who 
ever  thinks  the  physician  suffers  from  such  a  ride,  or  from  such  a  storm,  or  who 
ever  thinks  it  any  inconvenience  to  him  to  leave  a  bed  of  rest  when,  perhaps, 
the  day  previous  he  has  driven  twenty  miles  visiting  patients.  The  history  of 
the  profession  is  written  in  each  and  every  of  these  hardships,  in  each  and 
every  case  that  he  is  called  to  treat.  We  might  pogsibly  add  the  remark  of 
some  wag — that  the  history  of  the  profession  is  written  "  on  every  tombstone" 
—  but  honor  and  respect  for  a  noble  profession  forbids  that  any  but  pleasant 
remembrances  should  find  place  here.  There  lives  not  one  physician  in  prac- 
tice for  any  length  of  time  but  has  lost  patients,  but  this  is  but  rarely  the  fault 
of  the  physician ;  and  of  all  that  may  chance  to  read  these  pages,  there  is  not 
one  that  can  honestly  and  conscientiously  say  that  a  physician  has  not  tried  to 
effect  a  cure.  Cases  are  not  wanting  in  which  a  mistaken  diagnosis  has  been 
made — "to  err  is  human,"  and  no  man  is  exempt  from  it.  With  the  physi- 
cian his  reputation  is  at  stake,  and  more  than  that,  to  his  charge  is  committed^ 
perhaps,  a  life.     And  who  shall  say  he  has  been  careless  or  negligent  of  it? 

The  profession  in  Fulton  county  is  the  same  as  elsewhere,  and  the  medical 
history  of  this  is  that  of  every  county  in  the  State. 

The  Fulton  County  Medical  Society. — This  association  of  the  physicians  of 
the  county  has  been  in  existence  for  twenty  years.  It  was  organized  on  the 
15th  day  of  February,  1868,  with  the  following  charter  members;  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Hyde,  Dr.  De  Witt  HoUister,  Dr.  N.  W.  Jewell,  Dr.  William  Ramsey, 
Dr.  S.  P.  Bishop,  Dr.  S.  Hubbard,  Dr.  A.  J.  Murbach,  Dr.  S.  F.  Worden,  and 
Dr.  Josiah  H.  Bennett.  The  society  prospered  and  grew  in  membership  and 
interest  for  several  years,  and  became  auxiliary  to  the  State  Medical  Society, 
and  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  strongest  members  of  the  State  organization. 
Of  late  years,  however,  the  interest  in  the  local  society  seems  to  have  declined, 
and  the  meetings  are  not  as  well  attended  as  the  importance  of  the  organiza- 
tion requires. 

Appended  to  this  chapter  will  be  found  brief  sketches  of  the  early,  and 


■/- 


7*^ 


Fulton  County.  405. 


some  of  the  present  physicians  of  the  county.  Every  reasonable  effort  has 
been  made  to  obtain  information  from  each  now  in  practice,  but  that  effort  has- 
not  met  with  the  success  it  honestly  deserved.  Should  any  be  found  missing, 
the  fault  rests  only  with  the  person,  as  ample  time  has  been  granted  in  which 
to  furnish  data. 

Of  the  resident  physicians  of  the  county  of  whom  no  information  or  data 
has  been  obtained,  there  are  several.  For  a  personal  sketch  of  Drs.  De  Witt 
Hollister,  A.  J.  Murbach,  Estell  H.  Rorick  and  L.  A.  Bassett,  reference  is 
hereby  made  to  the  biographical  department  of  this  volume.  The  other  resi- 
dent physicians  of  the  county  are  as  follows:  P.  J.  Lenhart,  Wauseon  ;  J.  O. 
Allen,  Fayette ;  Dr.^ Clark,  Metamora  ;  Ezra  Mann,  Lyons;  Dr.  O'Dell,  Delta; 
A.  J.  Cunningham,  Phillips  Corners  ;  J.  H.  Waddle,  Wauseon  ;  Dr.  Longman, 
Wauseon  ;  G.  E.  Turrill,  Wauseon ;  Dr.  Tompkins,  Metamora  ;  Dr.  Fletcher, 
Delta  ;  G.  W.  Hartman,  Archbold. 

Brief  Sketches  of  Early  and  Present  Physicians. 

William  Holland  was  born  at  Oakham,  Mass.,  in  the  year  1766  ;  came  to- 
Fulton  county  in  1842  and  purchased  a  tract  of  land  in  Pike  township,  return- 
ing soon  to  Massachusetts.  His  daughter,  Louisa  Holland,  married  Alfred  A. 
Shute,  September  11,  1843,  and  soon  after  decided  to  come  to  Fulton  county. 
With  Dr.  Holland  and  family,  they  arrived  in  Pike  township  about  the  ist  of 
October,  1843,  and  the  whole  family  soon  became  closely  identified  with  the 
then  few  inhabitants  of  the  township.  He  was  educated  in  private  schools 
then  common  in  New  England.  After  reaching  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  com- 
menced the  study  of  Latin  under  the  instruction  of  Rev.  M.  Bascom,  to  prepare 
himself  for  the  study  of  medicine.  He  read  medicine  with  the  most  prominent 
members  of  the  profession  of  the  day,  and  united  with  the  Massachusetts  State 
Medical  Association.  At  the  age  of  twenty-six  he  commenced  the  practice. 
From  1792  to  the  year  of  his  removal  from  Massachusetts,  1843,  he  practiced 
his  profession.  After  arriving  in  Fulton  county,  and  at  the  age  of  ninety 
years,  he  practiced  some,  even  when  he  had  to  be  carried  to  and  from  his  house 
and  vehicle.  It  can  be  said  with  truth  that  no  other  township  in  Fulton  county 
save  Pike,  has  laid  to  rest  a  man  born  ten  years  before  the  Revolution. 

William  Hyde,  son  of  William  Hyde,  a  silk  manufacturer,  was  born  in  Lon- 
don, England,  Julys,  1813.  He  became  a  physician,  not  from  choice,  but 
from  circumstances.  When  four  years  old  he  fell  from  a  two-story  window, 
sustaining  a  fracture  above  and  below  the  knee.  Dr.  Taylor  attended  him,  a 
young  physician,  and  friend  of  the  family.  This  being  his  first  case  in  sur- 
gery, he  wished  to  have  him  for  a  student,  to  which  his  father  agreed,  and 
when  old  enough,  he  was  sent  to  study  under  him.  Seven  years  of  his  life  was 
spent  in  practice  in  a  hospital.  When  twenty  years  old  he  was  married  to 
Kathern  East.     In  1835    he   left   England  and  came  to  America.     One  year 


4o6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

previous  to  this  he  kept  drug  store  and  followed  his  profession,  but  disliking 
the  latter  he  determined  not  to  follow  it  when  he  should  arrive  in  this  country, 
but  circumstances  forced  themselves  upon  him.  When  crossing  the  ocean 
there  was  a  case  of  typhus  fever,  and  being  the  only  doctor  on  board  he  was 
called  upon  by  the  captain  to  take  the  case.  He  did  so,  and  the  man  recov- 
ered. When  they  arrived  in  New  York  his  success  was  related,  and  he  was 
offered  a  position  in  that  city,  but  true  to  his  purpose  of  discarding  his  profes- 
sion, he  refused  the  offer,  and  went  to  Cleveland,  where  he  clerked  in  a  whole- 
sale drug  store  four  years.  Afterwards  he  bought  a  farm  in  Wayne  county, 
and  followed  that  occupation.  Again  his  evil  genius  followed  him.  A  child 
in  the  neighborhood  had  the  croup,  and  being  so  far  from  any  doctor,  the  father 
called  on  Dr.  Hyde.  He  refused  to  attend  the  child,  but  the  father  called 
the  second  time,  and  in  such  strong  terms  urged  him,  that  he  went.  From 
that  time  his  practice  increased  so  that  he  was  forced  to  give  up  farming,  and 
moved  to  Millbrook,  O.  In  1847  hs  moved  to  Fulton  county,  bought  a  farm 
and  had  a  large  practice,  which  so  increased  that  he  gave  up  farming  and 
moved  to  Spring  Hill;  from  there  to  Wauseon.  In  1873  he  went  to  Chicago 
to  live  with  Mrs.  Swart,  his  daughter.  He  died  June  8,  1881  ;  the  cause  of 
his  death  inflammation  of  the  bowels.  He  was  buried  in  Goshen,  Ind.,  where 
the  rest  of  his  family,  a  son  and  daughter,  reside. 

James  J.  Kittredge  was  born  in  Woburn,  Mass.,  April  11,  1816;  studied 
medicine  with  his  uncle,  Paul  Kittredge,  M.  D.,  of  Chelmsford,  Mass.;  attend- 
ed two  full  courses  of  lectures  at  the  Berkshire  Medical  Institution  in  Pittsfield, 
Mass.,  the  first  in  the  fall  of  1844;  the  second  in  the  fall  of  1845  ;  moved  to 
Chesterfield,  Fulton  county,  O.,  June  21,  1846.  The  first  professional  call 
after  reaching  Chesterfield  was  to  the  family  of  James  Taylor,  June  22,  of  the 
same  month;  moved  from  Chesterfield  to  Morenci,  Mich.,  September  10,  r86o, 
and  immediately  formed  a  partnership  with  Dr.  Joseph  Tripp,  of  Morenci; 
left  Morenci  in  November,  1864,  and  made  his  residence  in  Crystal  Valley, 
Mich.,  which  place  is  still  his  home. 

Dr.  Kendall  was  born  in  New  York  State,  June  30,  1793;  received  his 
medical  education  in  New  York;  came  to  Fulton  county  November,  1839,  and 
practiced  in  all  thirty-six  years;  died  January  i,  1873,  in  Pettisville,  Fulton 
county. 

S.  W.  Jewell  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  O.,  Jan.  20,  1826;  moved  with 
his  family  to  then  Lucas  county,  O.,  in  the  year  1842,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Spring  Hill. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  commenced  to  study  medicine  with  Dr.  Wm. 
Hyde,  who  had  recently  moved  into  the  neighborhood,  remained  with  him  as 
a  student  two  years. 

During  the  fall  of  1848,  owing  to  the  amount  of  sickness  and  lack  of 
physicians  he  treated  quite  a  number  of  families  without  the  aid  of  his  precep- 
tor, allowing  him  the  fee. 


Fulton  County. 


407 


In  the  spring  of  1849  he  commenced  to  practice  medicine  for  himself 

In  1850  he  concluded  to  attend  medical  lectures.  Accordingly,  in  the 
month  of  October  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  into  Wayne  county,  the  place 
of  his  birth,  intending  to  sell  his  horse  there,  and  with  the  proceeds  attend 
medical  lectures  during  the  winter.  Failing  to  sell  as  expected,  he  left  his 
horse  with  a  friend  and  started  for  Cleveland,  O.,  on  foot,  where  he  arrived  in 
due  time,  matriculated  at  the  college,  bought  a  ticket  on  anatomy  and  received 
a  ticket  of  general  admission  to  all  the  lectures  good  for  six  weeks.  At  the 
end  of  the  time  his  money  was  all  gone  and  he  was  compelled  to  return  home. 

Thus  armed  with  a  little  knowledge  of  anatomy  and  what  he  had  seen  in 
the  clinics  of  the  college,  he  went  forth  again  to  battle  with  disease,  feeling  at 
least  that  he  was  as  competent  as  any  of  his  competitors. 

In  January,  1855,  he  married  and  moved  to  Toledo,  O.  ;  practiced  medi- 
cine in  that  city  during  the  summer  and  fall. 

In  January,  1856,  he  moved  to  Wauseon,  O.,  a  thriving  town  on  the  Air  Line 
Railroad,  and  within  the  bounds  of  his  old  field  of  practice'.  In  the  fall  of  1859 
he  removed  to  Valparaiso,  Ind.,  opened  an  office  in  that  city  and  practiced  un- 
til the  spring  of  186 1,  when  from  the  earnest  solicitations  of  many  of  his  old 
patrons  he  moved  back  to  Wauseon,  O.,  where  he  has  remained  ever  since. 

During  the  war  he  was  commissioned  surgeon  for  Fulton  county  to  exam- 
ine applicants  for  exemption  from  military  duty.  Served  during  the  continu- 
ance of  the  war. 

While  in  Valparaiso,  Ind.,  he  learned  the  business  of  dentistry  as  taught  in 
that  early  day,  and  when  he  returned  to  Wauseon,  he  practiced  jointly  medi- 
cine, surgery  and  dentistry  for  many  years.  In  the  fall  of  1864  he  concluded 
to  attend  lectures  again  and  obtain  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  ;  to  that 
end  he  attended  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  during  the  session  of  1864 
and  1865.  He  learned  after  a  time  that  he  could  not  graduate  at  that  insti- 
tution, however  well  quaHfied  he  might  be,  in  consequence  of  their  rules  requir- 
ing two  full  courses  of  lectures,  his  course  at  Cleveland,  O.,  in  1850  being  only 
a  partial  course,  rendered  him  ineligible  as  a  candidate  for  graduation.  At 
the  close  of  the  session  he  returned  home,  and  not  wishing  to  make  another 
break  in  practice  he  concluded  to  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  attending 
the  spring  session  of  the  Cincinnati  College  of  Medicine  and  Surgery  for  the 
year  1865,  the  only  college  in  the  west  at  that  time  holding  a  spring  session. 

He  repaired  at  once  to  Cincinnati,  entered  the  college,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  term  received  his  diploma  bearing  date  June  19,  A.  D.,  1865. 

Since  his  graduation  he  has  attended  medical  lectures  at  Chicago,  III,  in 
1873,  and  at  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  Md.,  in  the  year  1881.  Also  in  the 
same  city  he  attended,  during  the  months  of  January  and  February  the  daily 
clinics  of  Prof  Chisholm  at  the  Eye,  Ear  and  Throat  Hospital. 

W.  A.  Scott  was  born  August  21,  1823,  in   Fairfield,  Huron  county,  O.  ; 


4o8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

came  to  what  is  now  Swanton  township,  Lucas  county,  with   his   parents,  in 
April,  1835. 

His  preliminary  education  was  obtained  in  common  schools,  with  two  terms 
of  select  school  in  Maumee  City.  He  taught  school  several  winters,  two  terms 
of  which  were  in  Toledo,  O.  ;  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Calvin  Smith,  of  To- 
ledo, who  died  of  cholera,  in  1852.  While  pursuing  his  studies  was  physician 
for  Lucas  County  Infirmary,  for  fifteen  months  ;  clerked  in  a  drug  store  in  To- 
ledo, one  year,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  practical  knowledge  of  drugs  and 
their  preparation  ;   attended  medical  lectures  in  Cleveland. 

Estell  H.  Rorick  was  born  in  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1842.  He  ob- 
tained his  rudimentary  professional  education  with  Dr.  Werds,  with  whom  he 
spent  some  months  at  the  army  hospital  at  Nashville,  Tenn.  He  attended  the 
lectures  at  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  at  Ann  Ar- 
bor, and  graduated  in  1859.  He  first  located  in  this  county  at  Spring  Hill, 
and  afterwards  moved  to  Fayette,  his  present  residence. 

Dr.  Rorick  also  took  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  Detroit  Medical  College,  at 
Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  at  Mobile,  Ala.  His  success  in  the  field  of  medicine 
has  been  deserved,  and  he  ranks  among  the  leading  physicians  of  the  county 
and  State. 

Josiah  Hibbard  Bennett  was  born  July  22,  1825,  in  Allegany  county.  State 
of  New  York ;  of  American  parentage,  and  of  English  and  French  ancestry. 
He  was  principally  educated  in  Temple  Hill  Seminary,  at  Geneseo,  N.  Y.,  and 
■emigrated  to  Ohio  in  1846.  He  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  under  the 
tuition  of  Dr.  William  C.  Porter,  of  Defiance,  O.,  remaining  with  him  for  two 
years,  then  continuing  his  studies  with  Drs.  John  Paul  and  Jonas  Colby,  one 
year  longer.  Subsequently,  he  finished  his  course  of  study  at  Starling  Medical 
College,  Columbus,  O.,  in  the  winter  of  1849-50.  He  commenced  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  the  spring  of  1850,  at  Evansport,  Defiance  county,  O.,  and 
was  one  of  the  pioneer  physicians  and  surgeons  of  Northwestern  Ohio.  He 
remained  there  thirteen  years,  practicing  his  profession  with  satisfactory  suc- 
i;ess,  without  absence  for  recreation  or  rest,  riding  through  streams,  swamps, 
thickets  and  by-paths,  upon  horse-back,  frequently  being  lost  in  the  dense  for- 
-est  in  the  night ;  would  have  to  sit  upon  a  log,  lay  upon  the  ground,  or  stand 
till  daylight,  weary,  sleepy  and  hungry. 

Some  years,  in  his  early  practice,  in  very  sickly  seasons,  would  ride  day 
and  night,  for  two  or  three  months,  without  resting  upon  a  bed  one  whole 
night. 

In  August,  1863,  he  moved  to  Wauseon,  Fulton  county,  O.,  where  he  has 
ever  since  resided,  and  where  he  is  known  and  recognized  as  an  able  physician 
and  surgeon. 

In  1869  he  was  appointed  surgeon  for  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  South- 
ern Railroad  Company,  upon  the  special  recommendation  of  Hon.  M.  R.  Waite, 


Fulton  County.  409- 


the  present  chief  justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  which  position 
he  still  occupies,  with  credit  to  himself,  with  satisfaction  to  the  company,  and. 
with' honor  to  the  profession.  His  leisure  time  has  usually  been  spent  in  medi- 
cal colleges  and  hospitals,  especially  in  the  surgical  room.  Dr.  Bennett  has 
been  a  close  medical  student  for  some  forty  years,  and  his  application  has  re- 
sulted in  originating  the  principles  of  dry  surgical  dressings,  which  he  has  used 
with  great  success,  for  twenty-five  years,  basing  his  theory  upon  dry,  infre- 
quent dressing  of  wounds,  with  absolute  rest  and  positive  position,  as  most 
needful  for  convalescence.  He  has  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  method, 
adopted  in  many  of  the  hospitals  of  this  country  and  in  Europe. 

Dr.  Bennett  is  an  active  member  of  the  Fulton  County  Medical  Society,, 
and  also  of  the  United  States  Medical  Congress,  since  1856.  He  also  was  a 
member  of  the  International  Medical  Congress,  which  convened  at  London,, 
England,  in  1881. 

William  Ramsey,  of  Delta,  O.,  was  born  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  in  1827, 
of  Scotch  parentage;  came  to  Ohio  in  1842,  and  settled  near  BoHvar,  with  a 
widowed  mother,  three  brothers  and  one  sister.  He  commenced  teaching 
school  when  seventeen  years  old  and  taught  until  1847,  when  he  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  in  the  office  of  Drs.  Bennett  and  Dodge,  in  Bolivar,  and 
attended  lectures  at  the  Cleveland  Medical  College  in  the  years  of  1848  and 
'49;  went  into  the  drug  business  in  Loudonville,  O.,  in  the  fall  of  1851,  and; 
the  following  spring  sold  out  and  moved 'to  Delta,  where  he  practiced  medicine 
up  to  1873,  when,  owing  to  failing  health,  he  established  what  is  known  as  the 
Bank  of  Delta,  which  venture  proved  remunerative  in  his  hands,  as  had  his 
profession.  He  still  lives  in  Delta,  enjoying  the  confidence  of  all  who  knew 
him  as  a  physician,  and  now  as  one  of  the  leading  bankers  of  the  county. 

H.  F.  Van  Buskirk  was  born  in  Fayette,  O.,  July  25,  1861,  and  is  a  son  of 
the  late  Dr.  J.  T.  Van  Buskirk,  of  the  same  place  ;  began  the  study  of  medicine  in 
the  fall  of  1878,  and  continued  under  the  direction  of  Drs.  McLean  and  Bach- 
man,  of  Stanton,  Mich.,  until  September,  1876,  when  he  commenced  a  six 
months'  course  of  lectures  at  the  Detroit  Medical  College. 

In  the  spring  of  1880  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  where  he  began  attend- 
ing the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  where  he  remained  until  graduating  April, 
I,  1882.  Soon  after  completing  his  studies  he  located  in  his  former  home,. 
Fayette,  0.,  where  he  still  remains  in  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

Charles  E.  Bennett  was  born  in  Evansport,  O.,  March  i,  1856;  removed: 
with  parents  to  Wauseon,  O.,  in  October,  1863,  where  he  attended  the  graded 
schools  until  1873,  when  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  with  his  father.  Dr.  J. 
H.  Bennett ;  attended  the  Detroit  Medical  College,  with  Prof.  E.  W.  Jenks  as 
his  preceptor,  he  being  president  of  the  institution,  and  professor  of  surgical 
diseases  of  women  and  obstetrics. 

Dr.  Bennett  attended  two  regular  sessions  and   was  a  member,  during  the 

52 


4IO  History  ok  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

spring  and  summer  of  1875,  of  the  five  months'  recitation  term,  graduated  the 
29th  of  February,  1876,  and  commenced  practice  March  i,  1876,  at  Wauseon, 
with  his  father,  where  he  has  constantly  resided  since,  actively  practicing  his 
profession. 

S.  P.  Bishop  was  born  in  Licking  county,  O.,  Dec.  3,  1839.  Moved  with 
his  parents  to  Bryan,  O.,  in  1856.  Attended  the  high  school  [in  the  same 
place  for  several  years.  Read  medicine  with  Dr.  H.  C.  Long  of  Bryan.  At- 
tended the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan  in  1862,  and 
'63,  and  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  in  1864  and  '65.  Received  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  March,  1865,  at  the  last  named  institution. 
Permanently  located  in  Delta,  O.,  April,  1865,  where  he  has  an  extensive  and 
remunerative  practice,  and  is  known  as  a  thorough  and  highly  competent 
physician  and  surgeon. 

L.  A.  Bassett  was  born  in  Amsden  Corners  (now  Bellevue) [Huron  county, 
■0.,  October  25,  1825.  Commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  in  an  early  day 
after  several  years  study  and  riding  with  Dr.  John  Osborne,  in  Wood  county, 
O.  Has  been  a  resident  and  practitioner  of  medicine  in  Fulton  county  since 
1857.      Now  resides  in  Swanton. 

John  A.  Wilkins  was  born  May  i,  in  New  York.  Studied  medicine  with 
Dr.  Alfred  FoUett,  Granville,  O.,  and  graduated  at  the  Starling  Medical  Col- 
lege, Columbus,  O.  Received  the  degree  of  A.M.  at  Dennison  University. 
Practiced  medicine  and  surgery  at  Delta,  O.,  fourteen  years,  at  which  place  he 
still  resides.  Dr.  Wilkins  was  a  member  of  the  Ohio  State  Senate  in  1880 
and  '81. 

G.  P.  Campbell  was  born  March  19,  1847,  ^t  Carmichaeltown,  Green 
county,  Pa.  Moved  to  Ohio  in  1855.  Read  medicine  with  Dr.  J.  H.  Todd,  of 
Wooster,  O.  Graduated  at  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  New  York 
■city,  in  March,  1870.  Located  at  Ridgeville,  Henry  county,  O.,  soon  after 
graduating  and  practiced  there  until  May,  1872,  when  he  moved  to  Tedrow, 
Fulton  county,  O.,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided  attending  to  a  large  and 
lucrative  practice. 

Arthur  B.  Lathrop  was  born  in  Richfield  township,  Lucas  county,  0., 
September  27,  1857.  Attended  the  following  literary  schools:  Raisin  Valley 
Seminary,  two  years  ;  Valparaiso  Normal  School,  seven  months ;  Hillsdale 
College,  two  and  one-half  years.  In  medical  studies  Dr.  Congrove,  of  Syl- 
vania,  O.,  was  his  preceptor.  He  took  a  five  months  preparatory  course  at 
what  is  now  known  as  the  N.  W.  O.  Medical  School.  He  took  a  course  of 
study  at  Starling  Medical  College  two  years,  graduating  from  the  same  in 
1882.  In  the  fall  of  1882  he  attended  a  course  at  Bellevue  Medical  College, 
New  York  city,  graduating  in  the  spring  of  1883,  after  which  he  located  at 
Swanton,  Fulton  county,  O.,  where  he  still  resides,  practicing  his  profession 
with  satisfactory  success. 


Fulton  County.  411 


L.  E.  Miley  was  born  February  25,  1852, -in  Clinton  township,  Fulton 
county.  His  early  life  was  spent  on  the  farm  and  in  attending  district  school  dur- 
ing the  winter.  At  about  the  age  of  sixteen  entered  the  high  school  at  Wau- 
seon,  wherehe  attended  two  years,  after  which  he  taught  and  attended  school 
some  eight  years,  one  year  of  which  he  attended  the  Bryan  Normal  and  Bus- 
iness College.  In  the  winter  of  1877  and  '78  he  began  the  study  of  medicine 
with  Dr.  G.  P.  Campbell  of  Tedrow,  O  ,  and  on  October  i,  1879,  entered  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan.  He  graduated  from  the 
university  June  30,  i88i.  In  August,  1881,  he  began  practice  at  Ai,  Fulton 
county,  remaining  there  one  year  and  a  half  He  then  located  at  Louisville,. 
Ky.,  when  ill  health  compelled  him  after  nearly  a  year  in  the  city  to  return 
north.  February  28,  1884,  was  married  to  Ella  F.  Deyo,  daughter  of  Hon- 
Albert  Deyo.  Removing  then  to  Wauseon,  O.,  he  has  continued  to  reside 
there  still  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

H.  H.  Brown,  of  Lyons,  O.,  was  born  at  Williamsport,  Pa.,  July  8,  1863. 
Attended  literary  school  at  Clinton,  Me.,  high  school  and  University  of  Mich- 
igan. Took  three  years  course  in  department  of  medicine  and  surgery  at  the 
University  of  Michigan,  entering  fall  of  1883,  and  graduating  July  i,  1886. 
Located  at  Lyons  soon  after  completing  his  studies,  where  he  still  resides  prac- 
ticing his  profession. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

THE  PRESS  OF  FULTON  COUNTY. 

PERHAPS  the  scope  of  this  chapter  would  but  ordinarily  include  and  refer  to 
those  papers  that  are  now,  or  heretofore  may  have  been,  published  or  issued 
in  various  portions  of  the  county,  and  without  any  allusion  to  any  advance  or 
retrograde  movement  in  journalism,  from  the  organization  of  the  county  to  the 
present  time.  It  is  a  known  truth  that  there  was  no  newspaper  within  the  limits 
of  Fulton  county  prior  to  its  civil  organization,  and,  at  that  day,  the  intelligent 
reader  was  for  information  compelled  to  depend  almost  entirely  upon  papers 
printed  and  published  many  miles  from  his  abode,  and  even  then  the  average 
citizen  cared  but  little  for  the  current  events  of  the  nation  ;  happenings  outside 
of  the  circle  of  his  own  limited  acquaintance.  The  cable  system  fpr  rapid 
transmission  of  news  from  foreign  countries,  was  an  unheard  of  and  uncon- 
ceived  idea.  The  telegraphic  system  was,  in  a  great  measure,  in  an  imperfect 
condition,  and  but  little  used  in  carrying  public  news  for  the  press.  But  as  our 
country  grew  in  population  and  wealth,  so  its  people  also  advanced  in  point  of 


412  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

intelligence,  and  a  desire  to  become  conversant  with  the  affairs  of  the  country 
in  general,  especially  in  relation  to  its  political  advance  and  status.  Forty 
years  ago  there  was  not  one  person  in  the  hundred  that  could,  or  would, 
attempt  an  intelligent  conversation  and  argument  upon  any  topic  of  public  in- 
terest ;  content  were  they  rather,  on  a  stormy  day  to  gather  at  the  country  store 
({always  near  a  cross-roads),  and  discuss  crops  and  incidents,  and  accidents 
•occurring  in  their  own  community,  and  should,  perchance,  any  one  venture  an 
•opinion  upon  a  matter  of  public  or  national  interest,  they,  to  a  man,  would  be- 
come silent  listeners,  and  only  within  the  private  of  the  home  and  family,  could 
an  opinion  be  drawn  from  them.  Why?  because  they  knew  not,  nor  did  they 
much  care,  about  affairs  outside  their  own  community.  At  the  polls  they  would 
vote  in  accordance  with  their  inherited  party  preferences,  and  further  than  this 
they  had  no  interest.  How  many  sons  of  fathers,  forty  and  more  years  ago, 
dared  to,  or  even  thought  of  departing  from  the  political  course  of  the  father, 
and  voting  with  an  opposition  party.  In  those  days  young  men  inherited  their 
political  allegiance  from  their  parents.  Then  a  newspaper  was  read,  its  contents 
for  a  time  were  a  source  of  wonder  and  amazement,  and  did  it  happen  to  be  an 
organ  opposed  to  the  sentiment  of  the  household,  it  was  at  once  dropped,  its 
•doctrines  were  heresy. 

But  in  the  course  of  American  progress,  there  came  a  change,  a  wonderful 
change,  in  every  community,  brought  about  by  a  constant  interchange  of  ideas 
and  sentiments  among  the  people,  and  among  the  people  of  the  rural  districts 
as  well  as  in  thickly  populated  communities.  One  step  forward  has  created  a 
desire  to  go  further  on,  until  now,  in  every  part  of  our  land,  the  people  are  well 
informed  both  as  to  political  and  other  affairs,  and  anything  that  tends  to  ele- 
vate and  enlighten,  and  place  the  people  upon  a  higher  plane  of  intelligence. 
In  answer  to  the  query,  what  has  caused  this  change  ?  the  answer  is  clear — 
American  progress  and  the  American  newspaper. 

Again,  the  question  presents  itself:  Has  there  been  the  same  improvement, 
the  same  advancement  in  journalism,  as  in  other  trades,  pursuits  and  occupa- 
tions ?  For  answer  only  turn  to  an  old  paper  published  half  a  century  ago,  and 
•compare  it  with  the  average  journal  of  the  present  day.  From  the  old  screw 
press  on  which  a  paper  could  be  printed  on  one  side  at  about  rate  of  one  each 
minute,  we  now  see  in  use  presses  that  print  on  both  sides  at  the  rate  of  about 
twelve  thousand  per  hour,  or  about  two  hundred  per  minute.  And,  too,  in  a  great 
ratio  has  there  been  an  increase  in  number  of  papers  in  the  country,  until  now 
the  press  is  regarded  and  acknowledged  as  the  great  medium  of  exchange,  the 
means  of  communication  between  occurring  events  and  an  intelligent  reading 
people.  The  citizens  of  this  country  are  now  sufficiently  educated,  sufficiently 
-advanced,  and  sufficientl)'  American  as  to  demand  that  there  be  placed  at  their 
houses  one  or  more  newspapers,  and  that  the  affairs  of  the  nation  shall  be  found 
in  their  paper's  columns.     This  demand  has  been  fully  met  by  the  publisher. 


Fulton  County.  413 


both  as  an  advance  step  and  a  positive  necessity;  but  it  entailed  such  an  addi- 
tional expense,  that  some  means  must  be  devised  to  reduce  that  expense,  or  the 
alternative,  the  increased  subscription  price. 

■  This  necessity  led  some  years  ago  to  the  introduction  of  |a  system  of  pro- 
ducing what  has  been,  for  convenience,  termed  "  patent  sides."  By  this  system 
the  paper  was,  and  now  is,  printed  on  one  side  at  some  large  city,  with  the  best 
and  most  carefully  selected  miscellaneous  matter,  and  furnished  to  the  proprie- 
tors of  many  offices  throughout  the  country,  at  a  price  far  less  than  the  matter 
could  be  set  up  and  printed  in  the  office  of  the  paper.  The  benefit  of  this  is 
readily  apparent  in  the  now  reasonable  price  of  all  country  papers,  by  which  the 
same  reaches  nearly  every  family  in  the  country,  at  a  cost  seldom  reaching  be- 
yond $1.50  per  year. 

Another  practice,  and  a  popular  one  to,  is  in  the  stereotyping  of  colums  of 
printed  matter,  and  moulding  it  into  "  plates,"  or  "slugs,"  which  are  for  sale  at 
many  large  offices,  at  so  much  per  foot,  or  yard.  By  far  a  greater  portion  of 
the  rural  papers  published  in  this  county  are,  at  least  partially,  made  up  in  one 
or  the  other  of  the  methods  named,  and  the  greatest  benefit  from  it  is  derived 
by  the  reader,  and  there  is  not  now,  it  is  safe  to  say,  a  single  paper  issued  or 
published  in  Fulton  county,  but  that  is  in  part  made  up  in  this  manner. 

But  what  has  Fulton  county  done  in  the  way  of  newspaper  publications  ? 
And  aside  from  those  now  issued  in  the  county,  let  us  look  into  the  past  and  see 
what  has  been  the  record  of  those  that  are  no  more.  From  it  the  fact  is  clear 
that  the  life  of  the  average  editor  and  publisher  has  not  been  altogether  strewn 
with  roses,  nor  has  his  pathway  been  payed  with  gold.  Journalism,  like  any 
other  profession,  has  its  ups  and  downs,  and  of  the  hundreds  and  thousands 
who  have  ventured  into  its  limitless  field,  but  a  small  proportion  have  achieved 
success.  Ability  and  scholarship  are  not  alone  the  chief  requisites  for  the  con- 
duct of  a  successful  paper,  but  tact  and  management  likewise  constitute  an  im- 
portant element  in  the  work,  and  any  aspirant  who  lacks  any  one  of  these 
accomplishments,  had  best  avoid  the  sanctum,  the  desk,  and  the  case. 

Of  the  early  papers  pubHshed  in  this  county  no  record  exists,  and  such  in- 
formation as  can  be  had  concerning  them  comes  from  the  memory  of  old  resi- 
dents. It  is,  therefore,  possible  that  some  inaccuracies  may  be  found  in  the 
in  statements  following ;  yet,  on  the  whole,  it  is  believed  that  they  will  be 
found  generally  correct. 

The  Fulton  County  Democrat.  —The  village  of  Delta  may  lay  just  claim  to 
the  distinction  of  having  the  pioneer  newspaper  of  the  county,  in  the  publica- 
tion at  that  place,  of  the  Fulton  county  Democrat ;  a  six-column  folio,  all  home 
work  (at  that  time  patent  sheets  were  unknown).  It  was  established  some 
time  during  the  winter  of  1851-52  by  Lewis  W.  Stum,  who  continued  its  publi- 
<:ation  with  varying  success  for  about  one  year,  when  the  office  and  paper  were 
sold  to  one  Rosenberg.     The  latter  moved  the  office  to   Ottokee,  the  county 


414  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

seat,  but  a  few  months  later  he  sold  to  J.  W.  Carter  and  H.  B.  Bayes.  Carter 
and  Bayes  continued  it  some  six  months  when  Carter  bought  the  interest  of 
his  partner,  Bayes,  and  became  its  sole  editor  and  proprietor. 

Carter  made  an  arrangement  or  lease  with  one  Topliff,  who  was  con- 
nected with  its  editorial  department  for  a  time,  but  about  the  spring  of  the  year 
1856,  the  establishment  was  sold,  and  the  plant  removed  to  Morenci,  Mich> 
The  Democrat  was,  as  its  name  implied,  a  democratic  paper,  and  the  organ  of 
that  party,  which  during  the  infant  days  of  the  county  was  numerically  in  the 
ascendency. 

The  Delta  Independent  Press. — At  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  Fulton- 
County  Democrat  at  Delta,  that  place  was  perhaps  the  most  important  of  any  of 
the  small  towns  of  the  county,  and  while  the  publication  of  a  paper  there  was- 
not  particularly  remunerative  to  its  owners,  the  citizens  of  the  place  were  much 
displeased  at  the  sale  and  removal  of  the  office  of  the  Democrat  to  Ottokee;  and 
although  the  latter  was  the  county  seat.  Delta  still  held  the  greater  population, 
and  felt  entitled  to  a  newspaper  publication.  This  feeling  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Delta  Independent  Press,  under  the  management  of  Lewis  W.  Stum,, 
formerly  of  the  Democrat.  Stum  continued  the  paper  for  some  months,  when 
he  sold  his  interest  to  Martin  Butler,  and  the  latter,  after  a  short  time  sold  to> 
William  Stum  and  James  K.  Newcomer.  These  gentlemen  held  its  office  for 
several  years  when  Peter  James  purchased  Stum's  interest.  Under  the  owner- 
ship of  Mr.  Butler  the  independent  tone  of  the  paper  was  changed,  and  it  be- 
came thenceforth  an  advocate  of  democratic  principles.  It  was  issued  regularljr 
down  to  about  the  time  of  the  war,  when  for  some  reason  it  seemed  to  gradually 
decline,  and  the  office  was  finally  closed.  The  material  and  stock  were  moved 
to  Wauseon,  and  gradually  developed  into  a  publication  also  known  as  the  Ful- 
ton County  Democrat  (not  the  former  paper  of  that  name),  under  the  manage- 
ment and  control  of  M.  H.  Butler.  William  Aultman,  jr.,  became  connected 
with  its  management  about  this  time.  Some  few  weeks  later  the  soldiers  came 
home  on  a  furlough,  and  it  is  said,  they  not  liking  the  tone  or  manner  of  its 
appearance,  dumped  the  material  into  the  street,  and  the  Democrat  at  Wauseon 
ceased  to  exist. 

The  Signal.  A  short  time  after  the  sale  and  removal  of  the  Democrat 
from  Ottokee  to  Morenci,  a  new  paper  called  the  Signal,  made  its  appearance 
at  the  county  seat,  under  the  editorship  of  B.  F.  Montgomery.  It  lived  only 
about  six  months.  The  paper  became  distinguished  by  its  brief  existence,  and 
possibly  somewhat  by  its  name,  as  it  proved  a  signal  failure,  and  the  material 
was  moved  to  Montpelier,  Williams  county. 

The  Democrat,  {^Mirror).  Next  in  the  order  of  succession,  there  appeared 
at  Ottokee,  under  the  editorship  of  Henry  McElhiney,  a  paper  called  ^e.  Dem- 
ocrat. Its  first  issue  appeared  in  the  spring  and  in  the  fall  it  changed  owners, 
H.  Day  assuming  its  control.     He  changed  its  tone  from  a  Democratic  to  an-. 


Fulton  County.  415 


independent  paper  and  re-christened  it  the  Fulton  County  Mirror.  Under  Mr. 
Day  the  paper  was  published  about  one  year  when  the  plant  was  sold  and  be- 
came merged  into  the  Wauseon  Sentinel.  This  ends  the  life  of  the  press  in 
the  county  so  far  as  Ottokee  is  concerned,  except  for  the  very  brief  existence 
of  the  Monitor. 

The  Monitor.  This  venture  into  the  field  of  journalism  was  made  at  Otto- 
kee, in  the  month  of  June,  1863,  by  H.  B.  Bayes,  but  the  paper  was  short  lived, 
as  in  the  month  of  February  of  the  following  year,  1864,  it  was  sold  to  James 
H.  Sherwood,  of  the  Northwestern  Republican,  and  by  him  merged  into  the 
last  named  paper. 

The  Fulton  County  Union.  The  Union  was  started  in  the  year  1862,  by  J. 
C.  French,  as  an  opposition  paper  to  the  Northwestern  Republican,  which  was 
then  the  leading  paper  of  the  county.  But  this  venture  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
French  failed  in  its  intent,  as  it  only  survived  the  fall  campaign  of  the  year  of 
its  founding,  when  it  was  sold,  Isaac  R.  Sherwood,  then  the  publisher  of  the 
paper  which  the  Union  had  sought  to  destroy,  becoming  its  purchaser,  and  by 
him  the  Union  was  merged  into  the  Republican. 

The  Sentinel.  This  paper,  the  outgrowth  of  which  is  the  present  North- 
western Republican,  was  established  in  the  year  1855,  by  H.  B.  Bayes  and 
John  D.  Hunter.  In  its  political  tone  it  was  Repubhcan,  being  the  first  to  ad- 
vocate the  principles  of  the  newly-formed  Republican  party  in  this  county. 
It  was,  when  started,  what  is  known  among  printers  as  a  six-column  quarto, 
in  neat  dress  for  the  times,  and  as  the  organ  of  Republicanism  in  the  county, 
at  once  took  front  rank,  notwithstanding  the  fact  of  its  frequent  change  in  own- 
ership. The  paper  had  been  but  a  short  time  in  operation  when  Bayes  bought 
the  interest  of  his  partner  (Hunter),  and  for  the  next  two  years,  or  thereabouts 
he  was  its  sole  proprietor  and  editor.  He  then  sold  it  to  A.  E.  Ball.  As  an 
editor  and  publisher  Ball  was  not  a  success,  but  as  one  who  could  accumulate 
a  fair  proportion  of  "  bills  payable,"  he  was  a  complete  success.  He  sold,  or 
transferred  at  least,  to  E.  W.  Fuller  and  suddenly  left  the  county,  too  suddenly 
in  fact,  for  his  creditors.  Mr.  Fuller  conducted  the  paper  for  something  like  a 
year  when  he  took  a  partner,  John  D.  Devor,  of  Elkhart,  Ind.  He  stayed  in 
the  office  only  about  three  or  four  months  and  then  sold  back  his  interest  to 
Fuller. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1858,  the  headhne  and  name  of  the  paper  was 
changed  to  the  Northwestern  Republican,  and  it  was  increased  in  size  from  a 
six,  to  a  seven-column  folio.  From  this  date  the  history  of  this  paper  is  the 
record  made  by  the  Republican,  which,  being  now  in  existence,  well-managed, 
well-edited  and  well-supported,  is  deserving  of  notice  among  the  "  things  that 
be,"  rather  than  of  the  past. 

Der  Deutsche  Gazette.  The  brief,  but  eventful  career  of  Der  Gazette  was 
begun  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1886,  under  the  ownership  of  Vol!  &  Howe. 


4i6  History  of  Henry  and  Fultox  Counties. 

The  paper,  a  seven-column  folio,  with  patent  sides,  was  printed  in  Gernnan,  and 
had  an  extensive  circulation  among  the  many  German  families  of  the  county, 
but  the  worthy  managers  were  at  fault  in  their  habits,  and  the  paper  gradually 
went  to  pieces  when  it  might  have  been  one  of  the  best  paying  investments  in 
the  county.  Howe  retired  from  its  office  and  Vol!  soon  afterward  sold  the 
subscription  list  to  the  Henry  county  Detnocrat,  and  the  paper  as  a  Fulton 
county  enterprise  it  failed  to  appear. 

With  the  exception  of  a  small  religious  paper  (monthly)  published  for  a 
short  time  under  the  editorial  control  of  the  pastor  of  one  of  the  Wauseon 
churches,  it  is  believed  that  the  foregoing  record  comprises  all  of  the  newspaper 
publications  printed  at  any  time  within  Fulton  county,  and  it  is  believed  that 
the  record  can,  in  the  main,  be  relied  upon,  although  difficulty  was  encoun- 
tered in  fixing  dates  accurately,  and  for  that  reason,  in  such  cases  as  the  date 
appears  to  be  approximated,  the  lack  of  positive  information  must  excuse  the 
absence  of  it. 

The  Present  Press  of  The  County. 

The  papers  of  the  present  day,  within  the  limits  of  Fulton  county,  appear 
to  be  established  on  a  sound  and  profitable  basis,  and  under  competent  control. 
Of  the  ten  that  are  now  published,  five  have  their  base  of  operation  at  Wau- 
seon. From  this  statement  there  may  be  excepted,  perhaps,  two,  which, 
although  they  appear  and  are  issued  as  Fulton  county  papers,  are,  never- 
theless, printed  elsewhere,  the  Wauseon  office  furnishing  only  local  news,  the 
papers  being  in  fact,  branch  editions  of  publications  made  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  county.  The  county  papers  are  the  Northwestern  Republican,  the  Fulton 
County  Tribune,  the  Expositor,  the  Fulton  County  Wachter  (German),  the  Mau- 
mee  Valley  Prohibitionist,  the  Delta  Atlas,  the  Delta  Avalanche,  the  Swanton 
Enterprise,  the  Archbold  Herald  and  the  Fayette  Record.  The  Maumee  Val- 
ley Prohibitionist  and  the  Fulton  County  Wachter  are  those  referred  to  as  be- 
ing printed  outside  the  county,  but  each  having  an  editor  and  local  office  with- 
in the  county,  from  which  they  respectively  circulate. 

The  Northwestern  Rep2iblican.  Upon  the  changing  of  the  name  of  the  Sen- 
tinel, the  Republican  was  brought  into  existence.  It  was  enlarged,  as  stated 
heretofore,  from  a  si.x  to  a  seven  column  folio.  During  the  last  few  months 
of  the  life  of  the  Sentinel,  and  under  the  editorial  management  of  Fuller  & 
Devor,  these  changes  were  made,  but  Mr.  Fuller  soon  again  became  sole  pro- 
prietor, and  so  remained  until  during  that  summer,  1858,  when  he  sold  a  half 
interest  to  J.  C.  French.  This  copartnership  relation  was  maintained  for  a  pe- 
riod of  about  six  months  when  Fuller  sold  his  interest  to  Isaac  R.  Sherwood, 
and  the  firm  then  became  Fuller  &  Sherwood,  editors  and  publishers.  Thus 
was  the  Republican  managed  until  the  summer  of  the  year  1861,  when  Sher- 
wood purchased  French's  interest  and  became  sole  editor  and  pubhsher. 


Fulton  County.  417 

One  year  later,  1862,  the  office  was  leased  to  Joseph  Cable,  but  under  his 
control  the  paper  did  not  prosper.  He  had  in  some  manner  antagonized  a 
strong  element  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  county,  and  the  county  print- 
ing was  taken  away  from  him  and  given  to  the  Monitor,  a  paper  published  at 
Ottokee  by  H.  B.  Bayes. 

After  the  term  of  Cable's  lease  had  expired  the  office  and  material  passed, 
by  purchase,  to  James  H.  Sherwood,  brother  of  Isaac  Sherwood.  The  new 
proprietor  at  once  commenced  and  succeeded  in  accomplishing  the  work  of 
building  up  and  re-establishing  the  Republican  on  a  profitable  footing,  and 
brought  back  to  it  the  favor  and  support  which  it  had  lost  during  Mr.  Cable's 
leasehold.  In  the  year  1867,  James  H.  Sherwood  sold  back  to  his  brother  Isaac, 
now  honored  with  the  military  title  of  general.  General  Sherwood  ran  it 
about  a  year  and  then  took  a  partner,  Colonel  Albert  B.  Smith,  a  practical 
printer,  with  whom  he  became  associated  under  the  firm  name  and  style  of 
Sherwood  &  Smith. 

Under  this  management  the  paper  met  wiih  good  success ;  it  was  well 
edited,  appeared  in  a  plain,  but  neat  dress,  and  became  largely  patronized 
throughout  the  county  and  even  beyond  the  county's  borders ;  its  exchange 
list  was  large,  and  the  paper  took  rank  as  the  leading  publication  of  the  region. 
It  was,  and  continued  to  be,  the  organ  of  the  Republican  party,  and  became 
an  able  exponent  of  Republican  doctrines.  In  the  year  1869  James  H.  Sher- 
wood purchased  the  general's  interest,  and  the  firm  style  then  changed  to 
Smith  &  Sherwood.  It  was,  by  the  latter  firm,  conducted  until  the  year  1871, 
when  Colonel  Smith  sold  his  interest  to  M.  R  Brewer,  a  former  resident  of 
Wood  county.  About  six  months  later  Brewer  resold  to  Colonel  Smith.  In 
1877  Mr,  Sherwood  purchased  Colonel  Smith's  interest  and  again  became  sole 
proprietor.  He  conducted  it  successfully  until  about  1881,  when  a  half  inter- 
est was  taken  by  E.  M.  Ogle,  but  the  latter  only  remained  in  the  office  a  few 
months,  when  he  sold  to  W.  C.  Williams,  who,  with  James  H.  Sherwood,  are 
the  present  owners,  under  the  name  and  style  of  Sherwood  &  WilHams.  The 
North-  Western  Republican  is  to-day  the  most  extensively  circulating  paper  in 
the  county,  and  with  its  contemporary,  the  Fulton  County  Tribune,  guards  well 
the  interests  of  the  Republican  party.  The  Republican  now  appears  as  a  six- 
column  quarto,  and  enjoys  a  paying  circulation  of  between  thirteen  and  four- 
teen hundred. 

The  Democratic  Expositor.  As  its  name  implies,  the  Expositor  is  the  repre- 
sentative Democratic  journal  of  Fulton  county,  and  the  only  paper  now  advo- 
cating the  principles  of  Democracy,  although  others  preceding  it  were  of  that 
faith.  The  Expositor  was  established  in  the  month  of  January,  1875,  by  W. 
H.  Handy,  now  Judge  Handy,  of  the  Common  Pleas.  During  the  time  the 
paper  was  edited  by  Mr.  Handy  it  is  well  remembered  as  being  among  the  best 
conducted  of  the  county's  papers ;  its  local  columns  were  filled  with  well- 
53 


41 8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

selected  and  spicy  reading  matter,  and  its  editorial  comments  and  leaders  were 
noted  for  their  brilliancy  and  ability.  It  was,  in  fact,  just  what  it  purported 
to  be  —  the  organ  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  upon  that  assumption  it  built 
for  itself  a  reputation  that  has  been  well  maintained  to  the  present  day.  In 
April,  1877,  the  Expositor  passed,  by  sale,  into  the  hands  of  J.  C.  Bollmeyer, 
who  has  since  been  its  sole  editor  and  publisher.  Under  him,  as  well  as  his 
predecessor,  the  paper  has  been  a  successful  venture  from  a  business  point  of 
view.  At  present  the  Expositor  is  the  official  paper  of  Fulton  county.  It  is  a 
nine-column  folio,  in  clean  dress,  and  makes  an  attractive  appearance.  Its 
local  department  is,  perhaps,  as  full  and  complete  as  contained  in  any  of  the 
papers  of  the  county.  The  subscription  price  of  the  Expositor  is  $1.50  per 
year.     It  has  at  this  time  a  circulation  numbering  over  one  thousand  subscribers. 

The  Delta  Avalanche.  This  paper  (weekly)  made  its  first  appearance  on 
the  22d  of  February,  in  the  year  1876,  under  the  ownership  of  E.  L.  Waltz. 
It  aimed  to  furnish  to  its  readers  news,  local  and  general,  as  would  prove  of 
interest  and  value,  but  without  espousing  the  cause  of  either  of  the  great  po- 
litical parties ;  in  fact  it  was  an  independent  paper.  After  having  edited  and 
published  the  Avalanche  for  about  three  years,  Mr.  Waltz  sold  to  Colonel  Al- 
bert B.  Smith.  By  the  latter  its  tone  was  changed,  or  rather,  perhaps,  Colonel 
Smith  gave  it  tone,  in  making  it  a  Republican  paper.  His  connection  with  it, 
however,  was  brief,  for  in  about  a  year  he  sold  to  E.  J.  Patch,  by  whom  it  was 
continued  for  about  the  same  length  of  time.  Mr.  Patch  sold  to  W.  O.  Knapp, 
and  by  the  latter  person  the  Avalanche  was  returned  to  its  original  character, 
independent.  In  the  year  1884  Mr.  Knapp  exchanged  the  ownership  of  this 
for  a  half  interest  in  the  Fulton  County  Tribune  with  J.  H.  Fluhart.  The  lat- 
ter made  the  Avalanche  again  a  Republican  paper.  It  is  a  seven- column 
quarto. 

The  Fayette  Record.  The  Record  was  established  in  the  month  of  January, 
1876,  by  W.  A.  Baker,  but  in  the  next  month,  February,  it  was  purchased  by 
O.  M.  Holcomb  and  M.  Lewis,  and  managed  under  the  firm  name  of  Holcomb 
&  Lewis.  They  conducted  the  paper  until  May,  1878,  when  G.  W.  Griffin 
purchased  Holcomb's  interest,  the  firm  name  then  changing  to  Lewis  &  Griffin. 
In  a  disastrous  conflagration  that  occurred  at  Fayette  on  May  8,  1880,  the 
entire  plant  was  destroyed,  but  in  about  sixty  days'  time  another  office  was 
estabhshed,  and  the  Record  again  appeared  in  a  complete  new  dress.  The 
office  too,  was  much  improved  by  the  introduction  of  a  new  cyhnder  press,  the 
first  to  be  used  in  the  county.  In  1882  the  publishers  erected  a  substantial 
two-story  frame  building,  which  they  occupied  until  February  28,  1883,  when 
the  entire  office  was  again  destroyed  by  fire.  But  phoenix-like,  the  enterpris- 
ing proprietors  again  "arose  from  the  ashes,"  rebuilt  their  offices  and  issued 
the  Record  within  the  brief  space  of  thirty  days,  in  a  new  outfit.  Since  this 
last  misfortune  the  Record  has  enjoyed  an  abundant  degree  of  prosperity,  and 


Fulton  County.  419 


is  now  among  the  leading  journals  of  Northwestern  Ohio.     It  is  an  independent 
family  newspaper,  having  no  political  bias. 

The  Fulton  County  Tribune.  The  Tribune  was  the  outgrowth  of  a  divided 
sentiment  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party  ;  and  while  the  paper  was  not 
started  for  the  purpose  of  favoring  either  element  or  faction  of  the  party,  it  was, 
nevertheless,  founded  and  started  as  representing  the  interests  of  the  whole 
party,  which  many  people  felt  were  not  represented  at  the  time.  Colonel  Al- 
bert B.  Smith  and  J.  H.  Fluhart  were  the  proprietors  at  the  time  of  its  first 
issue,  May  19,  1883.  The  paper  was  well  received  by  the  reading  public,  and  by 
the  fairness  of  its  leaders  and  its  utter  absence  of  comment  tending  to  foster  or 
•continue  feelings  of  dissatisfaction  in  the  party,  together  with  its  general  worth 
as  a  well-edited  and  well-managed  paper,  the  Tribune  has  grown  in  general 
favor  until  it  is  now  numbered  with  the  best  of  the  county's  papers.  Mr.  Flu- 
hart  continued  his  connection  with  the  Tribune  until  June,  1884,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  W.  O.  Knapp,  the  latter  having  exchanged  the  Delta  Avalanche 
for  Mr.  Fluhart's  interest  in  the  Tribune.  The  firm  therefore  became  Smith 
&  Knapp,  which  relation  has  ever  since  been  maintained.  The  Tribune  is  a 
seven-column  quarto,  and  enjoys  a  present  circulation  of  about  thirteen  hun- 
•dred.  Its  exchange  list  is  large,  and  the  paper  is  considered  as  among  the 
best  of  the  weekly  journals  in  Northwestern  Ohio. 

The  Swanton  Enterprise.  The  Enterprise  was  founded  April  23,  1886,  by 
H.  S.  Bassett,  and  is  issued  from  the  office  at  Swanton,  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Fulton  county.  It  is  a  six-column  quarto,  local  family  newspaper,  indepen- 
dent in  politics,  and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of  Swanton  and 
surrounding  country.  In  the  month  of  March,  1887,  Charles  H.  Rowland  be- 
came a  half-owner  in  the  paper,  and  the  firm  became  known  as  Bassett  & 
Rowland.  The  paper  opened  its  second  year  with  six  hundred  and  fifty  sub- 
scribers, and  shows  a  healthful  and  substantial  increase  in  popularity. 

The  Delta  Atlas.  The  Atlas,  an  eight-page,  forty-column,  independent 
family  newepaper,  published  by  the  Atlas  Printing  Company,  at  Delta,  was 
founded  June  6,  1886,  with  C.  R.  P.  Waltz,  manager  and  E.  L.  Waltz,  editor. 
It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  proprietors  to  make  it  the  leading  family  newspaper 
of  the  county,  and  they  have  so  far  succeeded  that  it  now  enjoys  a  circulation 
nearly  equal  to  any  in  the  county.  On  the  19th  of  March,  1887,  the  office  was 
consumed  by  fire,  but,  with  commendable  zeal  and  energy,  new  material  was 
at  once  obtained  and  the  paper  continued  witl'out  serious  interruption  or  delay. 
By  care  in  the  selection  of  matter  for  its  columns,  and  in  securing  the  latest 
important  news,  and  promptness  in  publication,  the  Atlas  has  become  not  only 
a  household  treasure,  but  a  valuable  advertising  medium.  The  office  is  well 
supplied  with- material  for  all  classes  of  job-work.  The  Atlas  is  furnished  to 
its  regular  yearly  subscribers  at  the  price  of  one  dollar. 

Maumee  Valley  Prohibitionist.     This  paper  made  its  first  appearance  in  the 


420  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

county  late  in  the  month  of  October,  1886,  and  although  it  is  not  printed 
within  the  county,  it  has  so  great  a  circulation,  and  a  local  news  department, 
that  it  is  unquestionably  worthy  of  record  among  the  county's  papers.  The 
Prohibitionist  is  edited  and  issued  from  an  office  at  Bryan,  Williams  county, 
by  Walter  J.  Sherwood.  Its  columns  are  devoted  to  the  cause  of  temperance, 
in  particular,  and  it  contains  besides,  an  abundance  of  general  and  local  news. 
The  Fulton  county  edition  has  a  circulation  of  about  one  thousand. 

The  Archbold  Herald.  The  Herald  first  made  its  appearance  in  the  year 
1886,  under  the  management  of  Taylor  Brothers,  at  Archbold,  in  the  western 
part  of  Fulton  county.  During  the  first  six  months  of  its  existence  it  experi- 
enced, or  rather  the  proprietors  did,  a  hard  struggle  for  official  life  and  contin- 
uance, but  with  the  introduction  of  a  series  of  humorous  articles  and  para- 
graphs, the  paper  grew  in  popular  favor,  and  the  subscription  list  (the  greatest 
support  of  any  paper)  rapidly  increased,  and  the  Herald  is  now  in  a  flourishing 
and  prosperous  condition.  It  is  a  five-column  quarto,  independent  family 
paper,  and  enjoys  a  fair;Circulation. . 

The  Fulton  County  Waechter  (German).  The  Waechter  is  printed  at  Day- 
ton, O.,  but  has  a  resident  editor  at  Wauseon.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1887, 
its  first  number  appeared.  It  then  had  a  circulation  of  three  hundred  copies 
among  the  German  families  of  the  county.  It  is  independent  in  poHtics,  and 
furnishes  general  and  local  news.  About  one-third  of  its  columns  are  devoted 
to  advertisements,  and  the  balance  to  well  selected  miscellaneous  reading  mat- 
ter. Its  editors  and  proprietors  are  Baecker  &  Bussdicker,  the  former  being  the 
resident  editor.  The  offices  are  intended  to  be  removed  to  Wauseon  as  sooa 
as  practicable. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

IIISTORy   OF    THE    INCORPORATED   VILLAGE   OF  WAUSEON,    THE   SEAT    OF 
JUSTICE  OP  FULTON  COUNTY. 

THE  village  of  Wauseon,  the  seat  of  justice  of  Fulton  county,  was  laid  out 
in  the  year  1854,  by  Epaphras  L.  Barber,  John  H.  Sargent,  Nathaniel 
Leggett  and  William  Hall.  It,  with  all  its  subsequent  additions  and  divisions, 
is  comprised  of  parts  of  sections  twenty-three  and  twenty-six  in  Clinton  town- 
ship. At  that  time  the  Air  Line  Division  of  the  New  York  Central  and  Lake 
Shore  system  of  railways,  as  it  at  present  is,  had  just  been  extended  far  enough 
west  of  the  city  of  Toledo,  its  initial  point,  to  pierce  the  site  of  this  beautiful 
and  prosperous  town,  and  was  constructed  by  the  old  Southern  Michigan  and 


Fulton  County.  421 


Northern  Indiana  Railway  Company.  No  stock  therefor  was  issued  ;  the  en- 
tire expense  of  building  and  equipping  the  road  was  paid  by  the  corporation 
projecting  the  route  ;  its  design  in  the  main  being  to  have  a  double  track  from 
Toledo,  O.,  to  Elkhart,  Ind.  From  Toledo  to  Butler,  situated  at  the  extreme 
eastern  edge  of  Indiana,  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  there  is  not  a  bend  or  curve 
in  the  line,  and  for  many  years  past  it  has  carried  the  largest  proportion  of  the 
passenger  travel  of  the  Lake  Shore  System  from  Toledo  to  Chicago,  and  VVau- 
seon  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  stations  on  the  route. 

Mr.  Barber,  at  that  time  a  young  man,  and  one  of  the  civil  engineers  en- 
gaged in  the  survey  and  construction  of  the  road,  and  a  resident  of  the  city  of 
Cleveland,  learning  of  the  probability  that  a  station  would  be  established  at 
the  present  site  of  Wauseon,  in  conjunction  with  John  H.  Sargent,  also  a  res- 
ident of  Cleveland,  and  assistant  chief  engineer  of  the  road,  and  Nathaniel 
Leggett,  an  enterprising  citizen  of  Swan  Creek  township,  and  William  Hall,  an 
attorney  of  Maumee  city,  Lucas  county,  O.,  bought  of  Thomas  Bayes,  an  early 
settler  of  Northwestern  Ohio,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  which  com- 
prised what  is  known  in  the  records  of  the  county  as  the  original  plat  of  Wau- 
seon. Barber  and  Sargent  owned  two-thirds  of  tract  in  common  and  Leggett 
and  Hall  by  the  same  title  owned  one-third  thereof  The  price  paid  for  the 
land  was  sixteen  dollars  per  acre,  and  the  entire  parcel  was  in  nearly  a  wild 
state.  The  ax  and  the  torch  were  the  first  things  brought  into  requisition  to 
make  the  tract  fit  for  habitations.  At  that  time  out-lying  land,  but  imme- 
diately adjacent  to  the  newly  projected  town,  was  selling  for  six  to  eight  dol- 
lars per  acre,  the  most  of  it  having  already  passed  from  the  control  of  the  gov- 
ernment, not  only  near  but  in  any  direction  and  quite  a  distance  from  the  site 
of  the  new  village  destined  for  a  time  to  grow  quite  rapidly.  Even  at  such 
low  figures  buyers  were  not  very  plentiful.  Mr.  Hall  was  interested  in  the 
transaction  only  until  the  completion  of  the  laying  out  of  the  first  one  hundred 
and  forty  lots  when  he  sold  his  interest  to  Mr.  Leggett. 

The  residence  of  Mr.  Bayes  at  this  time  was  a  log  building  standing  on  the 
present  site  of  the  pleasant  home  of  Mr.  Andrew  B.  Clark  on  Vine  street. 
Coeval  with  the  sale  of  lots  building  began,  and  every  one  was  anxious  to  get 
near  the  line  of  the  railroad,  of  which  predilection  the  citizens  have  not  yet 
been  entirely  cured.  As  is  customary  in  all  modern  American  towns,  the 
streets  were  platted  to  intersect  each  other  at  right  angles,  and  Fulton  street, 
the  principal  business  thoroughfare,  was  made  full  one  hundred  feet  in  width. 
This  street  with  its  subsequent  addition  of  Fulton  avenue,  which  became  its 
northern  extension  when  Newcomer's  addition  was  joined  to  the  original  plat, 
is  one  mile  in  length,  but  is  considerably  narrower  as  to  the  avenue  por- 
tion of  it.  The  streets  of  the  original  plat  extending  east  and  west  with  un- 
important exceptions  were  named  from  the  species  of  trees  abounding  in  the 
forests  about;  and  those  extending  north  and  south  got  their  appellations  from. 


422  History  ok  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  biographies  of  our  country's  great  men.  Fulton  street  may,  however,  be 
an  exception.  It  is  not  distinctly  known  whether  the  memory  of  Robert  Ful- 
ton, the  inventor  of  steamboats,  was  to  be  suggested  and  preserved  by  the 
name  bestowed  upon  the  principal  street,  or  whether  it  was  given  in  honor  of 
the  surveyor  whose  boundary  line  gave  rise  to  the  ludicrous  uproar  between 
Ohio  and  Michigan  known  as  the  "  Toledo  war."  For  the  reason  stated,  al- 
though there  have  been  some  deviations  from  the  plan,  the  street  nomenclature 
of  Wauseon  is  quite  easy  of  recollection.  In  later  additions  to  the  village,  of 
which  there  have  been  several,  the  original  system  of  street  naming  has  been 
deviated  from  somewhat.  On  the  extreme  east  and  parallel  with  Fulton  we 
have  Prospect  street,  and  on  the  extreme  west,  preserving  the  same  parallel 
we  have  the  decidedly  Gallic  name  of  Brunelle.  It  is  claimed,  however,  that 
this  street  was  named  in  honor  of  John  Brunelle,  a  celebrated  English  civil 
engineer.  The  streets  lying  between,  exclusive  of  Fulton,  are  Franklin, 
Clinton,  Madison,  and  Monroe.  At  the  extreme  southern  limit  of  the 
original  plat  extending  due  east  and  west  is  Leggett  street,  so  named  in 
honor  of  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town.  The  names  of  the  streets,  in- 
tersecting Fulton  and  parallel  with  the  railroad,  are  as  follows,  beginning 
at  the  first  one  north  of  Leggett  street:  Cherry,  Chestnut,  Birch,  Beech, 
Elm,  Oak,  Sycamore,  Walnut,  Mulberry,  Hickory  and  Willow.  But  here 
an  exception  must  be  noted.  Just  south  of  the  railroad  and  west  of  Fulton 
street,  the  street,  the  eastern  half  of  which  is  known  as  Birch  street,  is  as 
to  the  western  half  called  Commercial  street,  probably  getting  so  ambitious 
a  designation  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  only  thoroughfare  of  the  drayage  of 
merchandise  and  freights  from  the  depot,  and  on  the  north  side  of  the  railroad 
a  portion  of  street  which  properly  should  be  called  Beech  street,  and  belongs 
thereto  on  every  principle  of  proper  nomenclature,  is  called  Depot  street.  It 
contains  many  pretty  residences,  but  the  only  saving  virtue  in  the  unappro- 
priate  name,  is  that  when  the  residents  thereof  run  out  of  other  subject  of  talk, 
they  can  have  a  friendly  and  scholarly  dispute  as  to  the  proper  pronunciation 
of  the  name  of  the  street  they  live  on.  Beginning  at  the  northwest  corner  of 
Livermore  and  Munn's  addition,  and  extending  from  Chestnut  to  Leggett 
street  in  a  direction  slightly  west  of  north  is  a  short  street  called  Vine,  and 
north  of  the  railroad  and  extending  from  Oak  street  to  Walnut  is  another  short 
street  called  Cedar.  On  the  eastern  side  of  the  town  there  formerly  was  a 
street  called  Marshall  by  some  one  who  admired  the  character  of  the  great 
chief  justice,  but  unfortunately  it  fell  into  disuse,  and  long  since  was  abandoned. 
Third  street  passes  through  Newcomer's  addition,  east  of  and  parallel  with 
Fulton  avenue ;  and  Ottokee  street,  a  reminder  of  the  old  county  seat,  bounds 
that  addition  on  the  west.  The  streets  running  north  and  south  in  Livermore 
and  Munn's  addition  are  respectively,  Division,  Main  and  West  Park,  the  last 
probably  so  named  from  the  small  but  beautiful  park  which  it  bounds  on  the 


Fulton  County.  423 


west  side ;  and  those  of  this  addition  extending  in  a  contrary  direction  are 
Lincoln  and  Superior  streets.  The  southern  two-thirds  of  the  large  mound  of 
about  three  acres,  between  Madison  and  Monroe  streets,  was  set  apart  by  its 
first  owners  and  deeded  to  the  village  for  a  park.  Under  the  direction  of  the 
park  commissioners  of  the  village  some  progress  has  been  made  toward  orna- 
menting it,  and  some  years  since  the  project  of  erecting  a  monument  to  the 
memory  of  the  soldiers  of  Fulton  county  who  fell  in  the  War  of  the  Rebel- 
lion was  started,  but  no  farther  progress  was  made  than  to  put  in  the  founda- 
tion and  erect  the  base.  Shaftless  and  uncrowned,  the  base  stands  there  a 
perpetual  reproach  to  those  who  so  soon  could  forget  and  neglect  the  memory 
of  the  men  who  freely  gave  their  life  blood  that  we  might  have  a  united  and 
free  country. 

On  the  27th  day  of  February,  1865,  the  plat  of  Newcomer's  addition  was 
filed  in  the  office  of  the  recorder  of  Fulton  county,  and  that  addition  contain- 
ing lots  one  to  one  hundred  and  twenty- six  inclusive,  besides  several  acreage 
lots  designated  by  the  letters  of  the  English  alphabet,  became  a  part  of  the 
village.  It  lies  north  of  the  original  plat,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
York  Center  road.  June  7,  1865,  Sargent  and  Barber's  addition  was  legally 
made  to  the  northwestern  part  of  the  original  plat.  It  contains  lots  387  to  489 
inclusive,  the  designation  of  the  lots  being  a  continuation  in  numerical  order  of 
those  of  the  first  lots  laid  out.  On  the  21st  day  of  June,  1867,  Barber  and 
Merrill's  addition  containing  fifty- seven  lots  was  joined  on;  Livermore  and 
Munn's  addition  of  ninety- seven  lots  was  made  on  the  12th  day  of  June,  1865  ;. 
Palmer's  addition  of  thirty-four  lots  on  June  9,  1873  ;  E.  F.  Greenough's,  con- 
taining thirteen  lots,  March  14,  1867;  and  C.  F.  Greenough's  addition  of 
twelve  lots,  February  16,  1874.  The  Greenoughs'  additions  are  on  the  east 
side  of  the  original  plat.  Barber  and  Merrill's  is  at  the  northeast,  and  Palmer's 
is  at  the  southwestern  corner  thereof 

The  author  desires  here  to  digress  long  enough  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of 
one  of  the  men  who  founded  the  village  which  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Reference  is  made  to  Mr.  Sargent.  He  was  a  native  of  western  New  York, 
but  of  New  England  parentage.  When  quite  young  he  came  with  his  parents- 
to  Cleveland,  O.  He  received  his  training  for  his  profession,  that  of  civil  en- 
gineering, at  an  excellent  private  academy  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire, 
and  about  the  first  of  his  professional  employment  was  in  the  surveying  and 
construction  of  the  Sandusky,  Mansfield  and  Newark  Railroad,  now  the  Lake 
Erie  Division  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  system.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
reliable  and  trusted  employees  of  the  corporation  that  built  the  Air  Line  Rail- 
way. In  1856  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Julia  Hull.  He  is  still  living  at  Cleve- 
land, of  which  for  many  years  he  was  city  engineer,  and  is  both  afiduent  in 
circumstances  and  very  highly  regarded. 

The  first  house  built  on  the  site  of  Wauseon  after  it  was  laid  out,  was  erected 


424  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

at  the  corner  of  Birch  and  Fulton  streets  by  E.  L.  Hayes.  It  occupied  the 
place  where  now  stands  the  spacious  three- story  brick  block  owned  by  the 
Masonic  fraternity  of  Wauseon,  and  by  the  firm  of  Prichard  &  Smallman  and 
Isaiah  Bogart.  The  upper  story  of  the  new  building  contains  a  beautiful  and 
elegant  Masonic  Hall,  the  second  is  used  for  offices,  and  the  third  is  occupied 
by  the  hardware  store  of  ]3enjamin  Biddle,  and  the  grocery,  produce  and  grain 
establishment  of  Prichard  &  Smallman.  The  old  structure  was  a  two-story 
frame  house.  Its  first  floor  was  utilized  for  a  general  or  country  store  kept  by 
Mr.  Hayes,  and  his  family  lived  up-stairs.  In  i8 — ,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
room  for  the  new  brick  building,  it  was  removed  to  the  farm  just  at  the  south- 
east edge  of  the  village  now  owned  by  Mrs.  W.  C.  Kelley,  and  remodeled 
into  a  very  comfortable  and  roomy  farm  dwelling. 

Sometime  in  the  first  year  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  Mr.  Hayes  entered 
the  Union  Army  as  a  captain  in  the  Forty-fourth  Illinois  Infantry.  In  1862 
he  was  transferred  to  the  One  Hundredth  Ohio  Infantry  Volunteers.  He  saw 
arduous  and  dangerous  service,  was  successively  promoted  for  soldiery  conduct 
through  the  different  grades,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  mustered  out  as 
a  brevet  brigadier-general.     He  now  resides  in  Bloomville,  N.  J. 

Wauseon  got  its  name  from  that  of  a  Pottawotomie  chief,  the  same  as  did 
the  old  seat  of  justice  of  Fulton  county.  Ottokee  and  Wauseon  were  brothers, 
Wauseon  being,  according  to  tradition,  the  younger.  The  first  plat,  however, 
of  the  village  of  Wauseon  was  called  Litchfield,  it  being  the  intention  to  name 
all  the  stations  along  the  line  of  the  new  railroad  each  for  some  one  of  its  direc- 
tors. There  were  two  Litchfields  residing  in  New  York  City,  who  were  direc- 
tors, one  of  them  was  Edwin  C,  and  the  other  one  Elisha  C,  and  this  name 
was  given  for  them.  They  were  engaged  in  the  wholesale  grocery  business  in 
that  city.  H.  L.  Hosmer,  of  Toledo,  was  applied  to  when  the  projectors  of 
the  new  town  came  to  reconsider  the  name  by  which  it  should  be  known,  and, 
among  other  names,  he  suggested  that  of  Wauseon,  which  was  adopted  more 
because  of  its  Indian  origin  than  anything  else.  Its  spelling  is  said  to  be  in- 
correct, and  the  pronunciation  is  slightly  different  from  what  it  was  in  its  abor- 
iginal purity,  but  it  is  said  to  be  more  musical  in  sound  since  changed  from  a 
savage  to  a  civilized  appellation. 

Some  carelessness  has  existed  as  to  the  preservation  of  the  municipal  rec- 
ords of  Wauseon  since  its  incorporation,  and  there  are  no  official  sources  from 
which  to  ascertain  the  names  of  its  different  officers,  except  for  a  few  years 
back.  It  was  incorporated  in  1859;  but  the  county  record,  embodying  the 
history  of  its  municipal  organization,  was  burned  in  the  conflagration  of  the 
first  court-house  at  Ottokee,  in  1864.  The  first  mayor  of  Wauseon  was  Na- 
thaniel Leggett.  The  names  of  most  of  the  remainder  of  its  former  or  present 
citizens,  who  at  different  times  have  been  at  the  head  of  its  municipal  govern- 
ment, are  E.  L.  Barber,  N.  W.  Jewell,  Anson  Huntington,  Andrew  J.  Knapp, 


/"  /yyL-    Ij2^  ^^yt/^^U  C^r 


Fulton  County.  425^^ 


Sydenham  Shaffer,  Naaman  Merrill,  Michael  Handy,  William  C.  Kelley,  Joet 
Brigham,  James  S.  Brailey,  and  L.  M.  Murphy.  Eugene  S.  Blake  is  the  pres- 
ent incumbent  of  the  mayor's  office.  Michael  Handy  served  but  one  month, 
his  election  being  successfully  contested  by  William .  C.  Kelley,  who  became 
mayor  in  the  month  of  May,  1874.  Mr.  Handy's  career,  therefore,  as  mayor,, 
was  the  briefest  in  the  history  of  Wauseon.  L.  M.  Murphy  served  the  longest,, 
his  time  in  that  office  comprising  a  portion  of  a  term  as  the  appointee  of  the- 
council  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and  he  was  twice  elected.  During  the  administration 
of  Mayor  Joel  Brigham,  from  1878  to  1881,  the  most  important  municipal  im- 
provements were  made.  It  was  during  this  time  that  an  excellent  and  exten- 
sive system  of  sewerage  was  put  in,  giving  the  village  as  good  a  system  of 
drainage  as  that  of  any  town  or  city  in  northwestern  Ohio.  The  cost  of  the 
material  and  construction  was  about  six  thousand  dollars,  the  greater  part  of 
which  was  paid  by  special  tax,  and  the  remainder  by  a  general  tax.  The  citj^ 
hall  was  erected  during  the  same  administration.  It  stands  at  the  eastern  cor- 
ner of  Depot  and  Clinton  streets,  and,  excepting  the  court-house,  is  the  finest 
building  in  the  village.  Its  cost  was  a  little  in  excess  of  twelve  thousand  dol- 
lars. It  contains  a  large  and  elegantly  finished  hall  devoted  to  the  public  use,,. 
comfortable  rooms  for  the  business  and  social  meetings  of  the  members  of  the- 
Wauseon  Fire  Department,  the  council  chamber,  village  prison,  Clinton  town- 
ship hall,  used  for  election  and  all  general  official  purposes  of  the  township,  and 
a  large  fire  engine,  hose,  hook  and  ladder,  and  truck  room.  Clinton  township- 
hall  was  sold  by  the  village  to  that  township  for  the  sum  of  fifteen  hundred, 
dollars. 

The  Bank  of  Wauseon  is  the  only  institution  of  that  kind  Wauseon  ha? 
ever  had.  It  was  started  by  E.  L.  Barber,  the  present  senior  partner  of  the- 
banking  firm  on  the  1st  day  of  February,  1863.  It  is  not  now  and  never  was 
incorporated.  Its  business  was  first  begun  in  the  small  frame  building  on  the 
east  side  of  Fulton  street,  south  of  the  railroad,  now  owned  and  occupied  by 
James  Robinson  as  a  grocery  and  dwelling  house.  From  this  place,  in  a  short 
time,  it  was  moved  directly  across  the  street  and  into  a  small  building  which 
stood  where  the  office  of  the  Fulton  County  Tribune  now  is,  whence  again,  in 
about  a  year,  it  was  placed  in  the  frame  business  block  which  once  stood  on 
the  eastern  corner  of  Commercial  and  Fulton  streets,  and  on  the  site  of  the 
Eager  House.  From  this  location  it  was  again  removed,  and  became  an 
up-stairs  business  place,  occupying  the  rooms  above  the  dry-goods  store  of 
Springer  &  Co.,  on  the  west  side  of  Fulton  street,  north  of  the  railroad.  Pre- 
vious to  this  Naaman  Merrill,  who  had  been  clerk  of  the  county  courts,  became- 
a  partner,  and  the  firm  was  Barber  &  Merrill,  and  so  continued  until  the  year 
1879,  when  E.  S.  Callendar,  of  Champaign  county,  O.,  became  a  partner,  when 
it  was  changed  to  Barber,  Merrill  &  Co.  Late  in  the  fall  of  1879  Mr.  MerrilL 
died,  and  then  the  firm  became  and  since  has  continued  to  be  Barber  &  Callen- 
54 


426  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


dar.  In  1871  the  commodious  and  fine  bank  building  on  the  east  side  of  Ful- 
ton street,  north  of  the  raihoad,  was  built,  since  which  time  the  bank  has  been 
located  therein. 

Wauseon's  first  hotel,  or  "  tarvern,"  as  many  of  its  Yankee  inhabitants 
■called  it,  was  built  in  the  year  1854,  by  John  Williams.  It  was  a  frame  dwell- 
ing, and  the  settlers  from  miles  around  gathered  to  attend  the  "  raising  bee." 
It  stood  on  the  corner  of  Beech  and  Fulton  streets,  and  was  first  called  the 
Estelle  House.  Its  first  landlords  and  proprietors  were  W.  E.  and  D.  O.  Liver- 
more,  who  came  to  Wauseon  from  Utica,  N.  Y.,  their  native  city  and  State. 
They  long  since  went  farther  west,  and  the  former  now  lives  in  California,  while 
tlie  latter  is  a  resident  of  Washington  Territory.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years 
the  name  of  the  house  was  changed,  and  it  became  for  a  while  the  Clinton 
House,  and  then  was  called  and  remained  the  Sherman  House,  until  it  burned 
jdown  in  1872.  For  a  number  of  years  it  was  conducted  by  the  Cornell  Bros., 
I.  C.  and  Thomas,  and  was  the  leading  hostelry  of  the  county.  The  next  hotel 
in  point  of  chronology  was  the  one,  yet  standing,  on  Depot  street,  just  east  of 
the  new  city  hall.  The  date  of  its  erection  cannot  be  stated  with  exactness,  for 
it  is  a  kind  of  mosaic  of  old  houses  moved  together,  on  a  vacant  spot.  Its 
most  popular  days  were  when  it  was  kept  by  George  M.  Hawes,  who,  for 
many  years  previous  to  his  becoming  a  landlord  and  caterer  to  the  traveling 
public,  had  been  a  commercial  traveler.  He  made  the  old  Wauseon  House, 
so  long  as  he  kept  it,  a  decided  favorite  with  the  modern  traveler.  The  Eager 
House,  a  commodious  three-story  brick  building,  stands  at  the  corner  of  Ful- 
ton and  Commercial  streets.  It  was  built  by  its  present  proprietor  and  host  in 
1875.  Its  site  was  first  occupied  by  a  large,  rambling  frame  building,  the  sec- 
ond story  of  which  was  devoted  to  offices  and  the  first  to  mercantile  business. 
The  Clinton  House,  on  the  corner  of  Clinton  and  Depot  streets,  was  built  in 
1868.  It  is  a  frame  structure.  There  is  a  tradition  among  the  first  inhabitants, 
■not  very  old,  it  is  true,  and  not  very  hoary,  and  which  they  seem  determined 
not  to  let  die,  that  the  site  of  this  pleasant  hotel  was  a  tamarack  swamp,  and 
-Jishing  for  bullheads  therein  has  become  a  many-times-told  tale.  In  this  con- 
nection, let  it  be  stated,  that  there  are  no  living  streams  of  water  in  the  region 
■of  Wauseon,  but  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  entire  site  of  the  village  was 
quite  swampy.  In  making  a  foundation  for  many  of  the  buildings,  trenches 
conforming  to  the  size  and  shape  thereof,  would  be  dug  and  heavy  planks  laid 
down  in  the  water,  which  would  rapidly  soak  in,  to  get  a  commencement  for  a 
foundation.  On  this  square  timbers  would  be  laid  and  the  superstructure 
placed  thereon.  Oftentimes  blocks  of  wood  were  used  to  set  a  frame  on,  for 
there  was  no  stone,  and  it  was  difficult  to  find  clay  suitable  for  the  manufacture 
of  brick,  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  At  least,  for  a  long  time,  such  was  the 
prevailing  idea  ;  but  nowadays  as  fine  brick  as  can  be  found  are  weekly  turned 
out  by   the  thousands,  at  the  two  large  brick  and  tile  factories  in  the  village. 


Fulton  County.  427- 


In  1 88 1,  the  Fountain  City  Hotel,  on  the  west  of  Fulton  street,  near  the  court- 
house, was  started  by  its  present  proprietor,  Eli  Snelbaker;  and  there  stands 
on  the  east  side  of  Fulton,  at  its  intersection  with  Oak  street,  an  old  building 
formerly  known  as  the  Farmer's  Hotel.  It  has  not,  for  some  years,  been  kept 
as  a  hotel,  and  is  now  a  private  dwelling  house. 

The  first  church  building  in  the  village  was  the  Methodist  Episcopal.  It 
was  a  wooden  house,  and  stood  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Fulton  and  Oak 
streets  on  the  spot  where  now  is  the  brick  block  belonging  to  Charles  Gray, 
the  upper  floor  of  which  is  occupied  by  the  printing  office  of  the  Northwestern 
Republican.  In  1872  the  Catholic  society,  or  church,  of  Wauseon,  purchased 
the  old  Methodist  house  of  worship  and  moved  it  to  the  northwest  corner  of 
Clinton  street,  and  repaired  it,  making  it  tasteful  and  comfortable,  and  it  is  now 
known  as  St.  Caspar's  church.  In  1871  the  Methodist  Episcopal  people  of 
Wauseon  erected  the  finest  house  of  worship  in  the  county.  It  is  of  brick,  of 
modern  architecture,  and  stands  but  a  short  distance  north  and  on  the  same 
side  of  the  street  as  did  the  old  one.  The  expense  of  building  was  great,  but. 
cheerfully  borne  by  the  members,  and  this  society,  both  during  the  days  of  the 
old  frame  meeting-house  and  those  of  their  new,  costly  and  elegant  edifice,  has 
done  great  good  and  wielded  a  grand  influence  in  behalf  of  good  morals  and 
religious  culture,  in  Wauseon  and  the  surrounding  neighborhood.  Conspicu- 
ous among  the  Methodist  clergymen  stationed  at  Wauseon,  at  different  periods 
during  the  last  thirty  years,  who  labored  with  zeal  and  efficiency  for  the  faith 
of  their  espousal,  were  the  Revs.  Herbert,  Charles  G.  Ferris,  John  R.  Colgin,. 
A.  E.  Berry,  N.  B.  C.  Love,  John  H.  Wilson,  Greenberry  Priddy,  E.  S.  Dun- 
ham, J.  H.  Simms.  J.  H.  Fitzwater  is  the  present  officiating  minister.  It 
would  be  invidious  to  mention  any  names  of  laymen,  and  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  many  of  the  pioneer  families,  as  well  as  those  who  came  to  Wauseon  or  its 
vicinity  too  late  to  lay  claims  to  the  distinctive  merits  of  pioneers,  received  the 
precepts  of  the  gospel,  and  were  constrained  to  the  practice  of  religion  through, 
the  ministration  of  this  church. 

Rev.  Father  J.  G.  Vogt  came  to  Wauseon  in  1865.  It  then  was  but  a 
Catholic  mission  field.  Through  his  labors  and  those  who  followed  him,  and 
among  them  Fathers  Franche  and  Delbaere,  a  house  of  worship  was  procured, 
and  there  are  now  .some  twenty  families  at  Wauseon,  communicants  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 

The  Disciples,  or  Christian  Church,  was  organized  in  1862,  but  no  house 
of  worship  was  erected  until  1864.  The  house  then  built  still  stands.  It  is  on 
the  north  side  of  Elm  street,  east  of  Fulton.  This  church  has  been  an  influ- 
ential body  of  worshiping  Christians  since  its  organization.  Its  first  pastor 
was  the  Rev.  Elberry  Smith.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  L.  L.  Carpen- 
ter, who  was  an  active,  enterprising  citizen  of  Fulton  county  for  many  years, 
as  well  as  an  earnest  and  able  clergyman.      He  was  treasurer  of  the  county  two 


428  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

terms,  and  his  honesty  and  abiUty  in  that  office  have  passed  into  a  local  prov- 
erb. Elder  Carpenter  was  succeeded  in  the  pastorate  of  this  church  by  Elder 
Parker,  and  its  successive  pastors  thereafter  were  Elders  Baker,  Gibbs,  Terry, 
White,  Atwater,  Nesslage,  Newton  and  Moore.  Probably  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  powerful  preachers  that  ever  resided  at  Wauseon  was  John  M.  At- 
water. He  possessed  rare  intellectual  gifts,  supplemented  by  powers  of  intense 
and  discriminating  application  given  to  but  few  men. 

The  United  Brethren  Church  in  Wauseon  is  largely  the  result  of  the  efforts 
of  an  aged,  retired  preacher  of  that  faith  named  John  Miller,  who,  desiring  a 
place  of  worship  for  the  people  living  in  Newcomer's  Addition,  built,  in  1874, 
a  small  house  of  worship  out  of  his  own  means,  near  the  center  of  that  addition 
on  land  belonging  to  himself,  and  which  by  common  consent  was  called  Mill- 
er's Chapel.  This  was  the  nucleus  for  the  people  of  that  faith,  and  they  grew 
in  numbers  and  resources,  until  in  1879  they  began,  and  in  1880  completed, 
a  good  brick  meeting-house  on  the  east  side  of  Fulton  Avenue,  its  dedication 
taking  place  in  August,  1880.  Bishop  Weaver,  of  Westerville,  O.,  conducted 
the  dedicatory  services. 

There  is  no  Evangelical  Church  building  in  Wauseon,  although  there  are 
•quite  a  number  of  professors  of  the  tenets  of  that  church  in  the  village  and 
neighborhood.  For  several  years  past  they  have  rented  a  room  on  Elm  street 
in  the  Cheadle  block,  and  conducted  religious  services  there.  Some  of  their 
pastors  have  been  noted  for  their  humble  piety  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
practical  religion,  and  have  accomplished  much  permanent  good. 

The  First  Baptist  Church  of  Wauseon  took  organized  form  in  the  year 
1864,  but  its  house  of  worship  was  not  built  until  1868.  It  is  a  well  designed 
and  large  brick  edifice  on  the  west  side  of  Fulton  street,  south  of  the  railroad, 
and  in  the  near  neighborhood  of  the  Congregational  Church.  Prominent 
among  those  who  established  the  Baptist  Church  in  Wauseon  may  be  men- 
tioned Deacon  Abraham  Falconer,  a  good  and  faithful  servant  of  his  divine 
Master,  and  Deacon  Hiram  L.  Moseley,  one  of  the  former  treasurers  of  the 
county.  Deacon  Falconer  passed  to  his  final  reward  in  the  early  spring  of 
1886.  The  successive  pastors  of  this  church  since  the  building  and  dedica- 
tion of  its  place  of  worship,  were  Revs.  George  Leonard,  Homer  Eddy,  J.  J. 
T)avis  and  Stephen  F.  Massett. 

The  distinctive  faith  of  New  England  Congregationalism  has  been  promi- 
nent in  the  religious  culture  of  the  citizens  of  Wauseon.  A  number  of  its 
leading  families  are  from  the  land  of  Puritanism.  This  name  is  not  by  any 
means  here  given  in  derision,  for,  used  as  it  was,  more  than  two  centuries  ago, 
as  an  obnoxious  and  derisive  epithet,  it  soon  became  England's  glory,  and 
will  live  in  immortal  splendor  by  the  side  of  the  illustrious  names  of  Somers, 
Hampden  and  Henry  Vane.  None  of  the  history  either  of  England  or  this 
country  was  more  fruitful  of  true  freedom,  or  fuller  of  the  promise  of  the  splen- 


Fulton  County.  429 


did  things  that  have  made  England  and  the  United  States  the  freest  of  gov- 
ernments, and  the  most  powerful  and  influential  of  all  the  world's  countries, 
than  during  the  time  of  the  dominant  prevalence  in  both  lands  of  Puritanism. 

The  Congregational  society  of  Wauseon  dates  back  to  1856.  Their  plain, 
but  commodious  place  of  worship  was  built  and  dedicated  in  1862.  It  stands 
on  the  east  side  of  South  Fulton  street.  Its  pulpit  nearly  always  has  been 
filled  by  thoughtful  and  scholarly  men,  than  whom  none  were  more  able  and 
influential  in  the  community  than  Dr.  Waugh,  and  Rev.  R.  R.  Davies. 

Journalism  now  is  represented  in  Wauseon  by  three  newspapers,  the  North- 
western Republican ,  the  Democratic  Expositor,  and  the  Fulton  county  Tribune. 
The  first  named  is  the  oldest  paper.  It  was  established  in  1855  under  the 
name  of  the  Sentinel,  by  H.  D.  Bayes  and  John  D.  Hunter.  Not  long  after 
this  A.  E.  Ball  bought  it,  and  after  a  brief  period  he  sold  out  to  E.  W.  Fuller. 
Mr.  Fuller  associated  with  himself  in  the  ownership  and  management  of  the 
paper,  John  D.  Devor,  of  Elkhart,  Ind.  These  gentlemen  then  enlarged  the 
journal  and  changed  the  name  and  called  it  the  Northwestern  Republican.  In 
1859  J.  C.  French  was  for  a  short  time  a  part  owner  with  Fuller,  then  General 
Isaac  R.  Sherwood  bought  both  Fuller  and  French  out  in  i860,  running  the 
entire  paper  himself  General  Sherwood  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  the 
Toledo  district,  and  secretary  of  state  of  Ohio  for  two  terms.  His  military 
title  was  won  in  the  late  was  as  a  Union  volunteer.    He  now  resides  in  Toledo. 

For  a  number  of  years,  until  about  1878,  James  H.  Sherwood,  one  of  the 
present  proprietors  of  the  Republican,  and  Colonel  Albert  B.  Smith,  owned 
and  conducted  the  paper.  On  his  election  as  clerk  of  courts  in  1878,  Colonel 
Smith  retired,  and  in  1882  W.  C.  Williams  became  and  now  is  part  proprie- 
tor and  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Republican. 

As  its  name  indicates,  this  journal  is  Republican  in  politics,  but  is  conserv- 
ative and  careful.     The  moral  tone  of  the  paper  is  excellent. 

The  Democratic  Expositor  was  started  in  1874  by  Hon.  William  H.  Handy, 
now  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  the  judicial  subdivision  of  which 
Fulton  county  is  a  part,  and  Peter  Sullivan.  Mr.  Sullivan,  a  very  intelligent 
and  promising  young  man,  afterward  went  to  Washington,  where  he  became 
connected  with  the  Washington  Post.  He  died  in  that  city  in  1881.  In  1877 
John  C.  Bollmeyer,  formerly  of  Port  Clinton,  O.,  bought  the  Expositor,  and 
has,  since  his  control  of  it,  conducted  it  as  a  Democratic  paper  of  the  "strictest 
sect."  It  is  the  organ  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  county,  and  has  fearless- 
ly fought  the  battles  of  the  party  whose  principles  it  represents. 

The  Tribune  began  its  existence  in  1882.  Colonel  A.  B.  Smith  and  James 
Fluhart  were  its  first  publishers.  It  is  now  owned  by  Smith  &  Knapp.  It 
is  a^Repubhcan  paper,  firm  in  the  faith  and  ardent  in  the  advocacy  of  Repub- 
lican doctrines.  It  makes  a  specialty  of  the  local  news  of  the  county,  and  is  an 
interesting  and  instructive  newspaper. 


430  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

At  the  western  limits  of  the  village,  comprising  ten  acres  of  mound-shaped 
land,  is  the  beautiful  cemetery  of  Wauseon.  •  The  native  growth  of  the  timber, 
with  the  exception  of  scattered  large  and  shapely  trees,  was  cut  away  when  it 
began  to  be  used  for  a  burial  ground  in  1862,  but  evergreen  trees  and  many  va- 
rieties of  ornamental  shrubbery  have  been  set  out  and  properly  cared  for  until 
now,  in  the  summer  time,  the  whole  mound  seems  embowered  in  flowers  and 
leafy  foliage.  With  the  birds  caroling  and  twittering  among  the  fluttering 
leaves,  and  the  white  monuments  glistening  in  the  sunshine,  were  there  no  sad 
and  somber  thoughts  connected  with  its  sacred  use,  it  would  present  a  lovely 
view ;  yet  it  is  well  situated  and  designed  for  the  place  of  final  rest  to  which  it 
was  dedicated.  The  circumstances  of  its  beginning  were  about  as  follows  :  In 
February,  1862,  Nathaniel  Leggett  died.  At  this  time  the  village  had  no  cem- 
etry.  On  the  morning  following  Mr.  Leggett's  death,  Joel  Brigham,  James- 
Cornell,  and  Anson  Huntington  took  mattocks  and  started  out  to  find  a  suit- 
able spot  for  his  grave.  They  went  first  to  the  farm  of  Mr.  Cornell  about  a 
mile  south  of  the  village,  but  finding  no  ground  there  adapted  to  their  pur- 
pose, they  then  went  to  the  hill  where  now  stands  the  large  residence  of  Colo- 
nel Howard,  and  then  to  the  sand  mound  where  the  union  school  house  is  now 
situated.  Being  unsuited  at  either  of  these  places,  they  selected  the  site  where 
the  cemetery  is  located,  and  therein  Mr.  Leggett  was  buried.  The  land, 
comprising  at  first  thirteen  acres,  was  bought  of  William  Mikesell  at  a. 
cost  of  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre;  but  the  three  acres  of  low- lying  ground 
on  the  east  were  sold  off  to  Joel  Bingham.  Thirteen  citizens  first  purchased 
this  land,  and  for  about  three  years  were  the  sole  owners  of  the  cemetery,  but 
the  lots  were  disposed  of  for  just  enough  to  reimburse  the  proprietors  for  the 
original  cost  of  the  land  and  the  necessary  outlay  for  its  improvement  in  a 
proper  manner.  On  the  13th  of  March,  1865,  the  Wauseon  Cemetery  Asso- 
ciation, composed  of  thirty-two  persons,  was  formed.  Its  organization  was  under 
and  pursuant  to  the  laws  of  the  State.  The  first  trustees  elected  were  Isaac 
Springer,  Andrew  J.  Knapp,  and  James  M.  Gillett.  The  treasurer  and  clerk 
were  respectively  E.  L.  Barber  and  Naaman  Merrill. 

On  the  29th  day  of  April,  1867,  ijnder  and  by  virtue  of  a  legislative  en- 
actment of  the  State,  passed  in  1865,  a  meeting  of  the  association  was  held,.^ 
and  by  a  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  members  thereof,  a  transfer  of  the  cemetery 
was  made  to  the  trustees  of  Clinton  township  and  the  council  of  the  incorpo- 
rated village  of  Wauseon,  since  which  time  it  has  been  jointly  controlled  by  a 
board  of  trustees,  a  part  of  whom  are  elected  by  the  qualified  votes  of  the  in- 
corporation, and  the  remainder  by  the  votes  of  Clinton  township.  At  the  date 
of  the  transfer  the  indebtedness  of  the  association  was  assumed  by  the  joint 
proprietors,  and  the  deed  stipulates  that  the  transfer  is  for  the  benefit  of  all  the- 
citizens  of  the  township,  both  within  and  outside  of  the  corporate  limits  of  the- 
village. 


Fulton  County.  431 


The  first  brick  dwelling  house  in  Wauseon  was  built  by  William  W.  Hunt, 
-who  came  from  Massachusetts.  He  is  a  typical  Yankee  in  appearance  and  in 
manner  and  form  of  speech.  His  house  stands  near  the  southern  extremity 
and  on  the  east  side  of  Fulton  street.  He  and  his  family  have  resided  in  it 
since  its  completion  in  1859.  Mr.  Hunt  has  Hved  in  Wauseon  since  1857.  His 
brothers,  Fred,  and  James  Hunt,  built  the  first  brick  business  block  in  Wau- 
seon. Its  location  was  on  North  Fulton  street,  on  the  east  side,  not  far  from  the 
corner  of  that  street  and  Depot  btreet.  For  a  number  of  years  they  carried  on  a 
general  mercantile  business  in  the  building.  Fred.  Hunt  now  lives  in  Aspen, 
Colo.,  and  James  Hunt  died  in  the  early  autumn  of  1886,  at  Elkhart,  Ind., 
where,  previously,  for  several  years,  he  had  resided.  He  was  brought  to  Wauseon 
and  interred  in  its  cemetery.  The  store  building,  erected  by  the  Hunt  boys,  was, 
in  1883,  partially  rebuilt  and  considerably  enlarged  by  the  business  firm  of 
Lyon  &  Mercer,  and  is  now  used  by  them  for  a  dry  goods  and  carpet  empo- 
rium. The  other  leading  business  and  principal  business  blocks  are  the  Riddle 
and  Hull  block,  on  the  west  side  of  Fulton,  between  Elm  and  Depot  streets, 
the  Cheadle  block  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Fulton  and  Elm  streets,  the  Hol- 
lister,  three-story  brick,  on  the  east  side  of  Fulton  between  Elm  and  Depot 
streets,  the  Woolson  and  Madison  blocks  near  thereto,  the  Haumesser  and 
Ham  blocks  on  Depot  street,  between  Fulton  and  Clinton  streets,  and  the  fine 
and  substantial  business  buildings  of  Read  &  Son,  Eager  &  Green,  and  B. 
Miller.  In  1873,  in  the  month  of  December,  the  Cheadle  block  burned  down, 
but  was  immediately  rebuilt.  It  was  first  erected  in  1862.  The  Riddle  and 
Hull  block  was  built  in  1870.  Prichard  &  Smallman,  and  J.  Q.  Riddle  were 
its  first  owners.  It  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  Riddle  and  George  W.  and  Henry 
S.  Hull.  The  Hollister  building  was  erected  in  1864.  The  third  story  was 
designed  for,  and  always  has  been  used  as  an  Odd  Fellows  Hall.  The  Wool- 
son  block  was  built  in  1876.  The  Madison  block  was  an  old  and  somewhat 
dilapidated  building  and  was  partially  destroyed  by  fire  in  1885.  In  1886  it 
■was  rebuilt  and  made  a  good  business  block,  by  its  present  owner,  Joseph  Mat- 
tison.  The  Ham  block  was  built  in  1886,  the  main  design  of  its  construction 
being  to  provide  a  good  building  for  the  Wauseon  post-office.  J.  A.  Read  & 
Son's  fine  building  was  erected  in  1880  by  its  present  owners,  and  the  Eager 
&  Green  dry  goods  block  but  a  few  years  previous.  The  Miller  block  was 
built  for  a  furniture  store  and  manufactury,  in  1870,  and  is  still  used  for  that 
purpose. 

For  some  years  a  hall  in  the  Cheadle  block  was  devoted  to  pubhc  amuse- 
ments, it  succeeding  an  old  hall  in  what  was  called  the  Mikesell  block,  and 
which  stood  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Fulton  and  Elm.  This  building  was 
destroyed  by  fire  in  1867,  and  its  site  remained  vacant  until  1882,  when  a  bill- 
iard hall  and  saloon  building  was  placed  thereon.  When  the  court-house  was 
built  the  court  room  was  then  somewhat  used  for  assemblages  of  a  public  char- 


432  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

acter,  but  of  course  not  for  amusements  or  theatrical  performances.       For  the 
purpose  of  gratifying   the   public  taste   for  a  class  of  amusements  better  than 
could  find  suitable  facilities  in  the  Cheadle  Hall,  Walter  Scott,  an  enterprising 
citizen,  built  the  Wauseon  Opera  House  in  1879.     It  stands  on  the  east  side  of 
South  Fulton  street.      The  first  story  contains  two  very  large  business  rooms, 
and  the  second  is  all  included  in  an  auditorium  capable  of  seating  six  hundred 
people,  with  an  ample  stage,  and  the  usual  scenery  and  facilities  of  a  first-class 
opera  house.     In  the  winter  of  1879-80  it  was  formally  opened  to  the  public. 
The  most   prominent  manufacturing   enterprise  in  Wauseon  is  the  flouring 
mill.       It  was  built  in  1862  by  J.  C.  Cornell,  and   was  the  old-fashioned  buhr 
mill,  and   steam  was  the  motive  power.     To  procure  water  a  reservoir  was 
made  by  removing  the  dirt  from  a  space  of  about  one-fourth  of  an  acre  of  land, 
which,  thereby,  became  a  sort  of  drainage  deposit  for  the  extreme  wetness  of 
the  surrounding  soil,  and  a  basin  for  rainfalls.      This  plan  is  still  used  to  pro- 
cure water  for  the  large  mill  which  now  occupies  the  place  of  the  old  one,  which 
was  burned  in  the  month  of  February,  1881.     Immediately  upon,  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  old  mill,  a  new  one,  with  all   the  new  and  improved  kinds  of  ma- 
chinery, was  built.      Its  capacity  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  of  flour  per 
day,  and  it  is  run   without  cessation  the   year  round,  except  on  the  Sabbath. 
A  large  portion  of  the  productions  of  this  mill  is  exported  to  foreign  countries. 
Marcus  Lyon,  George   S.  Clement  and   Charles   S.  Greenleaf,  gentlemen  who 
long  have  been  prominently  identified  with  the  business  interests  of  Wauseon, 
now  are,  and  for  a  number  of  years  have  been,  the  owners  of  this  property. 

The  other  manufactories  of  Wauseon  are  of  minor  importance,  consisting 
only  of  those  necessary  to  supply  local  needs,  except  the  Automatic  Plow 
Company,  which  was  formed  in  1886.  This  company  manufactures  corn- 
plows.     Their  factory  was  built  late  in  1886,  and  is  on  Commercial  street. 

At  the  October  election  in  the  year  1869,  the  removal  of  the  seat 
of  justice  from  Ottokee  to  Wauseon,  was  submitted  to  the  qualified  voters  of 
the  county  for  their  decision.  By  a  slight  majority  the  vote  was  in  favor  of 
removal ;  and  the  subsequent  winter  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act 
whereby  Wauseon  became  the  county  seat.  The  county  commissioners  at  this 
time  were  Joseph  Ely,  of  Franklin  township,  A.  B.  Gunn,  of  York  township,  and 
Milton  McCaskey,  of  Fulton  township.  Early  in  1870  the  board  of  commis- 
sioners purchased  land  on  the  west  side  of  South  Fulton  at  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  that  street  and  Chestnut,  from  John  A.  Read  and  Walter  Scott,  and  soon 
thereafter  began  the  construction  of  the  court-house  thereon.  The  contract 
for  the  court-house  was  let  to  Vass  &  Bensman,  of  Perryburg,  O.,  for  the  sum 
of  forty-six  thousand  dollars,  and  for  the  jail  to  John  Litzenberger,  for  eighteen 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  C.  C.  Miller  was  the  architect  of  the  court- 
house. By  the  first  day  of  January,  1 872,  the  building  was  completed  and  ready 
for  occupancy.     In  the  same  month  the  county  records  were  removed  to  Wau- 


Fulton  County.  433 


seon,  the  county  officers  dulj'  installed  in  their  respective  offices,  and  the  spring- 
term  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court  held  at  Wauseon.  As  speedily  as  possible  the 
county  jail  and  sheriff's  residence  were  built,  and  Wauseon  took  a  new  lease  of 
prosperity.  From  1870  to  1880  the  population  of  the  village  increased  about 
thirty  per  cent. 

Wauseon's  first  school-house  still  stands  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Clinton 
and  Elm  street.  It  is  an  old-fashioned  building  of  wood,  put  up  in  1856.  It 
contains  two  rooms  and  is  yet  used,  it  being  the  place  where  the  youngest  chil- 
dren of  school  age  in  the  village  receive  their  first  instruction. 

The  next,  a  small  brick,  was  erected  on  the  north  side  of  Chestnut  street. 
It  fell  into  disuse  for  educational  purposes  when  in  1868  the  building  for  a  spe- 
cial school  district,  of  which  Wauseon  was  quite  the  larger  part,  was  built  on 
Monroe  street,  near  the  park  known  as  Monumental  Park.  The  special  school 
district  building  is  a  three- stor}'  brick,  containing  six  rooms,  and  the  usual  halls 
necessary  to  a  building  of  that  size  for  school  purposes.  It  was  built  by  J.  Q. 
Riddle  and  a  man  named  Cutshaw,  the  latter  being  the  mechanic,  and  the  for- 
mer furnishing  the  material.  Its  cost  was  $15,000.  This  building  was  not  well 
designed  for  its' use,  and  although  expensive,  it  was  not  well  built.  It  is  about 
the  only  institution  of  the  town  of  which  the  average  Wauseon  citizen  is  not 
reasonably  proud.  It  is  not  stating  the  case  too  strongly  to  say  that  the  excel- 
lent people  of  the  village  are  thoroughly  ashamed  of  the  unsightly,  badly  de- 
signed, and  probably  dangerous  school-house  where  their  children  receive  their 
education.  So  far  as  the  management  of  this  school  is  concerned,  it  always  has 
been  excellent,  both  on  the  part  of  the  board  of  education  and  the  teachers,  and 
a  number  of  the  graduates  of  the  high  school  have  become  intelligent  and  use- 
ful members  of  society.  Many  who  went  forth  from  its  walls  have  been  and 
now  are  numbered  among  the  most  efficient  of  the  common  school  teachers  of 
Fulton  county.  The  average  yearly  attendance  in  all  its  schools  for  the  last  ten 
years  has  been  about  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  pupils. 

An  examination  of  the  business  history  of  Wauseon  discloses  the  fact  that 
the  representatives  of  its  trade  in  all  channels  since  its  first  rude  beginnings  in 
the  woods,  have  been  unusually  reliable  and  solvent.  In  proportion  to  its  busi- 
ness and  population,  the  failures  have  been  few,  and  commercial  disasters  of  any 
magnitude  entirely  unknown.  The  trades  and  general  business  are  now  repre- 
sented by  about  fifty  establishments.  Its  express  and  freight  receipts  will  com- 
pare favorably  with  many  places  of  twice  the  population.  Its  citizens  travel  and 
mingle  with  the  outside  world  and  patronize  the  public  library,  and  are  thrifty 
intelligent  and  generous.  Poverty  and  want  among  any  of  the  inhabitants  are 
exceptions  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  people,  of  rare  occurrence,  and  the 
different  church  organizations,  the  civic  societies,  comprising  the  Masonic,  Odd 
Fellows,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  the  noble  fraternity  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  are  ever  ready  to  alleviate  privation  and  distress.     None  of  the  chil- 

55 


434  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

dren  of  Wauseon  go  hungry,  but  few  ill-clad,  and  the  means  of  moral  and  men- 
tal culture  are  freely  provided  for  all.  Surely  the  paths  of  this  pretty  village 
have  been  and  shall  continue  to  be  prosperous  and  pleasant. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

HISTORY  OP  AMBOY  TOWNSHIP. 

AT  the  date  of  the  first  settlement  of  Amboy  township  by  the  whites,  as- 
early  as  1834  or  1835,  that  part  north  of  the  "  Fulton  Hne  "  was  included 
in  the  territory  of  Michigan,  and,  with  all  the  other  townships  north  of  said 
line,  the  people  did  all  their  legal  business,  and  paid  their  taxes  at  the  city  of 
Adrian,  the  county  seat  of  Lenawee  county,  and  continued  to  do  so  until  in 
December,  1836,  when  this  entire  strip  of  land  became  an  integral  part  of  Ohio, 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  Lucas  county.  The  land  office  on  this  survey  was  at 
the  city  of  Monroe,  near  the  mouth  of  the  River  Raisin,  at  or  near  the  head  of 
Lake  Erie.  All  persons  living  on  this  disputed  strip  prior  to  its  transfer  to 
Ohio,  were  residents  of  Fairfield  township,  Lenawee  county,  and  Territory  of 
Michigan. 

At  a  commissioners'  meeting  held  at  the  city  of  Toledo,  June  4,  1837,  the 
township  of  Amboy  was  organized  by  taking  all  of  town  nine  south,  range  four 
east,  south  of  the  Harris  line  (now  the  State  line  of  Michigan),  and  all  of  frac- 
tional township  ten  south,  range  four  east,  extending  to  the  "Fulton  line" 
south. 

The  first  election  under  this  organization  was  held  at  the  residence  of 
David  Duncan.  The  officers  assumed  jurisdiction  and  held  the  same  until 
March  i,  1841,  when  the  south  part  (all  of  town  ten  south,  range  four  east) 
was  erected  into  Fulton  township,  and  passed  under  her  jurisdiction,  and  so 
retnained  until  1846,  when,  at  a  commissioners'  meeting  held  June  2,  at  the 
city  of  Maumee,  upon  a  petition  signed  by  many  of  the  residents  of  Fulton 
township  (there  being  no  remonstrance  from  citizens  of  Amboy),  they  attached 
to  Fulton  township  the  south  tier  of  sections  of  town  nine  South,  range  four 
east,  to  wit:   Sections  31,  32,  33,  34,  35,  and  36. 

Amboy  at  present  contains  about  twenty-six  full  sections  of  land,  or  an 
area  of  16,677  acres,  valued  at  the  last  assessment,  together  with  the  personal 
property,  at  $333,640,  as  shown  upon  the  duplicate  of  the  county  for  1886. 

All  of  the  alterations  of  this  township  were  made  when  this  county's  terri- 
tory was  a  part  and  parcel  of  Lucas  county,  prior  to  1850,  the  time  of  the  or- 
ganization of  Fulton  county. 


Fulton  County. 


435 


Boundaries. — This  township  is  in  the  extreme  northeastern  part  of  the 
county,  and  bounded  on  the  east  by  Richfield  township,  in  the  county  of 
Lucas;  on  the  south  by  Fulton  township ;  on  the  west  by  Royalton  township, 
and  on  the  north  by  Ogden  township,  Lenawee  county,  in  the  State  of  Michi- 
gan, or  the  "  Harris  line."  Amboy  lies  wholly  within  the  disputed  territory 
which  was  adjusted  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  December,  1836, 
and  was  then  turned  over  to  Ohio.  It  was  the  third  township  organization  of 
Lucas  prior  to  Fulton  county.  The  extreme  eastern  part  of  this  township  is 
west  from  the  city  of  Toledo  about  fifteen  miles,  and  on  an  average  of  twenty 
miles  from  Wauseon,  the  county  seat.  Its  nearest  railroad  station  is  about  six 
miles  south,  Swanton,  on  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad. 

Soil. — The  soil  of  this  township  is  referable  entirely  to  the  drift  deposits, 
and  would  be  classified  as  drift  clays.  The  township  is  traversed  from  the 
southwest  to  the  northeast,  near  the  center,  with  a  beach  ridge  of  sand  and 
gravel.  This  clay,  with  slight  deposits  of  sand  and  gravel,  covers  the  major 
portion  of  the  territory,  and  is  deposited  with  a  flat  and  often  a  very  level  sur- 
face. This  beach  ridge,  crossing  nearly  through  the  center  of  the  township, 
has,  with  its  branches,  but  a  small  area,  yet  it  crosses  many  farms  that  would 
be  otherwise  destitute  of  sand,  and  it  affords  to  the  farms  and  the  township  a 
desirable  variety.  This  beach  of  sand  and  gravel  abruptly  terminates  about 
two  miles  south  of  Metamora,  a  small  village  near  the  northeast  corner.  Clay 
suitable  for  brick-making  can  be  found  in  this  township  in  abundance,  but,  as 
yet,  few  bricks  have  been  made. 

Timber. — The  clays  of  this  township  support  a  heavy  forest  growth,  in 
which  no  single  class  predominates.  White  oak,  burr  oak,  white  elm,  white 
ash,  and  basswood,  with  a  sprinkling  of  sugar  maple,  cottonwood,  and  some 
"whitewood,  sycamore,  and  but  few  beeches  are  met  with,  and  this  forms  the 
growth  of  timber  upon  its  soil,  as  it  appears  to-day,  and  was  found  by  the  first 
settlers.  Where  this  sand  and  gravel  beach  overlays  the  clay,  elm,  basswood 
and  beech  become  rare,  yet  a  heavy  growth  of  timber  covers  its  soil.  There 
are  no  opening  lands  in  the  township.  With  proper  care  and  protection,  Am- 
boy township  has  sufficient  timber  for  all  building  purposes  for  generations  to 
•come,  and  this  is  one  of  her  internal  sources  of  usefulness  as  well  as  wealth. 

Water  Courses. — The  main  water  course  of  this  township  rises  beyond  the 
"western  boundaries  of  the  township,  in  the  township  of  Royalton,  and  runs  a 
northeasterly  direction  through  the  village  of  Metamora,  and  thence  east,  leav- 
ing the  township  near  the  northeast  corner  of  section  twelve,  town  nine  south, 
range  four  east,  into  Lucas  county.  It  is  called  Ten  Mile  Creek,  and  empties 
into  Maumee  Bay,  on  or  near  the  line  between  the  States  of  Michigan  and 
Ohio.  The  summit  of  this  township  is  on  its  northwest  border.  The  streams 
on  the  north  side  of  Ten  Mile  Creek  have  a  gentle  course  to  the  southeast, 
while  upon  the  south  side  they  arc  few,  and  a  short  distance  south  of  Ten  Mile 


436  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Creek  are  gently  inclined  to  the  south,  and  empty  into  Swan  Creek.  All  the 
inclinations  of  this  township  are  very  gen-tle  with  whatever  course  the  stream- 
lets take,  the  slope  being  gently  inclined  to  the  east  and  south  by  east.  There 
are  no  very  singular  surface  depressions  in  the  locality,  and  but  few  wet  prai- 
ries or  marshes. 

Topography. — The  highest  lands  upon  the  north  side  of  this  township  are 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  above  Lake  Erie,  and  fall  off  to  the  south 
with  a  descent  of  fifteen  feet  to  the  mile.  At  no  place  within  its  limits  is  there 
an  out-crop  of  the  underlying  rock,  and  there  are  but  few  glacial  boulders  in 
the  soil.  The  overlying  rock  on  this  territory  is  first  the  Huron  shale  ;  then 
the  Hamilton  group  ;  next  the  Corniferous  limestone.  Its  water  supply  is 
attained  by  surface  drainage,  and  fails  in  severe  drouths  ;  otherwise  a  good 
supply  can  only  be  obtained  by  the  auger  below  the  clay-drift,  where  can  be 
found  an  abundance  of  good  water  to  be  utilized  for  general  purposes  by  using 
the  wind-mill. 

This  township  was  among  the  earliest  that  began  settlement  in  1834,  and 
held  a  scattered  population  for  a  long  period  of  time.  The  settlers  endured 
many  hardships  and  privations,  and  were  poor  in  purse  and  household  effects 
while  they  were  clearing  away  the  forest  to  raise  corn  and  wheat  for  their 
bread  and  fattening  a  little  pork  for  their  families  to  subsist  upon.  Cabins  had 
to  be  raised  for  shelter,  roads  opened,  bridges  built,  and  many  other  things 
were  required  to  be  done  before  any  revenue  could  be  returned  to  replenish  an 
empty  purse.  There  were  no  laggards  here,  no  idlers;  the  crash  of  falling 
timber  was  heard  early  and  late  in  that  busy  circle  of  early  pioneers,  and  after- 
wards came  the  burning  and  logging,  and  fitting  the  land  for  corn,  potatoes, 
and  a  little  garden  after  other  crops  had  been  put  in  by  the  ax  and  hoe. 
There  was  but  little  plowing  and  the  crops  were  tended  by  the  whole  family 
with  the  hoe  as  best  they  could.  Often  .half  of  these  crops  were  destroyed  by 
birds  and  wild  animals,  so  prevalent  ih  those  new  forest  homes,  and  it  is  often 
remarked  by  these  sturdy  pioneers  that  with  all  their  effort  to  keep  soul  and 
body  together  with  sometimes  poorly  supplied  larders,  an  empty  purse,  with 
home-made  clothing  for  their  Sunday  wear,  how  well  they  enjoyed  this  kind 
of  life;  to  chop  the  first  tree,  to  build  the  log  cabin,  to  move  into  it,  with  none 
other  near,  was  exhilarating.  There  was  no  repining.  It  was  a  necessity  that 
they  should  live  in^this  way,  and  they  with  joy  obeyed  this  will  as  though  it 
was  the  command  of  God,  and  in  their  rehearsals  of  those  days  they  often 
manifest  a  desire  to  live  them  over  again.  The  gun  was  often  brought  into 
use  to  supply  food  for  the  families.  How  anxious  these  pioneer  men  and 
women  were  to  get  a  little  piece  of  ground  and  secure  themselves  a  home,  and 
rear  their  families,  and  when  away  at  work  how  cheering  the  thought  as  he 
went  from  his  toil  to  his  cabin  and  family  at  the  close  of  day;  no  loitering 
places,  or  modern  day  fixtures  to  draw  him  away  from  his  family.     To  recall 


Fulton  County.  437 


these  days  are  cheering  reflections  of  an  inspiration  not  possessed  by  our 
modern  belle  and  gentleman.  It  can  be  well  said  for  these  old  pioneers  that 
"  labor  is  the  life  of  nature,  and  to  serve  all  men  her  highest  freedom." 

Population. — In  the  last  census  of  1880  this  township  had  a  population  of 
1,264.  The  development  has  been  slow,  and  not  until  later  years  did  it 
receive  agricultural  possibilities  that  has  astonished  its  people,  and  in  the  future 
is  more  than  likely  to  keep  pace  with  its  sister  townships  of  the  county.  The 
first  twenty-five  years  of  the  settling  of  Amboy  township  was  slow  because  of 
the  lack  of  means  of  its  people,  they  having  come  to  the  territory  in  very 
limited  circumstances,  but  through  courage  and  energy  they  slowly  mounted 
the  ladder  to  success.  It  was  not  until  the  construction  of  the  plank  road,  ia 
1850,  that  a  route  was  opened  from  the  city  of  Toledo  westward,  running 
through  this  township  from  east  to  west,  and  then  did  its  prosperity  begin. 
Ever  since  that  event  the  discouragements  have  been  far  less  than  to  those 
who  came  to  possess  the  country. 

Roads. — The  first  road  penetrating  this  township  was  the  territorial  road, 
or  known  as  the  Vistula  and  Indiana  road,  laid  out  by  the  territorial  Legisla- 
ture of  Michigan,  about  1832.  It  was  opened  at  a  late  date,  about  1835,  and 
in  1850  became  the  bed  for  the  plank  road,  which  for  many  years  was  the  only 
outlet  for  Toledo  via  Sylvania,  westward.  In  the  very  early  history  of  the 
township  a  road  was  built  running  from  the  old  Vistula  road  south  on  the 
sand  beach  through  the  township  towards  the  Maumee  River,  which  served  as 
a  route  of  travel  in  getting  to  Maumee  for  milling  and  trade,  and  by  reason  of 
these  roads  the  central  and  northern  part  of  Amboy  was  the  first  settled  and 
earHest  developed. 

The  inhabitants  in  this  locality  are  probably  as  well  situated  and  as  com- 
fortably supplied  as  anywhere  in  the  county. 

Agriculture. — In  the  early  days  here  was  found  covering  the  territory  a 
dense  forest,  which  required  many  years  of  the  ambition  of  the  best  blood  of 
the  country  to  remove;  and  after  that  a  great  amount  of  labor  was  needed  ta 
begin  a  higher  state  of  cultivation  before  the  development  of  agriculture  be- 
came a  fixed  fact ;  for  it  was  found  that  when  the  forest  was  removed  the  soil 
was  rich  in  all  that  develops  agricultural  powers,  and  to-day,  with  the  system 
of  drainage  which  every  industrious  community  has  adopted,  Amboy  is  second 
to  none  in  agricultural  possibilities.  Its  natural  advantages  in  soil  are  equal  to 
any  other  township  of  the  county,  and  its  productions  to-day  confirm  every 
statement  herein  made,  as  shown  by  the  reports  of  productions  of  this  town- 
ship in  1886,  and  taken  in  the  spring  of  1887. 

Acres  of  wheat,  1323;  bushels  raised,  22,983.  Acres  of  rye,  179;  bushels, 
raised  3,331.  Acres  of  buckwheat,  51;  bushels  raised,  989.  Acres  of  oats, 
635;  bushels  raised,  27,618.  Acres  barley,  11  ;  bushels  raised,  419.  Acres 
of  corn,  1,682;  bushels  raised,  59,613.      Acres  of  meadow,  I,I5S;   tons  of  hay,. 


438  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

1,096.  Acres  of  clover,  294;  tons  of  hay,  335  ;  bushels  of  seed,  236.  Acres 
of  potatoes,  93;  bushels  harvested,  7,065.  Butter  manufactured,  26,787  pounds. 
Cheese  manufactured,  141,000  pounds.  Sorghum  made,  102  gallons;  maple 
syrup,  205  gallons,  and  120  pounds  of  maple  sugar.  Amount  of  eggs  pro- 
duced, 33,661  dozens.  Wool  produced,  S,oi6  pounds.  Cows  in  township, 
543.  Orchards,  352  acres;  bushels  of  apples,  21,368;  pears,  35  bushels; 
peaches,  6  bushels;   cherries,  25  bushels;  plums,  18  bushels. 

Early  Settlers. — Jared  Hoadly  was,  without  doubt,  the  first  resident  settler 
of  Amboy  township.  He  entered  his  land  in  the  month  of  July,  1833,  and  late 
in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  moved  to  Amboy  township.  It  is  found  that 
in  the  early  part  of  January,  1834,  he  built  himself  a  cabin  upon  this  purchase, 
on  section  seven.  He  lived  in  Amboy  township  for  many  years  and  in  later 
life,  moved  into  Michigan.  He  was  a  very  prominent  man  with  the  first  pio- 
neers, and  very  influential  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  township.  He  was  prosper- 
ous in  all  his  business  adventures.  He  bore  well  the  hardships  incident  to 
early  life  in  a  new  country,  and  his  home  was  the  asylum  of  the  distressed  and 
unfortunate.  His  outlet  for  trade  was  at  Perrysburgh,  and  occasionally  at 
Adrian.  His  milling  was  mostly  done  at  Tecumseh,  which  was  reached  by 
roads  winding  about  through  the  woods  and  swamps,  over  unbridged  creeks, 
and  it  often  required  three  or  four  days  with  ox  teams  to  make  the  trip.  The 
most  plentiful  thing  was  game,  of  those  days.  Indians  were  by  no  means  scarce, 
as  they  liked  the  idea  of  being  near  the  first  white  settlers  for  the  purpose  of 
trade  and  barter.  They  were,  upon  the  whole,  a  benefit  to  these  early  fathers 
and  oftentimes  company  in  the  lonesome  hours  of  wilderness  life;  and  besides, 
they  kept  the  settlers  informed  of  all  newcomers  for  many  miles  around.  They 
were  always  peaceable;  the  settlers  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  Indian.  They 
would  assist  the  families  in  erecting  their  first  cabins,  in  order,  chiefly,  to  get 
what  whisky  they  could  drink.  It  may  be  said  of  them  that  they  did  their 
part  in  making  the  early  pioneers  and  their  families  more  comfortable  for  their 
being  here,  as  many  of  these  old  settlers  can  testify.  Mr.  Hoadly  was  an  ac- 
tive man  and  performed  his  full  share  of  labor  in  the  developing  of  the  town- 
ship in  its  very  primitive  days.  He  held  the  plow  to  break  the  first  piece  of 
land  plowed  in  Amboy,  and  built  the  first  cabin  of  which  we  have  any  record. 
He  has  long  since  passed  "over  the  river"  from  the  toils  and  scenes  of  this  life. 

Among  the  other  settlers  that  came  to  this  township  in  1833  that  can  be 
found  recorded  in  the  memory  of  the  present  living  generation  were  Alvah 
Steadman,  Aaron  Steadman  and  David  Steadman,  father  of  Aaron  and  Alvah, 
Frank  O'Neil,  Charles  Blain,  William  Blain,  John  Roop,  Joseph  Roop  and 
Alfred  Gilson.  The  Blains,  originally,  were  from  Lodi,  near  Syracuse,  Onon- 
daga county,  N.  Y.,  and  first  made  a  halt  at  Toledo,  at  a  very  early  day,  from 
whence  they  came  on  foot  across  the  country  westward,  and  settled  in  Amboy, 
which  was  then  under  territorial  rule  of  Michigan,  and  said  to  be  in  the  town- 


Fulton  County.  439. 


ship  of  Blissfield.  Their  advent  was  late  in  the  fall  of  1833.  They  each  have 
raised  large  families,  all  of  whom  have  grown  to  man  and  womanhood  and  are 
settled  around  their  parents  on  parts  of  their  father's  estate.  These  pioneers, 
after  subduing  an  interminable  wilderness  and  enduring  their  share  of  the  trials 
and  privations  incident  to  a  pioneer  life,  acquired  a  fair  share  of  this  world's 
goods,  and  a  fine  share  of  lands  on  sections  18  and  19,  which  estate  is  now 
divided  among  the  children.  Charles  Blain  is  living  to-day  at  the  advanced 
age  of  seventy- five  years.  His  mother,  Sarah  Blain,  died  in  1874,  at  his  home 
in  Amboy  township,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  four  years.  Alvah  Stead- 
man  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  second  settler  in  the  township,  but  possibly 
that  honor  will  have  to  be  divided  with  John  and  Joseph  Roop,  yet  the  best 
informed  of  the  old  pioneers  accord  that  honor  to  Alvah  Steadman.  They  all 
came  so  nearly  together  that  it  will  be  impossible  at  this  late  day  to  settle  the 
question.  Joseph  Roop  made  the  first  brick  in  the  township  and  carried  on 
that  industry  for  many  years.  Many  of  the  old  settlers  show  the  brick  man- 
ufactured by  Joseph  Roop,  now  used  in  comfortable  dwellings.  The  foot- 
prints and  marks  of  these  first  settlers  are  shown  and  spoken  of  all  over  the 
township. 

These  families,  being  the  advance  guard  jn  subduing  a  wilderness,  had  a 
large  share  of  the  winter  of  1834  in  which  to  arrange  for  a  garden  and  potato 
and  corn  patch,  one  of  the  first  thoughts  of  the  settlers  of  that  day,  and  gen- 
erally planted  among  the  logs  with  spade,  hoe  or  an  ax,  and  in  the  fall  were- 
prepared  to  help  the  coming  immigrant  with  a  fair  share  of  their  summer's  in- 
dustry, for  which  they  usually  obtained  a  little  cash,  not  greenbacks  or  gold,, 
but  a  little  silver  and  the  balance  in  wildcat  notes  of  that  period,  upon  which 
there  was  often  a  large  loss  to  the  receiver. 

On  examination  it  is  found  many  of  the  homes  of  these  first  beginners  have 
passed  into  the  hands  of  strangers— later  immigrants  upon  the  soil,  who  since 
have  done  their  part  well,  and  claim  some  recognition  as  pioneers  of  Amboy 
township  or  the  county  of  Fulton.  From  the  old  tumble-down  cabin  will  be 
seen  fine  residences,  mammoth  barns,  good  out-houses  and  well-drained  lands, 
surrounded  by  good  rail  fences.  It  is  now  fifty-four  years  since  the  advent  of 
the  first  settler,  Jared  Hoadly.  With  many  of  that  year's  immigrants  full  a 
month's  work  from  each  was  required  to  cut  and  clear  out  roads  and  make 
bridges,  etc.  No  turnpike  work  could  be  done  in  those  days.  Frank  O'Neil 
settled  where  Metamora  is  now  located.  He  built  the  first  cabin  in  that  part 
of  the  township,  and  there  alone  with  his  family  enjoyed  the  full  fruits  of  a 
pioneer's  life  and  the  honor  of  being  ahead  of  the  other  settlers. 

Since  the  date  of  the  settlement  of  1833,  there  has  been  a  large  acquisition 
of 'population.  In  1834,  David  Duncan,  from  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.  ;  also 
John  Blain  and  Jerry  Duncan,  from  the  same  place;  Lorenzo  Abbott,  Seneca 
Corbin,  from  New  York;  Park  White  and  his  son  David  White,  Jonathan  Gil- 


440  History  ok  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

son,  Clark  Gilson,  James  Hallett,  John  Labounty,  Samuel  Purdy,  Joseph 
Richey,  Nathaniel  Welch  and  Harry  Welch.  In  the  year  of  1835  there  came 
Hiram  Bartlett,  who  first  emigrated  from  Cooperstown,  Otsego  county,  State 
of  New  York,  in  1826,  and  settled  at  Port  Lawrence  (now  Toledo).  He  re- 
sided there  nine  years  before  he  came  to  Amboy  township.  Calvin  Skinner, 
Cyrus  Fisher,  Horatio  Stevens  and  Caleb  Remilie  came  from  Niagara  county, 
N.  Y.  George  Barnett,  Chapman,  Griswold  and  Koons,  whose  given  names 
could  not  be  ascertained,  were  also  among  the  early  settlers.  Horatio  Stevens 
settled  upon  section  twenty-nine,  afterwards  owned  by  Stephen  Haughton. 
Alfred  Gilson  settled  on  section  nineteen.  Samuel  Keeler,  father  of  Solomon 
Keeler,  a  banker  at  Toledo,  was  among  the  settlers  of  1835.  Joseph  Richey 
was  also  a  settler  of  this  period  ;  and  Marmaduke  Bunting  may  be  placed  as 
among  this  class,  as  it  is  admitted  he  was  a  very  early  settler.  The  Blains  and 
Duncans  were  all  from  Lodi,  first  lock  on  the  canal  east  of  Syracuse,  Onondaga 
county,  N.  Y.  David  White,  a  son  of  Park  White,  became  a  noted  hunter  in 
the  wilds  of  this  county,  but  since  the  advancement  of  civilization  and  the  wood- 
man's ax,  game  in  later  years  has  become  so  scarce  as  to  yield  no  profit.  He 
sought  the  wilderness  of  Northern  Michigan,  and  makes  hunting  profitable. 
Lorenzo  Abbott  came  through  from  Maumee,  with  nothing  but  a  pocket  com- 
pass for  his  guide,  and  found  the  land  of  his  choice,  and  entered  the  same  and 
lived  upon  it  until  he  sold  it  to  Sullivan  Johnson,  in  1843.  When  Hiram  Bart- 
lett came  to  this  township,  July  31,  1835,  from  Port  Lawrence,  Lucas  county, 
he  had  four  children,  to  wit :  Elizabeth,  who  married  a  son  of  Deacon  Keeler, 
the  banker  of  Toledo,  and  now  resides  at  Elkhart,  Ind.  ;  Julia  Ann,  the  wife  of 
Norman  H.  Tripp,  of  Amboy,  now  living  on  section  sixteen;  Hannah  F.,  who 
became  the  wife  of  George  Gale,  and  has  since  died,  and  Hiram  Russell  Bart- 
lett, who  now  occupies  the  homestead  of  his  father.  The  father  died  abcut 
187s 

There  was  one  very  important  incident  in  the  life  of  Hiram  Bartlett,  which 
is  worthy  of  some  note.  It  seems  tiiat  in  early  life  he  learned  the  hatter's  trade, 
and,  on  arriving  at  twenty-one  years  of  age  (as  it  was  customary  to  have  birth- 
day parties),  he  had  a  party  to  commemorate  the  event.  Rum  was  customary 
at  the  sideboard,  and  was  drank  freely  by  all  members  of  society  in  those  days. 
Having  seen  the  iniquity  of  so  free  a  use  of  rum  and  other  strong  drinks,  he 
was  resolved  beforehand  to  total  abstinence.  On  that  day,  to  make  strong  the 
vow,  he  took  a  bottle,  filled  it  with  rum,  corked  and  sealed  the  same,  and  then 
and  there  declared,  before  the  company  present,  that  he  would  never  taste  any 
alcoholic  drinks  during  his  future  existence,  unless  to  save  his  life,  and  not 
then  until  it  was  decided  by  a  council  of  five  doctors  that  it  was  necessary ;  if 
so  decided  that  it  was  necessary,  the  bottle  was  to  be  opened  and  the  prescrip- 
tion to  be  made  therefrom.  Russell  Bartlett  died  in  the  fall  of  1875.  The  bot- 
tle remained  unopened  at  his  death,  and  so  still  remains.  It  is  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  son,  Russell  Bartlett,  a  prosperous  citizen  of  Amboy  township. 


Fulton  County.  44E 


Between  1836  and  1840  came  Job  Duvall,  who  settled  upon  section  nine. 
He  came  from  Erie  county,  N.  Y.  He  now  sleeps  with  the  dead.  He  was 
highly  respected  in  the  whole  township.  His  widow  lives  where  he  first  set- 
tled. Tunis  Lewis,  John  Lewis  and  Charles  Welch  are  found  to  be  among  the 
settlers  of  this  period.  John  Richey  settled  on  section  seventeen;  William  Ir- 
win on  section  fourteen. 

Charles  C.  Tiney  was  born  in  Washington  county,  N.  Y.,  April  26,  1809, 
and  his  wife,  Electa  Whitten,  was  born  in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  December 
28,  1813.     They  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1838,  on  section  thirty. 

Calvin  H.  Potter  settled  in  Amboy  township  in  1 842.  Since  he  came  to 
this  county  he  has  cut  and  brushed  six  miles  of  road,  four  rods  wide,  through 
heavy  timber,  and  has  cleared  his  farm  of  one  hundred  acres.  He  was  born  in 
Herkimer  county,  N.  Y'.,  August  2,  1822. 

Morey  S.  Potter  and  Minerva,  his  wife,  parents  of  Calvin  H.  Potter,  settled. 
in  Fulton  county  in  1842.  They  have  a  numerous  following  of  grand  and^ 
great-grandchildren,  ma'ny  of  them  living  in  Amboy  and  adjacent  townships.. 
The  old  people  were  living  on  their  farm  in  Amboy  but  a  short  time  ago,  eachi 
at  a  very  advanced  age. 

In  1843  came  Sullivan  Johnson,  who  has  been  twice  honored  with  election 
to  the  sheriff's  office  of  Fulton  county.  He  has,  ever  since  he  came  to  the- 
township  in  1843,  been  a  very  active  man  in  all  matters  that  pertain  to  the 
development  of  its  resources,  and  is  a  leader  in  his  political  party.  He  has 
been  successful  in  honorably  obtaining  a  fair  share  of  this  world's  goods,  and" 
has  seen  his  children  well  settled  around  him.  He  now  resides  on  the  section, 
formerly  owned  by  Lorenzo  Abbott,  who  first  entered  the  same,  and  came  to» 
reside  thereon  July  31,  1835. 

Norman  N.  Tripp  first  visited  Amboy  in  1838.  He  was  then  a  young 
man,  and  stayed  here  for  a  short  time.  He  returned  in  1847.  He  married 
Julia  Ann  Bartlett,  daughter  of  Hiram  Bartlett,  and  settled  upon  section  six- 
teen, where  he  now  resides.  He  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat  and  a  man  of 
much  influence  in  the  township  and  the  county.  Mrs.  Tripp  has  some  very 
interesting  relics  of  her  grandparents,  such  as  family  apparel,  Hnen,  table 
cloths,  and  sheets,  which  were  made  over  one  hundred  years  ago.  She  shows 
the  work  of  her  grandmother — Hannah  Walker  Fisher,  of  Providence,  R.  I. — 
a  miniature  pair  of  woolen  hose  and  mittens,  which  Mrs.  Tripp  wore  in  her 
babyhood,  sixty-five  years  ago. 

Hezekiah  Culver,  Caleb  Satterly,  Thomas  Cahoe,  Daniel  L.  Bueler,  and 
possibly  others  whose  names  cannot  be  ascertained,  came  prior  to  1850. 

Present  Residents. — In  naming  the  present  settlers  upon  the  soil  of  Amboy 
there  need  only  be  mentioned  those  who  have  become  prominently  iden- 
tified in  its  industries  as  agriculturists  and  in  other  pursuits,  to  wit :  Sulli- 
van Johnson,  Norman  N.  Tripp,  Lewis  Bueler,   James  Santee,   Miles  Kahle, 

56 


442  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

George  Clark,  John  Richey,  George  Johnson,  George  Duvall,  Peter  Ottgen,  Ira 
Smedes,  Alfred  Dennis,  Charles  Blain,  Benjamin  Blain,  Robert  Blain,  Fred. 
Broadbeck,  George  Robinson,  Hubert  Robinson,  Harvey  Gunn,  Adam  Mohr, 

Herbert  Ottgen,  Peter   Reis,  William   Beverly,  S.  P.  Knapp,  Smallman, 

•Charles  Tiney,  Albert  Allen,  G.  N.  Carter,  Thomas  Cahoe,  McLean  Duncan, 
William  Myers,  Samuel  Duncan,  Nathaniel  Welch,  William  Nevitt,  Russell 
Bartlett,  Peter  Mohr,  Peter  Shug,  Charles  Blain,  jr.,  James  O'Neil,  Daniel  Hal- 
lett,  James  Hallett,  James  Hallett,  jr.,  S.  M.  Reynolds,  John  Willey,  Joseph 
Feltz,  Christian  Ottgen,  Christian  Ottgen,  jr.,  John  Hartell,  Peter  Kohl,  a 
preacher,  Darius  Higley,  John  Reis,  E.  Bunting,  E.  F.  Bartley,  J.  L.  Molish, 
S.  R.  Myers,  N.  Justice,  J.  Stillwell,  John  Broadbeck,  George  Reis,  and  many 
others. 

Primitive  Structures. — The  first  inhabitants  of  this  township,  as  did  of 
many  others  of  later  settlement,  built  their  first  habitations  of  round  logs,  gen- 
.erally  twelve  by  sixteen  feet  in  size  ;  still  some  were  a  little  larger,  and  were 
•covered  with  elm  bark  when  shakes  could  not  be  obtained  easily.  A  few  oth- 
■ers  were  built  of  bark.  These  answered  for  their  immediate  necessities  until 
they  could  secure  a  harvest  for  the  coming  winter.  As  soon  as  they  saw  their 
families  provided  with  something  to  eat,  they  built  for  themselves  an  improved 
•structure,  which  lasted  these  residents  for  many  years.  Some  of  these  primi- 
tive structures  are  still  standing  as  evidence  of  the  truth  of  what  is  here  said. 
The  more  modern  log  houses  were  built  of  larger  dimensions  and  with  double 
roof  and  many  of  them  were  quite  roomy,  and  were  palatial  when  compared 
with  the  first.  The  logs  were  often  hewed  upon  the  inside  and  put  under  a 
good  shingle  roof.  The  cracks  were  chincked,  and  then  plastered  upon  the 
inside  and  outside,  some  with  clay  and  others  with  lime  and  sand. 

With  these  houses  the  people  were  well  satisfied  for  many  years,  or  until 
"they  got  their  farms  well  improved,  and  not  until  within  the  last  twenty  years 
.have  they  begun  the  more  modern  structure.  The  fathers  and  sons  in  nearly 
all  the  first  families  were  good  citizens.  Many  of  them  were  brought  up  to 
the  German  habits  of  patience,  perseverance  and  industry,  and  these  qualities 
have  accumulated  good  possessions,  and  are  prepared  to  lay  aside  the  mantle 
for  their  children  and  journey  to  another  future  home — their  everlasting  home 
over  the  river  of  death. 

Metamora. — Frank  O'Neal  built  the  first  house  in  Metamora.  Hezekiah 
Culver  sold  the  first  goods  here  in  1848,  and  possibly  the  first  in  the  town- 
ship. This  was  in  a  very  early  day.  Culver  and  Compton  &  Co.  built  the 
first  grist-mill,  in  1845,  and  the  only  one  ever  built  in  the  township,  the  latter 
in  1850.      It  is  now  owned  and  run  by  Eli  Bunting. 

Willi.am  Bailey  was  the  first  physician  in  Metamora.  He  settled  near  the 
German  church,  west  some  two  miles  from  the  town.  Jonathan  Saunders  was 
one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  the  village.       His  son,  Clark   Saunders,  has 


Fulton  County.  443 


there,  at  the  present  time,  a  drug  store.  A  physician  named  Pomeroy,  used  to 
practice  medicine  in  the  village  at  a  very  early  day.  He  was  a  very  old  man 
at  the  time,  and,  after  a  few  years  of  practice  died,  and  was  buried  there. 

Metamora  has  had  a  post-office  for  many  years,  and  the  only  one  in  the 
township  up  to  about  1880,  when  Siney  post-office  was  established  upon  the 
western  line,  giving  two  post-offices  in  the  township.  The  present  industries 
of  the  village  are,  one  saw-mill,  one  hotel,  kept  by  Peter  Holben  ;  four  dry 
good  stores,  owned  by  James  Gurnsey,  Edward  Duvall  and  Fred.  Prickett. 
The  town  also  supports  one  barber  shop.  There  is  being  built  a  large  cheese- 
factory,  which  can  be  well  supported  by  the  farming  community.  The  present 
physicians  of  the  village  are  Dr.  S.  M.  Clark,  Dr.  F"oster,  Dr.  Tompkins  and 
Dr.  Markham. 

There  is  one  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  which  was  built  in  1870,  and  is 
in  a  good  condition,  with  a  large  membership.  There  is  also  one  United. 
Brethren  church,  which  sustains  a  fair  membership.     It  was  built  in  1874. 

Amboy  township,  aside  from  the  two  church  organizations  in  the  village  of 
Metamora,  has  one  Catholic  church,  called  St.  Mary's,  built  in  1864,  upon  sec- 
tion 26,  and  connected  therewith  is  a  cemetery  specially  dedicated  for  Catholic 
burials.  The  country  here  surrounding  is  chiefly  populated  by  Irish  and  some 
French  families,  who  were  originally  of  that  faith  when  they  left  their  native- 
land  and  made  America  their  home.  They  have,  in  the  main,  made  good  citi- 
zens ;  they  have  been  prosperous,  and  the  township  has  been  benefited  by  their 
settling  here.  Many  have  a  fair  share  of  this  world's  goods,  acquired  by  their 
frugality  and  industry  during  the  few  years  they  have  been  upon  the  soil. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  upon  the  town  line  between  Amboy  and' 
Royalton,  was  built  in  1867.  It  has  a  small  number  of  worshipers,  and  has 
sustained  itself  under  adverse  circumstances.  The  Reformed  Church  of  Zion 
was  built  by  the  German  residents,  about  1870.  This  society  and  the  church 
edifice  is  due  to  the  labors  of  Peter  Kohl,  who  is  yet  living  in  the  township  at 
the  advanced  age  of  seventy- five  years.  The  church  building  is  located  upon 
section  9. 

Schools. — There  are  five  school  districts  in  the  township,  located  as  follows  : 
one  upon  the  south  side  of  section  4 ;  one  upon  section  7 ;  one  upon  section 
16;  one  upon  section  29;  one  upon  section  26,  and  a  special  district  at  Meta- 
mora.    All  have  well-built  houses,  some  of  which  have  been  lately  built. 

Industries. — The  only  industry  in  the  township,  outside  of  the  village  of 
Metamora,  is  agriculture.  There  is  connected  with  that  one  cheese-factory,  lo- 
cated upon  section  7,  called  the  Amboy  cheese- factory.  Benjamin  Davis,  of 
Royalton,  is  the  proprietor.  It  was  opened  for  business  in  1868,  and  has  made 
the  milk  production  very  profitable  to  the  farming  community  in  a  lairge  part 
of  the  township.     The  factory  is  in  a  flourishing  condition  at  this  time. 

John  Reis,  upon  the  eastern  part  of  the  township,  carries  on  the  tile  and. 


444  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

brick  making  business  to  quite  a  large  extent.  The  brick  and  tile  there  man- 
ufactured are  entirely  used  by  the  farmers.  There  is  not  any  other  very  prom- 
inent industry  in  the  township. 

Official  Roll. — Upon  the  organization  of  this  township,  in  1837,  '^t  the  first 
election  held,  Peter  C.  Lewis  of  section  9,  and  Cyrus  Fisher  of  section  29,  were 
elected  justices  of  the  peace.  Stephen  Haughton  was  the  first  county  officer 
from  the  township,  and  served  as  county  commissioner  three  years  ;  Abram  B, 
Thompson  was  twice  elected  county  commissioner  and  served  six  years  ;  Sul- 
livan Johnson  was  twice  elected  sherifiT  and  served  four  years,  making,  for  all 
incumbents,  thirteen  years  of  official  service  for   Fulton  county   from  Amboy. 


CHAPTER  XLHI. 

HISTORY  OK  CHESTERFIELD  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  township  was  organized  at  a  session  of  the  board  of  commissioners,  held 
at  Toledo,  June  4,  1837,  by  taking  all  of  towns  nine  south,  range  one  and 
two  east,  and  all  of  town  ten  south ;  ranges  one  and  two  east,  excepting  a 
strip  one  mile  wide  from  the  west  side  of  towns  nine  and  ten  south,  range  one 
•east,  and  embracing  all  the  territory  described  from  the  "  Harris  line"  on  the 
north,  to  the  "  Fulton  line  "  on  the  south.  The  first  election  under  this  or- 
ganization was  held  at  the  residence  of  Chesterfield  demons,  and  the  officers 
fully  assumed  jurisdiction,  and  held  the  same  until  March  6,  1838,  when,  at  a 
commissioners'  meeting  held  at  Toledo,  the  whole  of  towns  nine  and  ten  south, 
range  one  east,  was  set  off  and  erected  into  the  township  of  Gorham.  Then 
Chesterfield  relinquished  her  jurisdiction  to  the  territory  so  set  off.  Again,  at 
a  commissioners'  session  held  at  the  city  of  Maumee,  June  5,  1843,  the  whole 
of  town  ten  south,  range  two  east,  was  taken  from  Chesterfield,  and  with 
other  territory  south,  was  organized  into  the  township  of  Dover.  The  town- 
ship of  Chesterfield  for  several  years  thereafter  exercised  municipal  control 
over  the  balance  of  the  territory.  At  some  unknown  date  since  the  organiza- 
tion of  Fulton  county,  the  commissioners  thereof  struck  off  and  set  to  Gorham 
the  west  half  of  fractional  section  7,  and  the  west  half  of  section  18,  lying 
west  of  Bean  Creek,  leaving  the  present  township  of  Chesterfield  as  she  exists 
to-day.  Chesterfield,  as  her  boundaries  exist  at  present  time,  contains  a  small 
fraction  of  sections  i,  2  and  3,  south  of  the  "  Harris  line,"  and  the  balance  of 
sections  7,  8  and  9,  south  of  the  same  line,  and  all  of  sections  10,  11,  12,  I3) 
14,  IS,  16,  17,  18,  19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29,  30,  31,  32,  33. 
34,  35  and  36,  excepting   therefrom  the  west  half  of  sections  7  and  18  set  off 


Fulton  County.  445 


to  Gorham,  and  contains  a  fraction  less  than  twenty-nine  sections  of  land,  or 
an  area  of  18,467  acres  valued  at  $354,55°-  This  township  with  all  its  alter- 
ations was  made  while  under  the  municipal  control  of  Lucas  county,  except 
the  west  half  of  sections  7  and  18,  which  was  set  off  to  Gorham  by  the  com- 
missioners of  Fulton  county  since  1850. 

Boundaries. — This  township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  State  of  Mich- 
igan ;  on  the  east  by  Royalton  ;  on  the  south  by  Dover,  and  on  the  west  by 
Gorham  township.  It  is  situated  between  the  townships  of  Gorham  and  Roy- 
alton, and  the  township  of  Dover  and  State  line  of  Michigan,  and  is  wholly 
upon  the  disputed  territory  claimed  respectively  by  Ohio  and  Michigan,  and 
settled  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  December,  1836. 

The  same  history  as  expressed  in  Royalton  township  applies  full  well  to 
to  the  township  of  Chesterfield,  except  that,  in  the  last  years  of  this  disputed 
agitation  of  territorial  control  by  Michigan,  these  lands  were,  in  the  winter  of 
1834,  placed  under  the  township  jurisdiction  of  Seneca  and  remained  so  until 
December,  1836,  when  to  the  Harris  line  it  became  a  part  of  Ohio,  and  lost 
the  name  of  Seneca,  and  was  unorganized  territory  until  1837,  when  it  was 
given  the  name  of  Chesterfield. 

First  Settlers. — Chesterfield  demons  was  the  first  settler  of  this  township. 
He  and  his  family,  on  the  6th  day  of  October,  1834,  entered  the  township  and 
located  upon  the  west  part  of  section  14,  town  nine  south,  range  two  east.  He 
was  born  in  Ontario  county.  State  of  New  York,  in  1797,  and  in  1821  married 
Fannie  Downing,  and  soon  after  emigrated  to  Paynesville,  O.,  from  whence 
they  came  to  this  county  as  stated.  Six  daughters  were  born  to  them  during 
their  wedded  life.  Animated  by  the  true  pioneer  spirit,  as  he  must  have  been, 
Chesterfield  demons  and  family  bravely  penetrated  into  an  almost  undisturbed 
wilderness  of  then  southern  Lenawee  county,  and  commenced  to  make  a  home 
for  himself  and  family.  His  faithful  and  untiring,  industry,  privations  and  hard- 
ships, have,  we  doubt  not,  been  instrumental  in  converting  a  howHng  wilder- 
ness into  a  flourishing  and  enlightened  commonwealth.  Mr.  demons  catae  in 
the  morning  of  life  with  his  children  and  wife,  possessed  of  Httle  else  than  will- 
ing hands,  stout  hearts,  and  sincere  and  honest  desires.  This  family  endured 
trials  and  dangers,  sorrow  and  tribulations,  unknown  to  the  later  settlers,  be- 
cause alone  in  the  wilderness  with  no  thought  save  to  grapple  with  their  im- 
mediate necessities.  Chesterfield  demons  Hved  but  a  short  time  to  see  the 
fruits  of  his  labor,  or  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose.  He  died  at  his  new 
home  in  Chesterfield  in  the  year  1842.  His  widow  subsequently  married  the 
Hon,  Samuel  Gillis.  She  is  the  mother  of  Mrs.  James  S.  Dean,  Mrs.  Delevan 
■C.-  Gillis,  lately  deceased  ;  Mrs.  John  S.  Butler,  Mrs.  Gideon  Clark,  and  Mrs. 
James  Hough,  deceased.  Judge  Samuel  Gillis  died  about  twelve  years  since, 
and  Mrs.  Fannie  (demons)  Gillis  died  at  her  son-in-law's  residence  at  Morenci, 
Mich.,  about  two  years  ago.     She  was  born  May  17,  1803,  in  the  State  of  New 


446  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

York.  Among  the  settlers  was  Garner  Willett,  who  located  on  the  southeast 
quarter  of  section  9,  town  nine  south,  range  two  east.  He  was  born  Decem- 
ber 20,  1816,  in  Somerset  county,  N.  J.  In  1835  Garner  Willett  left  his  home 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  years.  He  had  only  thirty-five  dollars  and  his  gun 
when  he  started  west  visiting  Adrian,  Mich.,  and  many  places  in  Ohio,  view- 
ing the  country  and  killing  deer,  wandering  to  Chesterfield  in  1837.  In  1839- 
he  was  joined  by  his  father,  David  Willett,  and  family.  He  was  present  at 
the  organization  of  Chesterfield  township  June  4,  1837.  In  1845  he  married 
Harriet  Parson,  who  with  her  parents,  came  from  Maine  and  settled  in  Ches- 
terfield in  1834.  Daniel  and  Esperance  Parsons,  parents  of  Garner  Willett's 
wife,  came  to  Chesterfield  in  the  fall  of  1834,  and  lived  to  prosper  and  spend 
their  last  days  in  ease.  The  nearest  grist-mill  of  those  days  was  at  Tecumseh, 
Mich.,  thirty  miles  away. 

George  P.  Clark  and  his  wife  Elizabeth  settled  in  this  county  in  the  fall  of 
1834;  they  were  both  born  in  Rhode  Island.  He  located  upon  section  twen- 
ty-three, but  some  years  later  he  sold  out  and  went  to  Michigan  and  there  died 
in  1872. 

Alanson  Briggs  and  wife,  Lucinda  (Cadwell)  Briggs,  came  to  this  county  in 
1834  and  settled  upon  section  twelve.  He  came  from  the  State  of  New  York, 
city  of  Utica. 

In  the  fall  of  1836  a  mail  route  was  established  and  run  from  Toledo,  O.,  to 
Lima,  Ind.,over  the  old  territorial  road,  sometimes  called  the  Vistula  road,  being 
the  first  mail  service  in  the  township.  The  distance  was  one  hundred  and  ten 
miles,  and  the  mail  was  carried  twice  a  week.  There  was  but  one  post-office 
between  the  two  terminal  points.  After  passing  four  miles  west  of  Morenci, 
Mich.,  the  road  lay  through  a  continuous  stretch  of  unbroken  forest  for  thirty- 
three  miles.  John  S.  Butler,  then  a  boy  of  about  eleven  years,  carried  the 
mail  on  horseback  twice  each  week  for  a  number  of  years. 

Alanson  Briggs  kept  a  hotel  for  several  years  to  accommodate  the  immi- 
grants, who  were  rapidly  filling  up  the  country.  It  was  located  upon  the 
premises  now  owned  by  Eleazer  Clark.  Briggs  was  a  colonel  of  the  State 
militia  of  Ohio,  which  at  a  later  period  held  general  muster  at  yEtna,  in  Pike 
township.  Alanson  Briggs  died  in  1879,  at  the  age  of  eighty- two  years.  His 
wife,  Lucinda,  died  in  the  early  days  of  the  township. 

John  S.  Butler,  a  son  of  Asa  H.  and  Sarah  (Daggett)  Butler,  who  first  set- 
tled in  Gorham  township  in  1835.  When  about  eleven  years  of  age  he  was 
indentured  to  Alanson  Briggs  until  he  became  twenty-one.  While  here  at 
Alanson  Briggs's  he  was  the  post-boy  on  the  route  from  Toledo  to  Lima,  in 
the  State  of  Indiana,  and  for  several  years  ran  over  the  route  twice  a  week,  a 
distance  of  one  hundred  and  ten  miles.  He  says  he  fell  into  the  St.  Joseph 
River,  which  he  had  to  cross,  with  the  United  States  mail  on  top  of  him. 
Once  in  carrying  the  mail,  he  was   chased  by  wolves  several  miles,  but  was 


Fulton  County.  447 


glad  to  be  rid  of  their  company,  as  he  did  not  like  their  music.  He  also  helped 
Alanson  Briggs  clear  up  the  farm  where  now  lives  James  H.  Turner.  He 
married  Lovina,  a  daughter  of  Chesterfield  and  Fannie  demons,  on  June  14, 
1846.  He  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  May  18,  1824.  He  is  a  suc- 
cessful farmer  of  Chesterfield  township,  located  on  section  thirty-two. 

Harlow  Butler,  in  1835,  came  west  on  a  land  hunt,  and  located  himself  on 
a  farm  on  section  twenty-eight.  While  on  his  way  through  Ohio  in  the  time 
of  the  Toledo  war,  he  was  seized  and  taken  prisoner,  but  soon  released  and 
went  on  his  way  rejoicing.  He  returned  with  his  family  to  Ohio,  and  settled 
upon  the  lands  he  first  located  in  1836.  Harlow  Butler  was  born  in  West 
Bloomfield,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  January  4,  1798,  and  his  wife,  Mary  (Hick- 
ox)  Butler,  was  born  at  the  same  place  December  28,  1803.  It  is  said  that 
Harlow  Butler's  was  the  fourth  family  in  the  township.  Mr.  Butler  planted  an 
orchard  on  his  farm  from  apple  seeds  washed  from  the  pumice  before  leaving 
New  York.  He  lived  to  see  the  trees  bear  fruit  and  ate  their  apples  and  drank 
their  cider  for  thirty  years  before  his  death,  which  occurred  at  his  home  in 
Chesterfield  many  years  ago.  He  was  one  of  that  class  of  men  who  were  an 
honor  to  the  township,  and  was  a  very  useful  man  in  society. 

Darwin  E.  Butler  settled  in  Chesterfield  township  in  1836.  He  came  from 
West  Bloomfield,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.  He  was  a  machinest  and  music 
teacher,  and  was  a  very  useful  man  to  the  whole  township.  He  married  in 
Chesterfield,  November  12,  1843,  Aurelia  Hibbard.  He  died  at  his  home  in 
the  township  in  the  spring  of  1886.      His  wife  survives  him. 

John  B.  Roos  and  Elizabeth  (Benner)  Roos  came  to  this  township  in  1836, 
and  settled  upon  section  twenty-four,  where  John  died  in  1859,  and  his  wife  in 
1872.     Both  were  born  in  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y. 

John  P.  Roos,  son  of  John  B.  and  Elizabeth,  came  with  his  parents  to  this 
township  in  1836.  In  1849,  January  25,  he  united  in  marriage  with  Emily  L. 
Noble,  who  came  from  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.  John  P.  Roos  is  a  man  of  un- 
blemished character  and  large  influence,  and  is  signally  prosperous  in  all  his 
business  relations. 

William  Onweller  and  his  wife,  Susannah,  came  to  this  county  in  1835  and 
settled  upon  section  twenty-three  of  Chesterfield  township.  They  came  from 
the  State  of  Maryland.  William  Onweller  was  a  very  industrious  citizen,  and 
accumulated  quite  a  property.  He  died  March  20,  1864,  at  his  home  in  the 
township,  devising  his  estate  to  his  son  William,  who  is  a  very  prosperous 
farmer  of  the  township.  During  the  last  year  he  built  one  of  the  finest  brick 
houses  of  the  county  upon  the  old  homestead  of  his  father. 

Samuel  Stutesman  came  to  this  township  in  1837.  He  was  born  in  Wash- 
ington county,  Md.,  August  29,  1806.  He  came  to  this  county  without  much 
means,  but,  by  industry  and  steady  perseverance  as  a  farmer,  acquired  a  large 
landed  estate,  and  in  his  declining  years  is  able  to  enjoy  life  in  ease.  He  set- 
tled upon  section  fourteen. 


448  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Heman  A.  Canfield,  and  his  wife,  Amanda  G.  Canfield,  botii  of  whom  were 
born  in  New  York  State,  came  to  this  county  in  1838,  and  settled  upon  the 
farm  now  owned  by  John  S.  Butler,  on  sections  thirty-two  and  thirty-three. 
Mr.  Canfield  for  many  years  has  been  one  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  the  town- 
ship in  all  its  business  relations ;  by  his  honesty,  sobriety,  and  untiring  indus- 
try has  acquired  a  fair  competence  ;  has  raised  a  fine  family,  and  has  twice 
been  honored  by  his  county  with  the  office  of  county  commissioner.  In  i860 
Mr.  Canfield  sold  his  farm  in  Chesterfield  and  removed  to  Gorham,  where  he 
again  came  in  contact  with  the  forest,  and  had  to  clear  himself  a  farm,  which 
he  has  successfully  done,  and  may  now,  in  his  advancing  years,  enjoy  the  com- 
forts of  a  well-earned  competency. 

Jacob  Boynton  came  to  this  county  in  1835  ^nd  bought  of  Chesterfield 
demons  some  thirty  acres  of  land,  now  owned  and  possessed  by  Eleazer  Clark. 
Boynton  afterward  sold  out  and  moved  from  the  county. 

Alfred  C.  Hough  was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  and  came  to  Ful- 
ton county  in  1836.  He  settled  upon  section  twenty-one.  Mr.  Hough  has 
held  the  office  of  county  auditor  of  this  county,  serving  with  satisfaction  to  the 
people  and  credit  to  himself  He  was  the  first  school  examiner,  while  the  ter- 
ritory belonged  to  Lucas  county.  He  has  several  times  been  honored  by  his 
township  to  important  positions. 

James  M.  Hough  was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  and  came  to  this 
territory  when  a  young  man,  and  finally  settled  upon  section  twenty-one, 
where  he  raised  a  fine  family,  and  is  now  retired  from  active  life. 

George  Patterson  and  his  family  came  to  this  county  in  September,  1838, 
and  settled  upon  section  thirty- one,  where  he  lived  many  years.  In  1849  ^^ 
sold  out  and  settled  in  Dover  township,  where  he  died  many  years  ago. 

Lyman  L.  Beebe  and  his  wife,  Julia  (Clement)  Beebe,  were  born  in  Onta- 
rio county,  N.  Y.  They  came  to  Fulton  county  and  settled  in  the  township 
of  Chesterfield  in  1840,  and  purchased  six  acres  of  wild  land  at  three  dollars 
per  acre,  on  section  twenty-seven.  He  built  the  first  steam  saw- mill  in  the 
township  in  1844,  and  ran  the  same  for  nearly  twelve  years.  It  was  located 
on  what  is  now  the  Crittenden  farm,  on  the  south  side.  In  1856  he  removed 
his  steam-mill  and  re-erected  and  remodeled  the  same  and  ran  it  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  when  he  abandoned  it.  It  was  located  upon  section  thirteen. 
Mr.  Beebe  is  still  living.  He  is  now  partially  blind.  His  wife,  Julia,  died  in 
1849,  in  Fulton  county.  Mr.  B.  now  owns  five  hundred  and  eight  acres  of 
land,  and  a  fine  brick  residence. 

Jeremiah  Sheffield  and  his  wife,  Sarah,  from  Newburg,  Orange  county,  N. 
Y.,  were  married  October  10,  1838,  at  Newburg,  and  started  the  same  month 
for  Ohio,  landing  in  Chesterfield  November  11,  1838,  and,  with  the  aid  of  John 
P.  Roos  and  Charles  Smith,  selected  the  land  upon  which  they  lived,  and  on 
which  she,  as  his  widow,  resides  to-day. 


t--^ 


^^^i^^i^LGp 


l^ffpT^Hju-^ 


Fulton  County.  449 

Nathaniel  Parsons  and  family  came  to  Chesterfield  February,  1835.  At 
one  time  Mr.  Parsons  went  to  mill  at  Tecumseh,  thirty  miles  away,  and  the 
mother  divided  what  bread  they  had  in  the  house,  and  lived  on  fractional  ra- 
tions while  he  was  gone. 

In  these  very  first  days  there  were  no  schools  for  a  year  or  two,  and  the 
children  were  taught  at  home  by  the  mother  or  elder  daughter  until  such  time 
as  the  population  would  warrant  a  school-building. 

James  S.  Dean,  sr.,  came  to  this  township  in  October,  1838,  from  Chemung 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  settled  upon  sections  twenty-four  and  twenty-five. 

Nehemiah  Cone  came  in  1835,  and  settled  on  section  twenty- four. 

Gersham  Livesay  came  in  1836  from  Elmira,  Chemung  county,  N.  Y. 

David  Lee  came  in  1837.  He  was  the  father  of  Peleg  S.  Lee,  who  is,  and 
has  been  for  a  long  time,  engaged  in  the  cheese  manufacture,  and  who,  the 
first  year,  started  with  a  production  of  about  4,000  pounds.  He  now  manu- 
factures from  150,000  to  200,000  pounds  of  cheese  per  year. 

In  1834,  1835,  1836,  and  up  to  1840,  many  came  to  the  township  of  Ches- 
terfield that  have  not  been  heretofore  named,  who  have  had  much  to  do  in 
improving  the  country.  Mention  of  some  of  these  will  be  made,  who  have 
been  particularly  identified  with  the  township.  They  are  :  Nathaniel  Butler, 
Hiram  Butler,  Darwin  Butler,  Manley  Hawley,  Flavel  Butler,  Daniel  Fausey, 
James  Aldrich,  Hyson  Aldrich,  Cicero  H.  Shaw,  James  M.  Bates,  George  W. 
Bates,  David  L.  Beebe,  George  W.  Roos,  Thomas  Welch,  Isaac  Stites,  Benja- 
min Stites,  William  Stites,  William  Richards,  Lothrop  Briggs,  who  first  settled 
what  was  afterwards  known  as  the  Dean  farm  ;  James  Livesay,  Joel  Briggs, 
son  of  Lothrop  Briggs  ;  Warren  Beebe,  George  W.  Kellogg,  Azariah  Shapley 
Daniel  F.  Turner,  Amaziah  Turner,  Phillip  Whitehead,  Joseph  Thorpe,  father 
of  Washington,  Lewis,  and  Jesse  Thorpe,  who  have  always  been  prominent 
farmers  of  the  township;  Samuel  Ranger,  who  came  in  1835  ;  Thomas  Welch^ 
who'came  from  Stark  county  in  1835,  originally,  but  direct  to  this  place  from 
Grand  Rapids,  on  the  Maumee ;  George  W.  Kellogg,  from  Gorham,  and  who, 
a  few  years  thereafter,  returned ;  Elizur  B.  Clark,  Mrs.  Amy  Welch,  Gideon 
Clark,  Marietta  Turner,  and  Adaline  Whaley.  All  of  the  last  five  named  were 
children  of  George  P.  Clark,  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth.  The  mother,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  ninety  years,  is  living  with  her  son,  Elizur  Clark.  They  were 
from  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.,  and  settled  here  in  the  fall  of  1836.  Amaziah 
Turner  came  in  1835,  and  settled  on  section  sixteen.  He  died  away  many 
years  ago. 

From  1840  until  1850  there  came  to  this  county  and  settled  in  Chesterfield 
David  Marks,  who  came  from  Ashland  county,  O.  ;  William  E.  Pennington, 
from  Somerset  county,  N.  J.,  in  1847;  Ephraim  Pennington  came  with  his  son, 
William.  The  father  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  and  died  at  his  son's 
residence,  aged  ninety  years;  Josiah  Lee,  in  1845,  settled  on  section  twenty- 
's? 


45°  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

two;  Eustice  Leggett,  on  section  twenty-eight;  Peter  Powers,  and  his  wife, 
Julia  A.  (Kennedy)  Powers,  in  1849,  on  section  nineteen  ;   Henry  L.  Smith  and 
his  wife,  Eunice;   Charles  Bowen  in  1843;    he  came  from  Berkshire  county, 
Mass.,  and  married  in  this  county  to  Miss  Julia  A.  Baldwin ;  William  Lee  and 
family,  in    1846;    they   came   from   Gorham ;    William   A.  Williams   and  his 
brother,  Edward,  in   1845-;    Ezra  Mead   and  William   E.  Parmalee,  in   1840; 
Thomas  Cuff  and  Asahel  Kennedy  in  1840;  John  W.  Bradley,  James  H.  Tur- 
ner, Jesse  Thorpe,  Washington   Thorpe,   Chauncey  Bulkley,  Asahel   Scofield, 
John  Moffett,  Fletcher  Bishop,  Lewis  A.  Lee,  Almon  M,  Lee,  Charles  McKen- 
zie,  Clarkson  Warne,  Lafayette  Sherman,  Peter  Romans,  Oliver  Todd,  Oliver 
Griffith,  John  H.  Martin,  Moses  La  Rue,  Daniel  Clock,  Samuel  Stout,  William 
Holben,  William  Lee,  James  Martin,  John  Smith,  Isaac  Jones,  Peter  Jones, 
Jackson  Jones,  I.  Schoonover,  Holloway  H.   Beatty,  and  his  sons,  Sidney  S. 
Beatty,  and  Whitfield  Beatty,  who  came  from  Sussex  county,  N.  J.,  in  1845. 
Eustice  Leggett,  John  Stites,  Samuel  Gillis,  who  under  the  present  constitu- 
tion, was  honored  as  the  first  probate  judge  of  the  county  from  this  township. 
He  died  many  years  ago. 

Martha  Turner  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  Chesterfield  township,  and 
the  record  says  she  was  born  July  29,  1835. 

The  first  marriage  was  Sallie  A.  Clemens  to  Elias  Salisbury,  in  1840. 
Alanson  Briggs  was  the  only  colonel  of  State  militia  which  mustered  for  the 
last  time  at  ^tna,  in  1843.  Lyman  L.  Beebe  was  captain  of  a  company  from 
Chesterfield;  Hiram  Farwell  was  captain  of  a  company  from  Gorham,  and 
Charles  B.  Smith  was  captain  of  a  company  from  Royalton.  Eli  Philips  was 
lieutenant-colonel;  Ezra  Wilcox,  of  Fulton,  was  adjutant,  and  Michael  Handy 
paymaster;  Charles  W.  Hill  of  Toledo  was  the  general.  About  1843,  time  the 
State  militia  service  declined,  as  it  was  held  to  be  a  useless  encumbrance  upon 
the  people,  and  never  again  met  to  drill. 

Remembrances.  — All  the  early  pioneers  witness  this  fact,  that  the  woods 
were  well  filled  with  game  of  many  kinds,  which  by  means  of  the  trusty  rifle, 
kept  the  people  from  hunger.  In  these  v^ry  early  days  not  enough  white  men 
could  be  gathered  together  to  raise  their  log  cabins  and  they  had  to  call  for  the 
services  oi  the  red  men.  They  were  always  ready  and  willing,  provided  there 
was  whisky  on  hand.  They  always  drank  what  they  wanted,  and  saved  enough 
for  the  next  day.  You  ask  the  question,  how?  They  would  fill  their  mouths 
as  full  as  they  could  hold,  step  back  from  the  rest  and  emit  it  into  a  bottle  to 
drink  the  next  day.  No  Indian  ever  refused  to  drink  whisky  when  offered  him. 
The  first  attempt  of  the  people  to  levy  a  tax  for  school  purposes  failed  at 
the  first  election,  but  at  the  next  election  it  was  carried  by  a  majority  vote  of 
the  people.  Soon  thereafter  provision  was  made  for  a  school.  Accordingly, 
the  inhabitants  hastily  constructed  a  school-house  on  section  16,  on  the  north- 
east corner,  just  south  of  the  Hawley  Cemetery.     Flavel  Butler  taught  the  first 


Fulton  County. 


451 


school  in  the  winter  of  1837,  and  this  was  the  first  school  ever  taught  in  the 
township.  At  this  time  Chesterfield  included  the  greater  part  of  Gorham,  and 
the  northern  half  of  Dover,  running  to  the  Fulton  line  on  the  south. 

The  remembrances  as  related  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Sheffield,  show  that  Indians 
helped  to  raise  their  log  cabin  to  the  height  of  three  logs,  when  the  whisky  was 
passed,  and  as  soon  as  they  got  their  drink  they  left,  and  other  means  had  to 
be  resorted  to,  to  get  up  the  logs.  They  got  it  ready  and  moved  into  it  in 
about  one  month.  The  only  trading  point  was  at  Adrian.  It  required  one  day 
to  go,  and  one  to  get  back  home.  In  August,  of  1839,  the. Indians  of  the  vicin- 
ity, and  over  four  hundred  from  Illinois,  had  a  war-dance  near  the  house,  which 
at  the  time  boded  no  good  to  the  whites,  yet  they  were  not  molested. 

Alanson  Briggs  sold  the  first  goods  in  the  township  as  early  as  1835.  He 
kept  a  small  supply  at  his  place  of  residence,  on  section  12  (the  place  now 
owned  by  James  H.  Turner).  Alfred  C.  Hough  sold  a  few  groceries  from  his 
residence  when  he  first  settled  in  Chesterfield.  Since  this  time  no  goods  were 
sold  upon  Chesterfield  soil,  until  within  a  few  years  past  a  partial  supply  of 
goods  and  groceries  have  been  kept  at  the  cheese  factory  of  Peleg  S.  Lee,  for 
the  benefit  of  his  patrons. 

Harlow  Butler  was  the  first  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  township,  as  well  as 
the  first  school  examiner  of  the  county.  Alfred  C.  Hough  was  the  second  just- 
ice. Harlow  Butler  issued  the  first  forty-seven  certificates  to  teachers  of  the 
county.  He  held  the  first  law-suit  tried,  entitled  Simmons  vs  State  of  Ohio. 
John  R.  Roberts  built  and  run  the  first  cheese  factory  in  the  township,  which 
was  at  a  later  day  with  all  its  appurtenances,  transferred  to  Peleg  S.  Lee,  who  is 
now  proprietor. 

There  is  but  one  church  edifice  m  the  township,  standing  upon  the  corner 
of  lands  now  owned  by  William  Onweller.  It  was  built  by  the  "  Disciples  of 
Christ."  This  is  the  only  church  organization  of  the  township.  The  township 
is  the  owner  of  a  substantial  brick  town  hall,  situated  in  the  center  of  the  town- 
ship, and  which  is  used  for  township  and  other  purposes. 

During  the  years  1850  and  185  i,  a  company  organized  in  Toledo,  and  ob- 
tained a  charter  to  build  a  plank  road  from  Toledo  to  Morenci,  Lenawee 
county,  Mich.  The  grant  or  right  of  way  was  upon  the  old  territorial  road, 
running  in  this  county  through  the  townships  of  Royalton  and  Amboy.  For 
the  construction  of  this  road,  the  townships  through  which  it  passed,  by  a  vote 
authorized  the  bonding  thereof  for  a  certain  amount  per  mile.  The  road  was 
built,  and  to  the  people  proved  to  be  valueless  for  their  commercial  interest, 
and  the  payment  of  the  bonds  was  a  severe  tax  upon  the  people  of  the  town- 
ship. The  road  was  never  kept  in  repair,  and  in  a  few  years  entirely  rotted 
away. 

There  are  no  railway  lines  in  the  township.  Morenci,  Mich.,  is  their  near- 
est outlet  by  rail  over  the  Canada  Southern  road.     Morenci  is  chiefly  their  trad- 


452  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ing  point,  as  here  the  competition  afforded  makes  this  town  as  good  to  them  as 
any  point  in  the  county.  Chesterfield  contains  no  village  nor  very  important 
industry.  It  has  no  schools  except  the  common  schools  of  the  State,  of  which 
the  township  contains  seven  in  sub-districts,  in  all  of  which  they  have  new  and 
improved  structures,  either  brick  or  wood,  and  all  are  in  a  flourishing  condition 
and  the  pride  of  the  township. 

There  are  three  important  cemeteries  in  the  township :  The  first  upon 
section  9;  one  located  upon  a  corner  of  the  old  homestead  of  Harlow  Butler, 
on  section  28,  which  has  become  the  resting-place  of  many  of  the  old  pioneers ; 
the  other  is  on  section  24,  where  others  of  the  old  settlers  now  rest  from  the 
toils  and  hardships  of  the  first  days  of  Chesterfield. 

Soils. — The  soil  of  this  township  is  largely  "sand  openings,"  exceptirig  a 
strip  along  the  State  line  which  seems  to  be  of  quite  stiff  clay  of  the  lacustrine 
order.  The  Bean  Creek  valley  is  chiefly  "  made  "  land  and  contains  large  de- 
posits of  soil  left  by  the  overflow  which  has  continued  for  a  long  period  of 
years.  When  drained,  the  land  is  exceedingly  productive.  In  many  places 
sand  spurs  from  the  openings  reach  down  to  a  beach  formation,  leaving  the 
creek  upon  its  east  side  as  a  general  rule.  The  sand  lands  of  the  township  are 
as  productive  as  the  more  level  clays,  and  much  easier  to  work.  In  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  township  it  is,  if  anything,  better  than  in  the  eastern  part,  where 
the  surface  is  not  as  often  filled  with  the  low  depression  common  to  the  open- 
ings, and  called  "prairie  lands.'' 

Water  Stipply. — The  water  supply  of  this  township  is  not  of  the  best,  ex- 
cept in  the  western  part,  along  the  Bean  Creek  valley,  where  borings  have 
been  made,  and  in  many  places  and  where  artesian  wells  are  obtained.  The 
sand  beds  of  this  as  well  as  some  other  townships  of  the  county  are  the  great 
store-house  for  the  rain-  falls  of  the  season,  and  offer  abundant  assurance  of  a 
water  supply  against  extreme  drouths.  This  explains  the  cause  of  the  frequent 
springs  arising  from  these  sand- drifts,  which  proves  the  only  support  for  the 
wells  put  down  thereon,  forming  a  sufficient  basin  in  the  underlying  clay  de- 
posit. This  supply  is  only  to  be  determined  by  the  area  of  the  sand  deposit. 
In  this  water  the  usual  earthy  carbonates  making  it  "  hard"  water,  are  always 
present,  though  not  often  in  great  quantity.  The  discharge  of  these  waters, 
though  at  times  copious,  is,  in  this  day  of  artificial  land  drainage,  very  fortu- 
nately limited.  The  lacustrine  clays  which  formerly  cut  off  the  discharge  from 
these  sand  beds,  are  now  opened  with  deep  ditches,  and  all  of  them  serve  as 
taps  to  the  water  supply  of  these  beds,  and  now  afford  continual  drainage. 

Streams. — The  main  water  course  for  the  streams  of  this  township  is  upon  its 
extreme  western  boundary,  and  called  Bean  Creek,  to  which  the  streamlets  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  township  lead  in  a  westerly  direction,  and  empty  therein. 
The  waters  of  the  eastern  part  are  discharged  mainly  into  Ten  Mile  Creek, 
which  is  formed  in  part  from  the  waters  of  the  township  of  Royalton  and  Am- 


Albert  Deyo. 


Fulton  County.  453 


boy,  and  tend  generally  east.  In  the  township  of  Chesterfield  the  streams  are 
principally  ditches  or  drains  through  the  prairies  so  prominent  in  the  openings 
of  the  township,  and  wherever  there  is  any  large  area  of  sand  deposits.  All 
the  waters  of  this  township  find  their  way  to  the  Maumee  Bay  by  two  v/idely 
different  outlets  :  Ten  Mile  Creek  running  directly  east  near  the  State  line  to 
the  Maumee  Bay,  and  the  western  waters  through  Bean  Creek,  running  in  a 
southwesterly  course  to  Defiance,  into  the  Maumee  River,  and  thence  to  the 
Maumee  Bay,  where  they  discharge  into  Lake  Erie.  The  waters  of  the  eastern 
part  of  the  township  flow  over  a  very  gentle  slope  in  their  long  run  for  an  outlet 
as  the  eastern  portion  has  but  a  slight  inclination  eastward  toward  Lake  Erie, 
while  the  western  part  of  the  township  has  quite  a  marked  inclination  westward 
towards  Bean  Creek,  with  a  general  but  a  very  slight  dip  southward.  Chester- 
field has  an  altitude  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty- five  feet  above  the  water 
level  of  Lake  Erie.  There  is  no  out-cropping  of  rock,  and  but  few  glacial  bould- 
ers in  the  township.  The  drift  overlying  the  rock  is  from  one  hundred  and 
sixty  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  in  depth,  the  largest  share  of  which  is  the 
Erie  or  blue  clay. 

Timber. — The  Bean  Creek  valley  of  this  town.ship  supports  a  very  heavy 
growth  of  timber,  probably  the  heaviest  of  any  section  thereof,  elm  and  burr 
oak  predominating,  interspersed  with  sycamore,  whitewood,  black  walnut  and 
some  hickory.  Cottonwood  is  quite  abundant  in  the  more  moist  lands  of  the 
bottoms ;  black  ash  and  basswood  may  be  found  in  some  parts  wherever  red 
oak  appears,  as  an  accompanying  growth  ;  also  an  undergrowth  of  dogwood, 
ironwood  and  blue  beach  (sometimes  called  hornbeam).  The  northern  portion 
of  the  township  also  supports  a  heavy  forest  growth  of  oak  timber  of  all  the 
varieties,  interspersed  with  much  elm  and  cottonwood  in  certain  areas.  The 
balance  of  the  township,  south  and  east  of  the  foregoing  named  area,  is  clearly 
denominated  openings,  and  was  originally  sparsely  covered  with  dwarf  oaks  of 
the  yellow,  white  and  black  varieties,  with  now  and  then  an  area  of  white  hick- 
ory. The  more  moist  lands  are  densely  covered  with  the  quaking  asp  or  asp- 
en, interspersed  with  willow.  If  the  fires  could  be  prevented  from  running 
over  the  prairies,  and  they  could  remain  undisturbed  for  a  few  years,  a  growth 
of  cottonwood  would  be  the  result,  all  of  spontaneous  production,  and  a  suffi- 
cient growth  to  surprise  the  next  generation  of  men  upon  its  soil.  Since  the 
settlement  of  this  township  and  the  withdrawal  of  cattle  from  the  range,  there 
has  sprung  up  an  undergrowth  of  oak,  with  some  other  varieties,  and  now  pre- 
sents the  appearance  of  a  forest  growth  which,  in  a  few  years,  will  prove  suffi- 
cient to  support  the  building  and  fuel  purposes  of  the  township,  if  properly 
cared  for.  These  openings  are  not  to  be  despised,  as  once  they  were,  as  no 
better  land  for  mixed  agriculture  can  now  be  found  in  this  county. 

Agricultural. — The  agricultural  power  of  this  township  is  not  fully  devel- 
oped by  at  least  one-half      The  township  is,  at  present,  a  purely  agricultural 


454  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

territory,  and  in  its  full  strength  can  support  double  the  present  population.  It 
has  no  other  profitable  industry  of  any  importance  within  its  borders  than  the 
farm  and  its  products. 

In  1880,  the  time  of  taking  the  last  Federal  census,  this  township  had  a 
population  of  1013,  the  lowest  of  any  township  of  the  county.  It  is  the  ninth 
township  in  valuation  of  personal  and  real  estate. 

This  township,  for  a  long  period  of  years,  had  no  post-office  within  the  lim- 
its of  its  present  area ;  but  in  later  years  one  has  been  established  called  "  Oak 
Shade,"  near  the  geographical  center,  which  is  supplied  three  times  each  week 
from  a  mail  route  running  from  Morenci,  Mich.,  to  Wauseon,  O. 

Crops. — In  the  assessors'  report  for  this  township,  as  returned  to  the  audit- 
or's office  in  May,  1887,  the  crops  of  1886  are  statistically  reported  as  follows: 
Wheat,  acreage  1422;  bushels  grown  27,009.  Rye,  acreage  183;  bushels 
grown  3439.  Buckwheat,  acreage  36  ;  bushels  grown  597.  Oats,  acreage 
807  ;  bushels  grown  35,662.  Barley,  acreage  3  ;  bushels  grown  36.  Corn, 
acreage  1324;  bushels  grown  48,335.  Meadow,  acreage  1283  ;  tons  cut  1581. 
Clover,  acreage  313  ;  tons  cut  327  ;  bushels  of  seed  threshed  184.  Potatoes, 
acreage  68;  bushels  raised  9149. 

Number  of  pounds  of  butter  made,  33,220  dairy,  and  10,000  pounds  of 
creamery  ;  one  factory  produced  the  gross  amount  of  xoo,000  pounds  of  cheese. 
There  were  made  681  gallons  of  sorghum  syrup  ;  13 10  pounds  of  grapes  and 
84  bushels  of  sweet  potatoes  were  grown.  The  estimated  amount  of  eggs  was 
25,445  dozens.  The  township  contains  393  acres  of  orchard  all  in  good  bear- 
ing condition,  the  produce  of  which  was  23,035  bushels  of  apples,  140  bushels 
of  peaches,  161  bushels  of  pears,  41  bushels  of  cherries  and  9  bushels  of  plums. 
The  wool  product  of  this  year  was  23,192  pounds.  The  sheep,  hog,  cattle  and 
horse  product  will  compare  favorably  with  other  townships.  According  to  size 
of  territory  this  township  is  quite  prominent  for  its  cheese  industry,  having  at 
present  one  factory,  which  is  a  part  and  parcel  of  the  farm  industry. 

Official  Roster.— Before  the  organization  of  Fulton  county  and  while  under 
the  municipal  control  of  Lucas  county,  Harlow  Butler  served  several  years  as 
school  examiner.  Next  succeeding  Butler  was  Alfred  C.  Hough.  Both  held 
by  appointment.  Under  the  new  county  organization  of  Fulton  Alfred  C. 
Hough  was  elected  auditor  two  terms  successively,  and  served  four  years,  and 
still  later  served  a  third  term  of  two  years.  Under  the  new  constitution  Sam- 
uel Gillis  was  elected  the  first  probate  judge  and  served  three  years,  retiring  in 
February,  1854.  Upon  the  organization  of  this  county  under  the  old  consti- 
tution Alfred  C.  Hough  was  chosen  one  of  the  associate  judges,  but  when  his 
election  to  the  office  of  county  auditor  was  secured  he  resigned,  and  William 
E.  Parmelee  was  appointed,  who  held  the  position  for  a  brief  period.  In  later 
years  William  A.  Williams  was  appointed  county  school  examiner  by  Judge 
Oliver  B.  Verity,  and  was   continued   therein  until  his   death  in  1876  or  '77, 


Fulton  County.  455 


having  served  honorably  for  a  period  of  about  eleven  years.  Albert  Deyo  was 
three  times  called  to  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court,  serving  a 
period  of  nine  years,  and  upon  his  retirement  to  his  farm  was,  in  1883,,  elected 
to  fill  the  office  of  representative  in  the  Ohio  Legislature,  and  in  1885  was 
again  returned,  and  leaves  after  four  years'  service  with  an  unstained  reputa- 
tion. In  1850  William  E.  Parmalee  was  chosen  deputy  marshal  to  take  the 
census  of  a  certain  district  of  the  county,  including  his  own  township.  Soon 
after  the  establishment  of  the  county  infirmary,  in  1874,  James  H.  Turner  was 
elected  director  for  a  term  of  three  years,  and  was  twice  re-elected,  and  served 
in  all  a  period  of  nine  years. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

HISTORT  OF  CLINTON  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  territory  was  originally  a  part  of  Wood  county,  which  was  organized 
from  old  Indian  territory,  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  April  i,  1820.  In 
July,  183s,  Lucas  county  was  organized  by  the  same  body,  which  county,  or 
territory  of  land,  passed  under  the  control  of  said  Lucas  county,  and  on  June 
6,  1836,  all  the  territory  south  of  the  "  Fulton  line  "  (the  compromise  line  of 
the  ordinance  of  1787,  by  which  Virginia  ceded  all  this  northwest  territory  to 
the  United  States)  passed  under  the  control  of  York  township,  being  described 
as  follows  :  Town  7,  north,  ranges  5,  6,  7  and  8,  east,  and  town  8,  north, 
ranges  5,  6,  7  and  8,  east.  At  a  commissioners'  meeting  held  at  the  city  of 
Toledo,  March  5,  1838,  Clinton  township  was  organized  by  taking  from  York 
township  towns  7  and  8,  north,  ranges  $  and  6,  east,  and  the  first  election 
therein  was  held  on  the  first  Monday  of  April,  1838.  This  township  main- 
tained municipal  control  over  all  of  said  territory  until  March  4,  1839,  when 
German  township  was  organized  off  its  western  territory — towns  7  and  8, 
north,  range  6,  east.  Again  the  said  board  of  commissioners  at  the  city  of 
Maumee,  in  said  county  of  Lucas,  June  3,  1843,  organized  the  township  of 
Dover  by  taking  from  Clinton  township  all  of  town  8,  north,  range  6,  east, 
and  sections  i,  2,  3,  4,  5  and  6  off  the  north  side  ^of  town  7,  north,  range  6, 
east;  afterwards,  in  the  winter  of  1850,  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  organized  the 
county  of  Fulton,  taking  from  the  county  of  Henry  a  strip  of  land  from  its 
northern  border  two  miles  in  width,  its  entire  length.  Henry  county,  like 
Wood,  was  organized  from  old  Indian  territory,  April  i,  1820.  That  part 
from  Henry  county  lying  adjacent,  on  the  south,  was  attached  to  and  became 
a  part  of  Clinton  township,  to  wit:  Sections  i,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11 


4S6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

and  12  ;  town  6,  north,  range  6,  east,  formerly  a  part  of  Freedom  township  in 
Henry  county,  leaving  its  boundaries  as  they  at  present  exist. 

Organization. — This  township  as  it  at  present  exists  has  forty-two  full 
sections  of  640  acres  each,  making  in  total  26,880  acres  of  land  in  the  town- 
ship. It  was  comparatively  new  territory  when  organized  ;  covered  with  a 
dense  forest,  only  roamed  over  by  the  Indian  as  his  hunting  ground,  they 
being  at  an  early  period  very  numerous.  It  was  of  easy  access  from  the  Mau- 
mee  River,  upon  which  they  had  large  Indian  towns  in  places  along  its  entire 
length. 

Clinton  township,  is  now  composed  of  sections  7  to  36,  inclusive,  of  town  7, 
north,  range  6,  east,  and  sections  i  to  12,  inclusive,  of  town  6,  north,  range  6, 
east,  taken  from  Henry  county  and  now  consists  of  parts  of  two  congressional 
surveyed  townships. 

Boundaries. — Clinton  township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Dover ;  on  the 
east  by  York ;  on  the  south  by  Freedom  township,  Henry  county,  and  on  the 
west  by  German  township.  Its  area  is  forty- two  square  miles,  and  it  lies  in 
nearly  a  square  compact  form,  and  contains  within  its  boundaries  one  large 
village,  which,  since  1872,  has  been  the  county  seat  of  Fulton  county. 

Topography . — Clinton  township  lies  entirely  within  the  broad,  shallow  val- 
ley that  is  drained  by  the  Maumee  River.  In  common  with  a  part  of  German 
on  the  west  and  York  and  Swan  Creek  townships  on  the  east  its  surface  has  a 
general  slope  to  southeast;  and  the  hightest  land  is  in  the  north  and  north- 
west parts  of  the  township.  The  general  surface  is  at  least  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  above  the  level  of  Lake  Erie. 

The  township  has,  what  is  called  by  the  geologist,  a  third  beach  of  sand 
and  gravel,  crossing  over  the  southeast  corner,  and  taking  a  northeasterly  di- 
rection. It  is  raised  somewhat  above  the  adjacent  territory,  and  is  well 
defined,  but  of  only  a  few  rods  in  width.  The  lacustrine  clays  cover  the  major 
part  of  Clinton,  as  well  as  the  adjoining  territory  upon  the  east,  west  and 
south.  This  lacustrine  deposit  is  but  a  redeposition  of  the  Erie,  or  commonly 
called  blue  clay,  and  differs  from  it  in  that  it  lacks  the  coarser  materials,  and  is 
more  homogeneous,  and  is  deposited  with  a  flat  level  surface  all  through  the 
township ;  it  presents  but  few  boulders  or  glacial  deposit  of  rocks  near  the 
surface. 

Clay,  suitable  for  brick  and  tile  making,  can  be  found  in  abundance  all 
over  the  township,  with  good  sand  for  tempering.  The  soil  is  very  fertile  for 
food  production.  Endowed  with  no  natural  facilities  for  manufacture  or  com- 
merce, whatever  will  forward  her  agricultural  interest  is  of  vital  consequence 
to  her.  Many  tile  have  been  used  in  this  township,  with  some  from  their  first 
manufacture  years  ago.  The  importance  here  of  thorough  drainage  to  the 
attainment  of  good  results  in  agricultural  pursuits  is  more  fully  recognized,  and 
more  especially  in  a  township  like  this,  with   a  level   lacustrine  deposit.     The 


Fulton  County.  457- 


gravel  and  sand  deposits  in  this  township,  which  form  as  it  were  an  oasis  in 
this  level  clay,  and  especially  available  for  roads,  and  are  so  used  at  various 
points,  and  where  they  overlap  the  clay  they  generally  give  the  best  results  to- 
agriculture.  The  land  in  general  is  pronounced  very  productive  in  all  the  food 
productions  that  belong  to  this  latitude. 

Timber. — The  timber  over  the  most  part  of  this  township  was  tall  and 
dense,  and  the  whole  of  a  very  thrifty  growth.  The  varieties  here  included 
were  basswood,  elm,  oak  of  several  varieties,  hickory,  black  walnut,  some 
sycamore,  black  and  white  ash,  whitewood,  butternut,  sugar  maple  and  a 
sprinkling  of  beech.  In  the  northwest  part  the  varieties  are  not  as  extensive, 
but  more  confined  to  oak  and  elm,  with  hickory  interspersed.  The  timber 
supply  is  good,  sufficient  for  many  generations,  where  economy  is  looked  after,, 
and  all  the  farms  will  need  for  fencing  and  building  purposes  in  agricultural 
economy. 

Water  Courses. — The  water  courses,  east  and  south  of  the  center,  rise  and 
pass  a  southeasterly  direction  out  of  the  township,  and  find  their  way  in  the 
same  direction  to  the  Maumee  River.  Their  make-up  is  largely  from  surface 
drainage,  and  their  whole  course  is  marked  with  a  very  gentle  inclination  of 
about  four  to  five  feet  per  mile,  and  as  all  the  streams  are  nothing  but  rain  fall 
supplies,  in  extreme  dry  weather  they  are  entirely  exhausted.  The  streams 
and  streamlets  of  that  part  of  the  township  west  and  northwest  of  the  center, 
run  in  a  westerly  course  until  they  reach  Bean  Creek,  or  Tiffin's  River,  which 
empties  into  the  Maumee  River  at  Defiance,  and  in  their  course  from  the 
township,  have  as  gentle  an  inclination  as  those  running  east  and  southeast ; 
and  like  those  of  the  eastern  part,  are  nothing  but  rain  fall  supplies  ;  not  one 
is  fed  by  springs,  and  in  dry  weather  are  exhausted.  The  entire  water  supply 
for  stock  and  domestic  purposes  is  from  the  sand  and  gravel  beds  overlying  the 
blue  clay,  and  are  only  supported  by  rain  falls.  A  far  better  and  more  abun- 
dant water  can  be  reached  by  the  auger  below  the  blue  clay,  where  it  is  found 
in  quantities  inexhaustible,  but  rarely  flowing. 

Early  Settlers. — Thomas  Bayes  and  his  wife,  Lamenta,  settled  in  Clinton 
township  in  1835,  and  resided  on  section  twenty-two.  He  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania in  1806.  He,  in  early  manhood,  with  his  young  wife,  left  home  and 
friends  in  old  Pennsylvania,  lured  by  the  advantages  of  a  new  country,  and 
that  untiring  spirit  to  found  for  themselves  a  home,  slept  in  the  early  primitive 
cabin  of  this  primeval  forest  as  sound  and  as  sweet  as  you  of  to-  day.  The  self- 
sacrificing  deeds  and  trials  endured  by  these  early  pioneers,  were  done  for  the 
future  of  themselves  and  children — not  for  public  fame  or  to  appear  in  press 
or  history.  Mr.  Bayes  and  his  wife  still  live  to  recount  the  experiences  of  those 
days.  Their  memory  rests  to-day  with  the  living,  but  soon  to  sleep  with  the 
dead ;  and  while  waiting  the  call  of  the  angel  boatman  to  cross  over,  they  can 
look  back  upon  a  well  spent  life,  and  then  enter  those  mansions  prepared  by 
better  builders.  ^« 


45  8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

It  is  quite  uncertain  just  who  was  the  first  settler  in  Chnton  township,  but 
history  points  to  this  fact:  That  early  in  the  fall  of  1835  there  was  quite  an 
influx  of  population  upon  this  territorj'.  It  is  found,  aside  from  Thomas  Bayes 
and  his  wife,  who  have  been  already  referred  to,  there  came  that  fall  William 
W.  Bayes,  from  Pennsylvania,  and  settled  on  section  twenty-two ;  Wright 
Bayes  also  in  1835.  Thomas  Lingle  came  in  the  fall  of  1835.  Ehsha  Wil- 
liams and  his  family  came  to  the  township  in  December,  1835.  He  and  his 
son,  John  H.  Williams,  came  to  what  is  called  the  "  Six  Mile  Woods  "  in 
October,  1835,  and  put  up  a  cabin  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  E.  Barr,  and 
then  returned  to  Seneca  county,  O.,  and  again  came  on  with  the  family  in 
December.  The  family  at  that  time  consisted  of  himself,  wife,  and  four  grown 
-up  children — John  H.  Williams,  Jerry  Williams,  Burt  Williams  and  a  daugh- 
ter, now  the  wife  of  Thomas  Lingle.  It  is  left  for  the  critic  or  the  pen  of  the 
future  historian  to  ascertain  who  was  the  first  white  settler  in  Clinton. 

In  the  year  1836  a  large  accession  was  made  to  the  settlements  of  the  year 
before,  and  among  the  number  that  came  to  this  township  during  the  year 
itt«836  were  :  Avery  Lamb,  who  came  from  Onondaga,  N.  Y.,  in  June,  and  who 
:settled  on  section  twenty-four;  Christopher  H.  Losure,  and  Isaac  Tedrow,  on 
:section  nine ;  Adam  Mikesell,  William  Mikesell,  and  James  Mikesell  soon  fol- 
lowed after  Avery  Lamb.  Elisha  Huntington  seems  to  have  been  the  first 
anan  with  his  family  to  have  entered  Clinton  township  the  following  year, 
^vhich  was  in  March,  1836.  He  settled  upon  section  twenty-five,  and  was  one 
of  the  foremost  men  of  that  early  day.  He  was  possessed  of  a  good  education, 
a  genial  disposition  to  all  who  were  his  friends,  but  he  was  an  unflinching 
Democrat,  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  Jefferson  and  Jackson  school  of  politics. 
He  died  in  i860. 

William  Fraker  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1835,  and  is  now  a  resident  of 
section  eighteen  in  Clinton  township.  He  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1822,  and  has 
been  very  successful  in  all  his  business  relations.  He  is  a  farmer  and  has  a 
family  of  eight  children.  His  parents  were  from  Westmoreland  county,  Penn- 
sylvania. 

These  men,  by  the  light  of  hickory  torches,  perambulated  the  forests  at 
night  to  hold  a  social  chat  with  the  new  adventurer,  and  give  them  and  each 
other  encouragement  in  their  new  forest  homes.  All  these  men  did  hunting 
as  well  as  clearing  away  the  forest.  This  sport  gave  to  the  men  of  early  times 
a  sort  of  fascination  not  enjoyed  by  the  later  day  adventurer.  This  following 
was  necessary  to  provide  means  of  subsistence  from  the  wild  game  of  the  for- 
est, more  especially  the  deer,  and  for  their  untiring  labor  for  each  other,  and 
the  aid  those  forerunners  gave  to  all  who  later  sought  homes  in  the  wilderness, 
their  memory  is  cherished  with  kindness  by  the  living  few  who  were  acquaint- 
ed with  them  and  their  works. 

Mrs.  Mary  Mikesell,  the  wife  of  Adam  Mikesell,  who,  of  the  1836  pioneers, 


Fulton  County.  459. 

passed  away  in  i860,  was  the  daughter  of  William  Jones,  who  settled  in  York: 
township  in  1834.  She  is  really  the  oldest  settler  upon  the  territory  of  Clin- 
ton township.  She  became  a  resident  of  Clinton  by  her  marriage  with  Adam: 
Mikesell,  September  12,  1837,  and  remained  a  resident  up  to  her  death,  March. 
II,  1887.  Mary  Mikesell  was  among  the  few  very  early  settlers  of  the  county,, 
coming  to  York  township  in  May,  1834.  She  remained  to  see  nearly  all  the 
first  settlers  pass  away  and  the  growth  of  a  new  generation,  and  the  full  devel- 
opment of  what  was  once  a  wilderness.  What  wonderful  changes  she  has  wit- 
nessed in  the  seventy-two  years  of  her  life  ! 

After  the  first  two  years  of  the  advance  guard  in  this  wilderness  home, 
there  commenced  a  rapid  influx  of  settlers  to  Clinton  township,  to  whom  van- 
tage ground  was  given  by  the  assistance  of  the  first  dwellers  and  workers,  but 
they  soon  became  used  to  the  toils  of  a  frontiersman's  life.  They  soon  devel- 
oped a  push  and  energy  which  made  up  the  intellectual  fabric  of  the  township. 
They  were  such  men  as  Joseph  Wells,  James  C.  Cornell,  Thomas  McKibbin, 
Jacob  First,  Robert  McClarren,  John  Newcomer,  John  A.  Clark,  Jacob  Funk, 
James  Pease,  John  Hartman,  George  Beal,  Jacob  Miley,  Matthias  Miley,  Joseph 
L.  Royce,  L.  T.  Morris,  James  Dunbar,  Asa  Young,  John  J.  Clark,  Shipman 
Losier,  John  Linfoot,  William  Harrison,  Samuel  P.  Willey,  St.  Bernard  Geer,. 
David  Gorsuch,  Nathaniel  Gorsuch,  William  Hill,  David  Cantlebury,  Jesse 
Pocock,  Israel  Pocock,  Meek  Bayes,  Jonas  Batdorf,  Jerome  Shaw,  Ford  Lyon, 
Henry  B.  Williams,  Anthony  B.  Robinson  and  many  others  who  came  to  the 
township  to  make  for  themselves  and  families  a  home.  Many  of  these  men  are 
living  to-day,  and  by  the  fruits  of  their  labor  the  world  m.ay  judge,  and  the 
reason  of  their  success  in  life  is  manifest  to  all. 

The  prominent  land  owners  of  Clinton,  at  the  present  date,  who  have  given, 
and  do  still  give,  character  to  the  industry  of  the  township  are,  Perry  Murphy,. 
William  Campbell  and  Henry  Pike,  section  7,  town  7  north,  range  6  east ; 
Charles  Kimmerer,  section  8 ;  William  Tedrow,  Joseph  D.  Aldrich  and  John 
J.  Clark  on  section  9;  Jacob  Figgey  and  Walter  S.  Brigham  on  section  10;. 
Joel  Brigham  and  L.  T.  Morris  on  section  1 1  ;  Allen  Shadle  and  Richard  Sha- 
dle  on  section  12;  Frank  Blizard,  William  Harrison,  John  Losure  and  SamueL 
Losure  on  section  13  ;  Thomas  Mikesell  and  Riley  McMannus  on  section  14;. 
George  D.  Newcomer  and  Christopher  H.  Losure  on  section  15  ;  Robert  E. 
Skeels,  section  16;  William  Drennan,  Ephraim  Gorsuch  and  Reasin  Campbell's 
heirs  on  section  17 ;  William  Fraker,  18  ;  George  Fraker,  John  A.  Clark,  Jacob 
Miley,  section  19;  Conrad  Hartman,  20;  C.  W.  Becker  on  21  ;  Stephen 
Bayes,  Thomas  Bayes  and  Angelo  Blake  on  22  ;  Westley  Blake,  Anthony  B. 
Robinson,  Jackson  Stough,  section  27;  M.  H.  Hayes,  26;  John  Hartman, 
William  Patterson,  Robert  Dunham,  section  28  ;  J.  Bayes,  29  ;  George  Valen- 
tine, 30;  Philip  Upp,  28  ;  Charles  A.  Burr,  26;  Elijah  Burr,  25  ;  Fred.  Remeo, 
32  ;  Mathias  Miley,  Andy  Center,  33  ;  William   B.  Cunningham,  William   H^ 


46o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Gasche,  34;  Thomas  Frazier,  James  C.  Scott,  35  ;  John  M.  Williams,  Henry 
Yeager,  H.  Scott,  36;  George  Edgar,  section  i,  town '6,  north,  range  6  east; 
David  Pontius,  F.  Serrick,  Jacob  Funk,  section  2;  Stephen  Funk,  William 
Croninger,  section  3  ;  Jonathan  Croninger,  Thomas  Turney,  section  4 ;  John 
Leatherman,  William  Zigler,  section  5  ;  Christ.  Fry,  Christ.  Rupp,  section  6 ; 
William  Fink,  Samuel  Miller,  section  7  ;  John  Merilet,  J.  Walfogle,  section  8  ; 
J.  L.  Cramer,  William  Hoffmire,  section  9  ;  OHver  Harmon,  Daniel  Harmon, 
section  10;  Jerry  Williams,  section  li  ;  Samuel  B.  McLain,  section  12.  At 
this  period  of  our  history  the  spirit  of  the  people  soon  began  to  show  itself  in 
desires  to  emulate  the  eastern  home.  A  competition  prevailed  and  increased 
as  the  forestfgave  way  to  the  woodman's  ax ;  farms  were  rapidly  cleared,  and 
the  rich  soil  gave  to  them  the  assurance  of  their  desires  and  an  early  develop- 
ment of  the  country,  and  their  labor  .shows  in  the  high  state  of  prosperity 
which  it  has  attained  at  the  present  time.  When  looking  back  through  the 
long  vista  of  time  and  viewing  their  country's  growth,  it  should  swell  every 
heart  with  pride  for  the  magnificent  labor  of  these  early  sons  of  toil.  These 
noble  white  pioneers  who  filled  the  country  like  the  rising  tide  of  the  incoming 
sea,  have  given  to  another  generation  a  country  which  they  should  ever  love 
and  reverence. 

Reminiscences. — Avery  Lamb  settled  on  the  township  line,  upon  the  York 
township  side,  but  owning  property  in  Clinton,  in  which  part  of  his  buildings 
were  situated.  He  was  always  fully  identified  with  the  business  and  society  of 
Clinton  township.  He  came  in  June,  1836,  and  says  "that  neighbors  were  not 
nearer  than  from  three  to  four  miles  in  those  first  days.  Indians  were  plenty, 
roaming  the  forest,  and  it  was  generally  from  them  that  we  learned  of  new  im- 
migrants located  somewhere  in  the  wilderness  territory.  At  that  time  letter 
postage  from  long  distances,  was  twenty-five  cents ;  calico  was  from  twp  to 
three  shillings  per  yard ;  bleached  muslin  thirty-one  cents  per  yard.  Any  in- 
dividual calamity  was  the  occasion  of  public  regret  through  the  entire  circle  of 
•our  acquaintance,  and  the  sufferers  received  all  necessary  aid.  All  whom  we 
knew  were  neighbors  for  the  first  ten  years.  Our  hearts,  our  hands  and  our 
doors  were  open  to  all.  The  religion  of  those  days  was  the  overflow  of  a 
thankful  heart,  and  all  were  happy,  and  of  necessity  could  fight  obstacles  a 
mountain  high." 

John  H.  Williams,  in  his  remembrance  of  those  early  days,  says  :  "  In  the 
spring  following  his  coming  to  the  township,  in  December,  1835,  he  cleared  two 
and  one-half  acres,  sowed  it  to  spring  wheat  and  harvested  twenty-five  bush- 
els at  that  time.  There  were  no  roads  in  the  country,  but  by  cutting  away 
some  underbrush  they  could  move  around  from  neighbor  to  neighbor,  with  an 
ox  team.  Always  had  plenty  of  company  in  the  woods  in  the  early  days, — 
land  hunters  and  Indians.  Very  often  the  first  pioneer's  cabin  presented  an  in- 
teresting appearance  to  the  beholder,  and  was  worthy  of  the  artist's  pen.    Beds 


Fulton  County.  461 


and  everything  were  brought  into  requisition  and  were  spread  all  over  the  floor 
of  the  cabin  at  night,  to  accommodate  the  land  hunters,  often  several  families 
combined.  These  cabins  often  contained  more  company  than  many  of  the  first- 
■class  hotels  of  the  present  time.  Sometimes  the  Indians  would  stay  for  the 
night.  The  rifle  had  to  be  brought  in  play  during  the  day  to  obtain  meat  for 
the  coming  meals." 

C.  H.  Losure,  Isaac  Tedrow,  Thomas,  Wright  and  William  Bayes,  with  the 
Mikesells  and  a  few  settlers  of  York  township  who  were  residents  of  the  terri- 
"tory  at  earher  dates,  gave  to  the  pioneer  life  very  social  times.  They  were  in- 
vited to  log- cabin  raising  very  often,  nearly  every  day  in  the  week  except  Sun- 
day, which  was  always  a  day  of  social  intercourse  with  the  new-comers. 
Neighbors  were  often  assisted  who  lived  from  five  to  ten  miles  away,  oftener 
than  we  do  in  these  days  with  our  neighbors  in  sight.  Winter  evenings  were 
tisually  spent  in  going  to  singing  and  spelling  schools,  generally  at  Spring  Hill, 
but  often  at  Uncle  Bob  Howard's  in  Pike  township,  at  Delta,  at  Wright's 
■school-house,  or  to  Ridgeville.  We  had  as  much  sport  in  our  younger  days, 
and  enjoyed  ourselves  fully  as  well  as  the  people  of  to-day,  with  all  their  mod- 
ern methods  of  amusement ;  and  we  slept  as  sweetly  and  soundly  as  the  more 
modern  people.  The  early  settlers  from  this  quarter  west  and  north,  usually 
went  to  Canandaigua,  Mich.,  to  mill,  and  sometimes  to  Medina,  Adrian  and 
Palmyra,  all  in  Lenawee  county,  Mich.  At  some  seasons  of  the  year  they 
would  go  to  Maumee,  Waterville  or  Texas,  upon  the  Maumee,  and  to  Bruners- 
burg,  using  three  or  four  days  to  make  the  trip. 

In  all  these  trips  the  nights  were  very  dreary,  caused  by  their  darkness.  We 
■often  started  from  these  points  after  the  commencement  of  nightfall,  and  trav- 
eled all  night,  and  in  the  thick  timber  often  lost  our  way,  but  in  the  "oak 
openings,"  as  they  were  known,  the  light  was  generally  better.  We  always  had 
plenty  of  music  in  those  long  nights  of  pur  journey  homeward,  and  reached  the 
■cabin  at  various  hours  of  the  morning.  This  music  we  did  not  always  enjoy, 
-especially  when  alone.  In  these  dark  forests  at  night  might  be  seen  the  driver 
holding  on  to  the  end  of  the  yoke,  and  the  cattle  making  their  own  way,  and  if 
undisturbed  all  would  reach  home  in  safety.  John  H.  Williams  further  says 
■when  he  began  work  for  himself  he  chopped  heavy  timber  at  $4  per  acre,  and 
got  for  chopping  four  foot  wood  twenty-five  cents  per  cord,  and  at  that  figure 
made  from  seventy-five  to  eighty- seven  cents  per  day.  At  the  end  of  his  first 
year  of  hard  work  he  had  earned  nearly  money  enough  to  pay  for  eighty  acres 
■of  land,  which  was  purchased  fos  $215  money  down,  and  he  lives  upon  it  to- 
day. Wheat  at  this  time  was  selling  for  thirty  cents  per  bushel ;  corn,  nine 
cents ;  number  one  horses  $40,  and  all  other  things  the  product  of  pioneer 
labor,  in  proportion.  In  his  tavern  bills  (as  then  called),  prices  for  supper,  lodg- 
ing and  breakfast,  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  cents.  Forty  to  forty- five 
miles  a  day  was  the  common  footing  distance  for  able-bodied  men.      Indians 


462  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

were  very  numerous  at  this  period  ;  they  hunted  in  the  winter,  and  made  sugar 
in  the  spring.  In  the  summer  they  usually  returned  to  the  river,  or  took  to  the 
openings  near  Spring  Hill,  or  Winameg,  and  there  raised  some  corn  and  vege- 
tables. For  hoes  the  Indian  would  find  the  proper  limb  on  a  tree  suitable  for  a 
handle,  and  then  chop  in  above  and  below  the  limb,  and  split  therefrom  a  block 
and  hew  it  down  sharp,  which  made  a  very  good  hoe  for  digging  and  hoeing 
corn. 

The  young  man  of  the  later  period  says  it  is  hard  times,  they  cannot  get 
work ;  they  think  that  chopping  eighteen  inch  wood  at  thirty-seven  cents  per 
cord  is  a  starvation  price.  Listen  !  these  early  men  cut  four  foot  wood  at 
twenty-five  cents,  and  were  glad  to  get  that.  Cowhide  boots  sold  at  $3.25  ; 
calico,  twenty  to  twenty-five  cents  per  yard  ;  flour  usually  from  from  $8  to  $10 
per  barrel,  and  sometimes  have  paid  as  high  as  $14.  Now  let  the  present  race 
talk  of  hard  times  with  all  the  increased  industries  overspreading  this  country, 
and  the  chance  for  a  cheap  farm  of  "  Uncle  Sam  "  in  the  west.  "  We  of  that 
age  thought  we  had  good  times,  and  no  reason  can  be  given  of  a  valid  nature 
why  the  people  to-day  should  not  have  better  times,  and  a  more  staunch  pros- 
perity. Wolves,  Indian  horse-bells  and  owls  were  the  chief  music  of  the  night, 
and  Indian  war-whoops  and  the  crack  of  the  rifle  in  the  day-time  ;  these  were 
the  most  interesting  features  of  the  wild  woods,  and  none  ever  thought  of  dan- 
ger no  more  from  the  Indian  than  the  white  man.  The  Indian  method  of  sugar 
making  was  to  take  green  elm  bark,  about  eighteen  inches  long,  and  shave  the 
ends  down  thin,  and  gather  them  together  about  level  with  the  sides,  making 
a  trough  that  would  hold  about  a  half  pailful  of  sap.  Their  store  troughs  were 
made  in  the  same  manner.  This  labor  was  all  done  by  the  squaws  ;  they  chop 
the  wood,  dress  the  deer,  coon  and  all  other  animals.  An  Indian  was  rar-ely 
found  doing  any  work  except  to  hunt.  He  would  come  to  the  camp,  sit  and 
smoke  his  pipe  and  get  through  time  until  the  hunt.  Some  of  the  squaws  were 
very  handy  with  the  needle,  as  much  so  as  the  best  experts!  among  the  whites 
in  dress-making.  Their  wigwams,  as  they  called  their  shanties,  were  generally 
made  of  poles  and  covered  with  bark  peeled  from  elm  trees,  and  they  were  as 
comfortable  as  the  white  man's  cabin." 

Now  a  word  in  defense  of  local  history,  as  Gath  said  in  his  letter,  "  Local 
history  indeed,  is  the  only  true  and  genuine  history  of  a  country."  There  are  a 
great  many  historical  facts  connected  with  the  settlement  of  any  town  or  county 
always  worth  preserving.  "  It  is  this  local  history  that  is  true  and  genuine, 
because  those  who  gather  up  the  facts  are  right  on  the'  ground,  and  having  a 
narrow  field,  can  glean  it  thoroughly."  This  should  be  an  important  thought 
to  the  reader  in  discussing  value  and  authenticity. 

Now  before  dismissing  this  part  of  the  sketch  of  the  early  pioneers  let  this 
thought  be  penned  from  the  historian  (Verity),  as  the  general  impressions  made 
upon  his  mind  while  gathering  facts  of  history.     These  early  men  seem  to  have 


Fulton  County.  463 


been  noble  men,  born  for  such  a  time,  and  for  the  purpose  of  stepping  forth 
upon  our  frontiers.  They  were  possessed  of  courage  and  ambition  far  above 
the  average  man,  and  through  this  spirit  they  always  overcame  every  obstacle 
that  presented  itself,  and  the  wilderness  yielded  to  their  vigor  and  determina- 
tion. 

Many  of  this  race  of  brave  adventurers  have  lived  to  see  the  wilderness, 
once  the  abode  of  the  red  man,  howling  wolves,  bear  and  nimble  deer,  swept 
away,  and  thus  by  his  steadfast  energy  and  personal  exertion  has  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  owning  a  fair  share  of  the  land  as  his  patrimony  in  the  township. 
Many  of  them  still  living  look  back  to  the  "  old  times  "  with  painful  longing  to 
live  them  over  again. 

Population.~-Th.e  growth  of  this  township  was  very  slow  after  the  few  first 
years  of  its  settlement,  and  it  was  not  revived  again  until  1850,  since  which  its 
growth  has  been  rapid.  The  principal  enlargement  was  caused  by  the  build- 
ing of  the  Northern  Indiana  and  Michigan  Southern  Railway  through  the 
townshipi  and  now  called  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Railway. 
The  population  in  1880  was  1,813.  The  estimated  population  at  the  present 
is  about  2,300,  and  this  exclusive  of  the  population  of  Wauseon.  This  is  now 
the  shire  town  of  the  county  and  has  been  since  1871.  It  contains  one  large 
and  populous  village  named  "  Wauseon,"  after  an  Indian  chief  who  once  trod 
the  soil  of  the  county,  and  who  was  about  the  last  of  the  Pottawatomie  chiefs 
of  the  Maumee  Valley.  Wauseon  was  laid  out  on  the  13th  day  of  March, 
1854.  The  proprietors  of  the  town  were  Epaphras  L.  Barber,  Nathaniel  Leg- 
gett,  J.  H.  Sargent  and  William  H.  Hall.  The  first  building  was  erected  in 
this  town  April  4,  1854.  The  first  train  of  cars  passed  through  the  place  on 
the  Air  Line  road,  so  called,  on  the  20th  day  of  July,  1854,  at  which  time  the 
population  of  the  village  numbered  fifteen  persons.  It  was  incorporated  June 
13,  1857,  three  years  after  its  beginning. 

The  commissioners  of  approval  were  Stephen  Haughton,  Joseph  Ely  and 
George  Taft.  The  place  "  Ottokee  "  was  the  county  seat  of  Fulton  county  at 
that  date.  In  i860  the  population  of  Wauseon  was  350  persons;  in  1880  it 
contained  1,902  inhabitants,  being  an  average  increase  of  seventy-eight  per- 
sons each  year.     It  is  estimated  to  now  contain  about  2,500. 

Industries. — Clinton  township  has  had  but  little  more  than  the  agricultural 
developments  upon  which  it  could  grow  and  increase.  The  first  saw- mill  was 
erected  at  Lena,  by  Jerome  Shaw,  and  in  after  years  was  burned.  It  was  re- 
built by  Ford  Lyon,  but  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past.  The  township  never  had 
mills  of  any  other  kind  until  the  laying  out  of  Wauseon,  to  which  point  all  the 
subsequent  industries  of  the  township  have  centered.  In  1866  Amasa  B. 
Verity  opened  the  first  brick  kiln  in  the  township,  and  then  made  the  brick 
used  in  the  residence  of  Colonel  D.  W.  H.  Howard,  at  Wauseon. 

Schools. — The  first  school  taught  was  by  Erastus  Briggs.  It  was  held  in 
the  cabin  first  put  up  by  Elisha  Williams.     The  present  number  of  school  dis- 


464  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

tricts  of  the  township  is  twelve,  added  to  which  is  one  special  joint  district  at 
PettisviUe,  the  school-house  being  located  in  Clinton  township.  Other  than 
these  there  is  one  graded  school  in  the  village  of  Wauseon.  All  districts  are 
provided  with  substantial,  well-built  structures. 

Births. — The  first  birth  of  a  white  child  in  this  township  was  Charles  G. 
Williams,  born  October  13,  1836. 

Churches. — Rev.  Spencer  preached  at  the  cabin  of  Elisha  Huntington  one 
Sunday  in  October,  1836,  he  being  the  first  traveling  preacher  here.  He  was 
of  the  order  of  Disciples,  followers  of  Alexander  Campbell.  A  class  of  this 
faith  was  soon  formed  at  the  cabin  of  Elisha  Williams.  Other  societies  were 
in  time  organized  in  the  township,  and  the  first  church  of  any  denomination 
was  erected  at  PettisviUe,  by  the  Baptist  Society.  Other  societies  are  Olive 
Branch  of  the  U.  B.  order ;  Bethel  Church,  otherwise  called  the  Christian 
Union  ;  the  Hartman  Church,  called  the  Evangelical  Church  of  the  Evangel- 
ical Association,  founded  in  1872  and  situated  two  miles  west  of  the  village  of 
Wauseon,  and  the  Reformed  German  Church  at  Pettysville,  upon  the  Clinton 
side  of  said  village. 

Agriculture. — The  agricultural  power  of  this  township  at  present  date  may 
be  of  interest  to  the  readers  as  it  presents  some  of  the  most  promising  of  in- 
dustries. The  township,  in  the  year  1886,  had  3,523  acres  of  wheat  upon  the 
ground,  and  the  harvest  showed  65,944  bushels ;  oats,  1,332  acres,  bushels 
raised,  60,645;  corn,  2,813  acres,  bushels  raised  92,340  ;  meadow,  1,555  acres, 
tons  of  hay  1,562;  clover,  1,017  acres,  tons  of  clover  1,112;  clover  seed,  num- 
ber of  bushels  896;  potatoes,  72  acres,  bushels  raised  8,890;  number  of  pounds 
of  butter  60,800 ;  number  of  dozens  of  eggs  produced  5  2,805  \  acres  of  orchard, 
528,  bushels  of  apples  25,940;  pounds  of  wool,  29,965. 

The  township  is  solely  an  agricultural  community  and  the  marketing  of  all 
its  products  is  chiefly  made  at  Wauseon,  the  market  town  for  at  least  one-half 
of  the  county. 

Official  Roll.— Yor  the  office  of  county  auditor,  first,  Isaac  Springer,  about 
seven  years ;  Abram  W.  McConnell,  served  three  years,  re-elected ;  treasurer, 
H.  L.  Mosely,  four  years  ;  recorder,  Richard  Taylor,  three  years  ;  William  H. 
Stevens,  three  years;  Albert  S.  Bloomer,  nine  years;  county  commissioners, 
Joel  Brigham,  six  years  ;  James  Cornell,  two  years  (appointed)  ;  E.  L.  Barber, 
three  years ;  H.  H.  Williams,  one  year  (resigned  and  Thomas  J.  Cornell  ap- 
pointed, who  served  until  his  death  in  October  following);  surveyor,  John 
Spillaine,  six  years  ;  Anthony  B.  Robinson,  six  years  ;  Lucius  B.  Fraker,  three 
years,  re-elected;  prosecuting  attorney,  Henry  H.  Ham,  two  terms,  four 
years;  William  W.  Touvelle,  two  terms,  four  years  ;  Mazzini  Slusser,  one  term, 
two  years ;  coroner,  Dr.  J.  H.  Bennett,  Charles  E.  Bennett,  Noah  W.  Jewell, 
George  Hartman,   Levi  Miley  ;  school  examiner,   by  appointment,  Joseph  D. 

Aldrich,  Joseph  H>  Bennett,  Buel,   Lindsey,   Sater,    H.   L. 

Mosely  and  L.  M.  Murphy. 


Fulton  County.  465 


CHAPTER  XLV. 
HISTORY  OF  DOVER  TOWNSHIP. 

THE  history  of  Dover  township  has  been  obtained  from  the  early  settlers 
yet  living,  as  no  records  appear  to  be  in  existence.  At  the  date  of  the 
first  settlement  by  the  whites  in  Dover  township  that  part  north  of  the  "  Ful- 
ton line,"  was  included  in  the  territory  of  Michigan,  and  those  settling  on  said 
territory  did  all  their  legal  business,  and  paid  their  taxes  at  the  city  of  Adrian, 
the  county  seat  of  Lenawee  county,  and  continued  to  do  so  until  December, 
1836,  when  this  strip  of  land,  the  entire  length  of  this  county  from  west  to 
east,  became  an  integral  part  of  Ohio.  The  pioneers  entered  their  lands 
upon  the  Michigan  survey  at  the  city  of  Monroe  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Raisin,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Erie.  At  a  commissioners  meeting  held  at  the 
city  of  Toledo,  June  4,  1837,  the  township  of  Chesterfield  was  established  by 
taking  all  of  town  nine  south,  ranges  one  and  two  east,  south  of  the  Harris  line, 
and  the  fractional  township,  town  ten  south,  ranges  one  and  two  east,  extending 
to  the  Fulton  line  on  the  south.  All  "the  territory  south  of  the  "  Fulton  line  " 
within  the  boundaries  of  Lucas  county,  west  of  Swan  Creek  township,  was 
styled  the  township  of  York,  in  which  some  of  the  very  early  settlers  within 
the  present  limits  of  Dover  township  have  voted.  At  a  commissioners'  meet- 
ing in  Lucas  county,  1838,  York  was  subdivided  and  the  township  of  Chnton 
was  erected,  by  taking,  all  of  town  seven  north,  range  six  east,  and  fractional 
town  eight  north,  range  six  east,  of  the  Ohio  survey,  up  to  the  said  "  Fulton 
line."  The  first  election  thereafter,  of  Clinton  township,  was  held  at  the  cabin 
of  Isaac  Tedrow  in  the  western  part. 

It  is  found  upon  examining  the  records  of  Lucas  county  that  at  a  regular 
session  of  the  county  commissioners  of  said  county,  held  at  the  city  of  Mau- 
mee,  June  5,  1843,  the  township  of  Dover  was  organized  by  taking  from  Ches- 
terfield township  all  of  the  fractional  township  ten  south,  range  two,  east  of 
the  Michigan  survey  ;  and  all  of  fractional  township  eight  north,  range  six 
east,  and  one  tier  of  sections  ofiT  of  the  north  side  of  town  seven  north,  range 
six  east  of  Clinton  township  of  the  Ohio  survey,  and  contains  in  its  area  about 
twenty-one  sections,  or  13,1 19  acres  of  land.  This  township  has  for  the  past 
thirty-six  years  been  recognized  as  the  center  township  of  the  county. 

Boundaries. — Bounded  upon  the  north  by  Chesterfield  ;  on  the  east  by  the 
township  of  Pike  ;  on  the  south  by  Clinton,  and  on  the  west  by  Franklin.  It 
is  the  last  township  organization  of  the  twelve  of  Fulton  county  as  it  now 
exists. 

Water  Courses. — In  this  township  the  streamlets  in  the  northwest  part  flow 
west  across  the  corner  of  the  township  of  Franklin  and  empty  into  Bean  Creek, 
59 


466  History  ok  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

sometimes  called  Tiffin  River,  while  in  the  south  and  southwestern   part  they 
flow  southwest,  reaching  the  Maumee  at  Defiance.      In  like  manner  the  waters 
of  the  east  and  northeast  flow  east  by  southeast  into  Bad  Creek  and  reach  the 
Maumee  River  soon  after  passing  the  southeast   corner   of  the   county  near 
White  House.     These  topographical  peculiarities  of  the  township  present  some- 
thing singular  and   striking  to  the  observer,  and  have  excited  the  attention  of 
the  geologist.     All  the  inclinations  of  this  township  are  very  gentle,  with  what- 
ever course  the  streamlets   take,  running  obliquely  across   the   slopes   of  the 
country,   generally  denominated    as   "  sand   dunes."     These   sand   dunes,  or 
ridges,  were  formed  by  the  action  and  force  of  winds  and  water  at  some  ancient 
day.     These  form  the  summit  of  the  township  and  are  supposed  to  be  the  first 
out-croppings  of  land  in  the  decline  of  water  from  an  ancient  lake  here  exist- 
ing, anterior  to  the  glacial  period,  which  once  covered  the  great  Maumee  Val- 
ley above  the  great  limestone   ridge,  which  crosses  the   Maumee   at  Grand 
Rapids,. in  Lucas  county. 

Depressions  on  the  surface  abound  among  the  sand  dunes  of  this  township 
without  any  outlets,  and  in  many  places  constitute  a  characteristic  feature,  as  of 
these  a  small  number  may  have  been  very  small  lakes,  or  ponds.  A  majority 
of  them  have  been  so  far  filled  with  peat,  marl  and  vegetable  mold  as  to  become 
swamps,  or  wet  prairies. 

Soil. — All  varieties  of  deposit  are  present  in  the  soil  which  defies  classifi- 
cation by  the  common  run  of  farmers.  The  average  depth  of  the  deposit  in 
this  township  is  about  150  feet,  and  at  the  Fulton  county  fair  ground,  is  known 
to  be  200  feet  having  been  penetrated  by  the  drill  but  a  few  years  ago.  In 
this  boring  water  in  abundance  was  obtained  at  a  depth  of  184  feet,  and  it  rose 
to  within  twelve  feet  of  the  surface,  but  was  never  utilized  for  the  fair  ground. 
Water  is  usually  found  near  the  underlying  rock.  There  need  be  but  a  few 
dry  borings  on  this  territory.  The  extreme  summits  of  the  township  mark  a 
.water-line  above  Lake  Erie  nearly  200  feet. 

Timber. — The  extreme  west  end  of  the  township  touches  closely  upon  the 
timber  lands  of  the  Bean  Creek  Valley,  which  is  composed  principally  of  oak 
and  some  elm,  with  here  and  there  whitewood  and  hickory.  From  there  east- 
ward over  the  balance  of  the  township,  in  the  regions  of  sand  and  sand  dunes, 
a  large  part  of  the  surface  is  denominated  prairie,  covered  v/ith  a  wild  grass  in 
summer.  When  first  occupied  by  the  whites,  the  only  trees  of  note  upon  these 
uplands  were  oaks  of  a  few  varieties,  and  these  so  sparsely  set  that  their  tops 
as  a  rule,  did  not  interlock  with  each  other,  yet  were  very  dwarfish  in  their  old 
age,  and  a  wagon  could  be  drawn  in  any  direction  between  them.  The  lower 
plateaus  or  marshes  were  without  timber.  This  gave  the  name  of  the  country 
—  "  Oak  Openings" — but  since  the  fires  have  become  frequent,  a  dense  growth 
of  oak,  interspersed  with  hickory,  is  all  over  this  part  of  the  township,  and  the 
lowest  lands  with  the  aspen  or  poplar,  usually  called  "  quaking  asp." 


Fulton  County. 


467 


In  the  more  primitive  state  these  uplands,  sparsely  wooded  as  they  were, 
were  covered  over  densely  with  the  whortleberry  bush,  but  since  the  plow  and 
cultivation,  together  with  the  drainage  system,  have  been  the  order  of  the.  day, 
they  have  nearly  disappeared  from  the  soil. 

Domestic  Uses  and  Water  Supply. — The  sand,  wherever  found  here,  rests 
upon  clay,  and  in  the  more  elevated  ridges  the  clay  is  overlaid  with  quick- 
sand, and  these  form  the  basins  of  water  supply  afforded  by  the  falling  rains, 
and  this  is  all  the  supply  we  can  have  above  the  clay,  and  even  these  may  be- 
come exhausted  in  great  periods  of  drouth.  This  underlying  clay  in  some 
places  may  be  met  near  the  surface.  Wherever  reached  it  is  impervious  to 
water,  and  hence  checks  the  tendency  of  sand  towards  leaching.  Aside  from 
this  supply,  we  have  none  other,  only  by  piercing  the  Erie  clay  to  the  bed 
rock,  where  may  always  be  found  a  supply  of  good  water.  These  are  called 
"  artesian  wells,"  and  are  often  brought  to  use  by  the  wind-mill,  a  great  im- 
provement over  the  windlass  of  pioneer  days. 

On  these  oak  openings  to-day  there  is  a  vigorous  and  dense  growth  of 
young  oaks  of  several  varieties,  with  considerable  white  hickory  and  some  soft 
maple,  that  has  grown  up  since  white  occupants  stopped  the  burning  of  the 
undergrowth  that  was  so  customary  under  the  Indian  reign.  Aspens  or  pop- 
lars are  springing  up  in  great  numbers  on  the  prairies.  Their  light,  down- 
covered  seeds,  flying  everywhere  with  the  wind,  enables  them  to  possess 
promptly  any  territory  that  has  freshly  become  available.  The  sand  dunes 
and  "  oak  openings  "  have,  in  former  years,  been  classed  as  very  poor  lands, 
and,  at  one  period  since  it  commenced  to  settle,  was  supposed  it  would  never 
raise  grass  of  any  kind,  except  the  wild  grass'found  upon  prairies,  but  to-day 
it  is  fairly  competing  with  the  timber  lands  adjoining  in  the  production  of  all 
the  domestic  grasses,  corn,  wheat,  and  oats,  and  for  potato  production  it  can- 
not be  beaten  by  the  choicest  cleared  timber  lands  of  the  county.  It  stands  in 
competition  with  other  soils  for  quality. 

Being  the  last  township  in  the  county,  organized  with  a  scattered  popula- 
tion at  the  time,  and  apparently  a  thin  soil  for  general  agricultural  purposes, 
Dover  township  has  arisen  from  its  apparent  sterility  at  a  greater  rate  of  pro- 
gress than  any  other  township  in  the  county,  and,  since  the  advent  of  under- 
draining  has  taken  its  place,  she  is  in  full  competition  with  her  neighboring  sister 
townships.  Dover  has  upon  its  soil,  for  product,  a  class  of  men  who  have  clear 
views  of  justice,  and  fixed  opinions  of  right  and  wrong — a  class  of  men  who 
do  not  seek  office,  whose  independence  in  politics  is  noted,  and  to  the  poHtician 
often  gives  offence,  yet  devoted  to  principles  as  dear  to  them  as  their  fathers, 
and  to  the  law  of  good  morals,  which  bids  them  to  love  their  neighbors  as 
themselves.  These  descendants  of  the  sires  proved  themselves  worthy  of  their 
high  lineage  in  the  late  rebellion,  and  proudly  marched  under  the  stars  and 
stripes  upon  the  battle-fields  of  the  South,  in  response  to  the  calls  of  their 


468  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

country  for  aid.     This  township  was  never  backward,  and  furnished  more  than 
its  quota. 

Indians  and  Camping  Grounds  — Upon  the  banks  of  what  is  styled  Brush 
Creek,  at  Spring  Hill,  in  Dover  township,  is  situated  one  of  the  Indians'  favo- 
rite camping-grounds,  as  noted  by  Judge  Ambrose  Rice,  who  surveyed  this 
territory  at  a  very  early  day.  Its  fine  springs  furnished  what,  to  the  Indian 
was  second  only  to  his  beloved  whiskey  —  pure,  sweet,  cpld  water.  The  re- 
mains of  their  dead  may  still  occasionally  be  seen  when  turned  up  by  the  plow- 
share, or  thrown  out  by  the  spade.  This  place  lay  in  their  line  of  travel  from 
the  east  to  the  west,  and  in  their  migratory  hunting  excursions  in  the  wilder- 
ness it  became  an  intermediate  resort  for  rest,  one  of  a  few  such  places  in  the 
county.  Their  chief  places  of  living  were  always  near  the  rivers,  of  which  they 
were  very  fond. 

Since  her  organization  in  1843,  Dover  has  the  smallest  territory  of  any 
town  in  the  county,  and  has  a  very  unequal  fight  for  funds  for  township  schools 
and  other  purposes  on  account  thereof. 

Church  Societies  and  Schools. — Church  associations  and  schools  were  form- 
ed as  soon  as  the  settlement  of  Dover  township  began,  as  early  as  in  1836.  It 
is  a  question  which  of  the  two  societies,  the  Disciples  or  United  Brethren,  had 
the  first  organization  in  this  township.  The  Disciples,  however,  furnish  data 
from  their  church  record  of  their  organization,  which  was  March  i,  1841,  held 
at  the  residence  of  Moses  Ayers,  and  that  Benjamin  Alton  was  the  officiating 
minister.  The  society  have  maintained  an  uninterrupted  organization  up  to 
the  present  date.  They  have  a  fine  brick  church  edifice,  built  in  1882,  at 
Spring  Hill,  now  their  present  place  of  worship,  and  the  largest  membership 
of  any  society.  The  United  Brethren  organization  was  made  at  a  very  early 
date,  under  the  labors  of  John  Bowser  and  Alonzo  H.  Butler.  They  were 
organized  and  have  continued  until  the  present  time  without  an  interruption. 
The  society  has  a  small  chapel,  built  at  Spring  Hill  in  i860,  and  have  quite  a 
prominent  membership.  A  society  of  the  United  Brethren  was  organized  at 
North  Dover  about  1882  by  Rev.  Bartlett,  and  built  a  small  chapel  for  their 
meetings. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  two  classes  —  one  organized  at  Spring 
Hill  as  early  as  1842,  under  the  labors  of  James  Gay,  with  Samuel  Warren  and 
wife,  Ebenezer  Fuller  and  wife,  Newell  Newton  and  wife,  Isaac  Tedrow  and 
wife,  and  Peter  Lott  and  wife  as  leading  members,  and  for  a  long  time  held 
their  meetings  in  an  old  log  school-house  just  east  of  Spring  Hill.  After 
holding  their  services  in  various  places  they  have  steadily  increased  in  mem- 
ship.  In  1887  they  built  for  themselves  a  very  fine  wooden  chapel  costing 
nearly  $2,000,  and  dedicated  the  same  August  7,  1887,  at  Spring  Hill,  Revs. 
Belt,  Fitzwater  and  Gordon  officiating. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  the  township  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Society  was 


Fulton  County.  469 


organized  by  W.  W.  Winters,  in  1857,  and  in  1876  they  built  a  chapel  for 
their  use  at  Ottokee,  and  hold  a  fair  membership  to  this  date. 

In  1847  Elder  Hosea  Day  organized  a  Christian  Church  at  Ottokee,  with 
a  fair  membership,  which  in  later  years,  for  want  of  pastoral  service,  lost  their 
identity,  and  finally  consolidated  with  the  Disciples,  who  were  quite  prominent 
over  the  whole  township. 

In  1858  the  Disciples,  under  the  labors  of  Elder  L.  L.  Carpenter,  formed 
an  organization  at  Ottokee,  which  in  after  years,  like  the  Christian  denomina- 
tion, became  disintegrated  and  was  merged  into  the  Wauseon  and  Spring  Hill 
Societies. 

Settlers. — The  first  white  man  who  settled  in  what  is  now  Dover  township, 
with  his  family,  was  William  Jones,  known  as  "  Long  Bill."  He  came  in  the 
fall  of  1836,  and  settled  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  township,  in  which  locality 
the  future  immigrants  were  confined  until  in  1838. 

The  first  cabin  erected  in  the  township  was  for  Jones,  size  14  by  16  feet 
square.  At  this  raising  were  only  two  men,  one  boy,  and  two  Indians.  The 
whites  were  William  Jones,  Aaron  Little  and  the  boy,  Jacob  Boyers,  also  Mrs. 
Jones.  The  raising  was  on  Sunday,  there  being  no  time  for  rest  in  the  wilder- 
ness until  a  shelter  was  provided.  William  Jones  sometimes  preached  for  the 
Disciples,  there  then  being  a  few  of  that  faith  in  Clinton  township  on  the  south. 
That  faith  was  afterwards  supported  by  the  labors  of  William  Jewell  and  Rob- 
ert K.  Shepherd,  as  preachers,  residents  of  the  soil,  and  still  later  by  Lawrence 
B.  Smith  and  Zephaniah  Shepherd,  son  of  R.  K.  Shepherd. 

In  the  spring  of  1837,  Alonzo  H.  Butler  and  wife  settled  upon  section 
seven,  town  ten  south,  range  two  east,  upon  lands  now  owned  by  Charles  B. 
Carter,  just  north  of  the  "  Fulton  line."  During  the  summer  and  fall  of  the 
same  year  quite  a  large  acession  was  made  to  the  little  band  of  settlers  in  the 
arrival  of  Peter  Lott  and  wife  and  three  children ;  Salathiel  Bennett  and  fam- 
ily; Elijah  Bennett  and  family  ;  Michael  Ferguson ;  James  Gould,  and  Parel 
Smith,  all  with  families. 

Following  thereafter,  in  the  spring  of  1838,  were  William  Hoffmire,  John 
J.  Schnall,  Adam  Poorman,  Nathan  Gay,  Eben  French,  Mortimer  D.  Hibbard 
and  family,  with  his  father  and  mother,  also  Randolf  Hibbard. 

From  1838  to  1846  came  Moses  Ayers  and  family,  Joseph  Shadle,  Jacob 
Nolan,  William  Fuller,  John  G.  Tiffany,  Henry  Herreman,  William  Jones,  jr., 
Oscar  A.  Cobb,  Richard  Marks,  Alonzo  Knapp,  Warren  W.  Hodge  and  family. 
Comfort  Marks  and  wife  Betsy,  Archie  and  Betsy  Knapp,  Elisha  Cobb  and 
mother,  and  John  Atkinson  and  family.  A  greater  portion  of  these  settled 
near  Ottokee,  at  the  east  end  of  the  towship. 

In  the  west  end  William  Waid,  E.  H.  Patterson,  Burdick  Burtch,  Jasper 
Dowell  and  mother,  William  Brierly,  Joseph  Jewell,  William  Jewell,  James 
Wells,  William  J.  Coss,  Chandler  Tiffany,  George  Tiffany  and  John  Meader, 


470  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  last  three  in  the  east.  Later  were  Thomas  Walters  and  Robert  K.  Shep- 
herd, and  so  continued  the  settlement  until  the  "  Congress  lands  "  were  nearly 
all  taken  up,  and  the  frontier  was  no  more  here. 

To-day  there  is  upon  the  soil  of  Dover  township  many  grand  and  noble  men 
and  women,  some  of  whom  have  taken  their  fathers'  places  by  inheritance,  and 
who  were  but  bare-footed  children  in  those  primitive  days;  and  others  too  who 
have  come  upon  the  soil  of  the  township  in  place  of  many  who  have  gone  to 
other  territory  in  the  far  west,  and  many  to  their  long  homes.  They  are  men 
of  whom  the  township  may  well  feel  proud,  and  most  are  quite  prominent 
farmers.  Some  of  these  are  as  follows :  David  Ayers,  John  Funk,  Gideon 
Ayers,  George  Miley,  Harrison  Schnall,  Isaiah  L.  Hagerman,  Willard  D. 
Crout,  Peter  Gype,  John  Lathrop,  Stephen  Eldridge,  Cornelius  M.  Spring, 
James  Kahle,  Daniel  Foreman,  James  M.  Gillett,  DeLos  Palmer,  Harvey 
Shadle,  Myron  A.  Beecher,  Jeremiah  Jones,  Barnett  and  Adolph  Kutzley, 
Thompson  Todd,  Lucien  H.  Guilford,  Valentine  Theobold,  George  Guilford, 
John  Seibold,  Alonzo  Marks,  Luther  Shadle,  Lee  Whitacre,  John  P.  Shelters, 
C.  B.  Carter,  Azariah  Lathrop,  John  Smellie,  Gavin  Smellie,  L.  C.  Cook,  L. 
N.  Cook,  Barney  H.  Anderson,  Levi  McConkey,  Jasper  Dowell,  Asa  Borton, 
Lemuel  F.  Waid,  Charles^Waid,  Charles  Baldwin  Carter,  William  Somers,  Al- 
fred F.  Shafifer,  John  Huffman,  Oliver  B.  Huffman. 

This  townghip,  from  its  first  settlement  in  1836,  to  1845,  was  a  land  of  "fe- 
ver and  ague  to  the  very  edge."  It  has  been  no  exaggeration  of  the  histori- 
an to  say,  that  for  a  few  years  after  1838,  in  the  summer  and  fall,  the  largest 
half  of  the  population  were  languishing  on  beds  of  ague  and  fever ;  many  a 
house  wife  was  compelled  to  keep  house  and  do  the  work  for  a  family  between 
the  passing  away  of  the  "sweating  stage"  and  the  next  "ague"  attack.  In 
this  interval  a  large  amount  of  work  was  done  by  them,  and  had  to  be,  because 
help  was  scarce  in  such  times  as  these.  This  picture  is  but  a  fair  sample  of  the 
township  and  had  to  be  endured  until  the  winter  frosts  brought  relief  Qui- 
nine was  to  them  the  staff  of  life,  and  often  meant  more  than  bread  to  the  lan- 
guishing individual.  But  few  of  those  early  pioneers  died  from  these  malarial 
attacks,  yet  all  who  passed  through  those  days  can  never  forget  them.  This  is 
spoken  of  as  one  of  the  trials  of  the  settlers  in  early  days,  which,  combined 
with  general  poverty,  made  "Jordan  a  hard  road  to  travel."  These  incidents 
and  trials  of  pioneer  life  are  thus  memorized  that  the  rosy-cheeked  youth  of 
to-day  may  have  some  idea  of  what  their  fathers  and  mothers  endured  in  sub- 
duing and  developing  a  country  for  themselves,  their  children  and  their  chil- 
dren's children.  This  they  have  left  to  you  as  their  best  gift.  Yet,  we  can 
say  "  when  your  fathers  and  mothers,  whose  beds  were  made  of  pins  put  in  the 
logs  of  their  cabin,  and  sustained  by  one  leg  under  the  frame  ;  the  foundations 
wove  of  bark  and  covered  with  straw  for  springs,  enjoyed  as  much  sweet  re- 
pose as  any  of  you  to-day." 


(Z^^y^ 


Fulton  County.  471 


It  was  in  this  township  that  the  county  seat  was  located,  in  June,  1851, 
and  Ottokee  was  the  place  designated.  At  that  time  it  received  its  name  and 
became  a  pronounced  corporate  village,  and  soon  began  to  settle  and  build  up 
rapidly,  and  was,  for  a  few  years,  quite  a  prominent  center  for  business,  and 
bid  fair  for  a  large  county  town,  but  the  loss  of  the  Junction  Railway  immedi- 
ately after  the  movement  of  the  people  to  bond  the  county  for  $50,000,  was 
defeated,  and  the  building  of  the  Michigan  Southern  and  Northern  Indiana 
Railway  had  been  assured,  by  which  Wauseon  became  a  point  on  said  railway. 
The  prospects  for  further  building  up  Ottokee  were  destroyed.  One  fact  here 
possibly  may  be  worthy  of  note,  that  Oliver  B.  Verity  alone,  of  all  the  men 
holding  office  at  the  county  seat,  from  sister  townships,  and  who  came  here  as 
probate  judge  in  1858,  has  remained  a  citizen  of  Ottokee,  in  the  township  to 
the  present  date.  The  others  only  resided  here  during  the  life  of  their  office, 
and  then  returned  to  their  respective  township  or  followed  the  county  seat  to 
Wauseon. 

Business  Houses  at  Ottokee. — The  first  store  of  goods  brought  to  Ottokee 
was  handled  by  Hosea  Day ;  the  next  by  Ezra  Wilcox  and  the  third  by  George 
Marks  and  Ransom  Reynolds ;  then  followed  thereafter  in  succession  by  Op- 
penheimer,  Eliakim  Stowe,  John  Sigsby,  Warner  Lott,  Samuel  O.  Warren, 
Henry  Herreman,  Peter  Lott,  George  G.  Goulden,  Charles  F.  Handy,  and  lastly 
David  K.  Numbers,  who  has  been  in  trade  here  for  several  years. 

The  first  saloon  was  opened  in  185  i,  by  Ezra  Wilcox,  who  had  a  succes- 
sion of  followers  down  to  1865.     The  last  in  the  line  was  George  Merrill. 

The  first  hotel  of  Ottokee  was  opened  up  by  Wm.  Jones.  He  was  followed 
by  Henry  Taylor,  who  died  in  1 862,  after  which  the  house  was  run  for  a  few 
months  by  Calvin  Taylor ;  next  by  Richard  H.  Bagley,  then  by  Charles  Hil- 
ton, now  Swanton,  and  lastly  by  Abner  Wilcox. 

A  second  hotel  was  opened  about  1853,  on  the  south  side  of  the  street,  by 
Ezra  Wilcox,  who  afterwards  sold  to  David  Fairchilds,  and  he  to  Lewis  Breese. 
The  next  owner  was  Doctor  W.  C.  Robinson,  who  left  it  about  1859,  since 
which  time  there  has  been  but  one  hotel  kept  at  the  town.  A  temperance  hotel 
was  kept  for  a  number  of  years  by  John  Miller,  at  and  prior  to  the  location  of 
Ottokee,  and  was  about  two  miles  west.  Another,  by  Burdick  Burtch,  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  I.  L.  Hagerman,  was  established  and  run  by  Burtch  at  a 
very  early  day.     It  was  discontinued  in  1858. 

James  M.  Gillett  erected  a  large  building  at  Spring  Hill,  1853,  for  a  wagon 
shop,  but  changed  his  plans  and  opened  the  same  as  a  temperance  hotel  and 
run  it  for  a  few  years.  He  sold  out  to  Daniel  Ronk,  and  he  to  Chauncy  Ste- 
vens, and  the  last  named  to  Garrett  Rittenhouse,  who  was  the  last  proprietor 
at  Spring  Hill. 

Brick,  tile  and  pottery  were  first  made  by  Eben  French  (familiarly  known 
as  old  man  French),  who  put  up  an  oven  on  the  property  now  owned  by 


472  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Charles  B.  Carter,  near  what  was  known  as  "  Chatfield's  Corners,"  where  was 
made  all  kinds  of  pottery,  which  was  peddled  through  the  county  at  a  very 
€arly  date,  about  1846.  He  also  made  brick  in  small  quantities,  and  made  the 
first  tile  that  was  ever  manufactured  in  the  county.  Mr.  French,  at  about  this 
time,  put  up  and  burned  brick  on  lands  now  owned  by  Levi  McConkey.  Brick 
were  made  soon  after  by  Joseph  Shadle,  and  continued  for  a  number  of  years 
upon  his  farm,  south  of  Ottokee,  but  stopped  in  1865,  after  burning  brick 
enough  for  the  county  infirmary  and  other  buildings.  "  Long  Bill  "  Jones,  in 
1839,  made  brick  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  De  Witt  Williams,  and  this  "vas 
as  early  as  any  were  made.  The  last  brick  made  in  this  township  were  by 
Amasa  B.  Verity,  upon  the  premises  now  owned  by  Oliver  B.  Verity.  Tile 
was  manufactured  for  one  or  two  years,  at  the  saw-mill  of  James  Kahle. 

Ottokee  Cemetery. — This  place,  for  burial  of  the  dead,  was  commenced  at  a 
very  early  day,  but  was  not  organized  as  "  Ottokee  Cemetery  "  until  1853. 
Betsy  Knapp,  wife  of  Archie  W.  Knapp,  who  came  here  in  May,  1846,  and 
died  June  26,  1846,  was  the  first  person  laid  to  rest  in  the  cemetery.  Ayres 
Cemetery  was  laid  off  for  burial  purposes  the  earliest  of  any  in  this  territory,  at 
the  very  beginning  of  its  settlement,  or  as  soon  as  1838.  It  was  used  before 
any  other  place  was  selected,  but  who  was  the  first  person  buried  cannot  be 
ascertained.  Spring  Hill  Cemetery  was  the  last  regularly  laid  out  burial- 
place  in  the  township,  about  i860.  Oscar  A.  Hibbard,  son  of  Mortimer  D. 
Hibbard,  was  the  first  person  buried  therein. 

Physicians. — Doctor  Blaker  was  the  first  resident  physician,  followed  in 
succession  by  Drs.  Wm.  Hyde,  McCann,  V.  Gurley,  S.  T.  Worden,  B.  M.  De 
Lano,  Henry  Herreman  and  Welcome  C.  Robinson,  each  of  whom  engaged  in 
general  practice  before  Ottokee  and  Spring  Hill  had  an  existence  as  villages. 
After  Spring  Hill  started,  the  first  physician  was  Doctor  Wm.  Hyde,  who  edu- 
cated for  the  profession  Noah  W.  Jewell,  now  of  Wauseon.  Dr.  Jewell  suc- 
ceeded Dr.  Hyde.  Next  in  order  was  Dr.  Robert  C.  Ely,  followed  by  Drs. 
Buchanan,  Leach,  Webb,  Estelle  H.  Rorick  and  George  P.  Campbell,  the  last 
named  being  now  in  practice  there. 

Spring  Hill. — M.  D.  Hibbard  opened  the  first  store  of  goods,  upon  a  small 
scale,  at  a  very  early  day.  He  was  followed  by  Thomas  Walters,  and  after- 
wards by  William  Jewell,  Robert  Shepherd,  Francis  Laudersdale  &  Son.  The 
latter  were  burned  out  about  i860.  Feis  Guggenheim,  Tarring  Osmun,  G. 
W.  Wallace,  Wesley  Huffman  and  George  Walters  have  also  been  in  trade  at 
the  place. 

In  the  year  1852  Louis  Stumm  brought  to  Ottokee  from  Delta,  a  press, 
and  published  for  a  time  the  Fulton  County  Advertiser.  It  was,  in  a  few 
months,  changed  into  the  hands  of  J.  W.  Rosenburg,  and  the  name  changed  to 
the  Fulton  County  Union.  In  the  winter  of  1854  the  paper  was  sold  to  J.  W. 
Carter,  who  run  it  until  his  death,  August  18,  1855,  after  which  Ben.  Frank 


Fulton  County.  473; 


and  Benjamin  Montgomery  took  the  office  and  issued  regularly,  till  sold  to 
Henry  McElheney,  in  1857.  In  1855  Rosea  Day  brought  in  a  competitive 
press,  and  issued  the  Ottokee  Observer,  superintended  by  Harry  Bayes,  and 
who  issued  the  same  to  about  1857,  when  it  was  sold  to  S.  A.  Scofield  and 
taken  to  Morenci,  Mich.  In  1857,  Henry  McElheney,  a  young  lawyer,  got» 
possession  of,  and  run  for  a  few  months  only,  at  Ottokee,  a  Democrat  paper 
called  Fulton  County  Democrat.  In  the  summer  of  1863  Harry  B.  Bayes 
brought  from  Bryan,  O.,  a  press  and  established  The  Monitor,  as  a  competitive 
paper  against  the  Northwestern  Republican,  then  in  the  hands  of  Joseph  Cable, 
at  Wauseon,  and  issued  his  weekly  editions  for  about  eight  months,  when 
he  sold  out  to  Wauseon  parties.  Several  residents  of  Ottokee  learned  the 
printer's  trade  at  that  place,  to- wit:  Charles  B.  Carter,  Julius  D.  Carter,  Miss 
Maggie  Carter,  now  the  wife  of  Judge  Fallis,  of  Cadillac,  Mich. ;  James  K.. 
Newcomer  and  John  S.  Young,  now  in  the  Republican  office,  at  Wauseon. 

Mills. — The  only  saw-mill  in  this  township  was  built  about  one  mile  west: 
.of  Spring  Hill,  in  the  year  1853,  by  Burdick  Burtch,  and  was  run  by  him  for 
a  few  years,  and  then  sold  to  Daniel  Kahle,  and  now  owned  and  run  by  his 
son,  James  Kahle.  He  has  added  to  it  a  cane -crusher  and  evaporator,  operated 
by  steam.  It  is  the  best  in  the  township  and  gives  encouragement  to  a  profit- 
able branch  of  agricultural  industry — cane  growing.  About  1857  or '8,  a  grist- 
mill was  put  up  at  Spring  Hill;  and  did  a  good  business  until  it  was  burned- 
down,  in  i860.     It  was  rebuilt,  but  afterwards  moved  away. 

School  Sub-divisions. — Soon  after  the  organization  of  this  township,  in 
1843,  it  was  divided  into  two  school  districts,  one  at  Spring  Hill  and  the  other 
at  Ottokee.  Soon  after  was  organized  district  number  two,  called  the  Waid 
district,  and  next  in  order  was  district  number  three,  in  the  northwestern  part ;. 
and  still  later  district  number  five,  where  all  elections  are  now  held.  The  last 
district,  number  six,  in  the  northeast  part  of  the  township,  was  organized  about 
1864.  Since  the  Spring  Hill  district,  number  four,  by  an  act  of  the  Legisla- 
ture of  Ohio,  in  1876,  was  set  apart  as  a  special  school  district,  a  fine  brick 
school  house  has  been  built,  suitable  for  all  present  needs. 

Township  Elections. — The  first  was  held  at  the  house  of  Mortimer  D.  Hib- 
bard,  August  7,  1843,  by  order  of  the  commissioners  of  (then)  Lucas  county. 
The  officers  chosen  were  Moses  Ayers,  Alonzo  H.  Butler  and  Willard  Church,, 
trustees;  Joseph  Jewell,  clerk;  William  Jewell,  treasurer;  Elijah  Bennett  and 
John  G.  Tiffany,  constables ;  overseers  of  the  poor,  Elijah  Bennett  and  Newell 
Newton.  On  April  i,  1844,  the  assessor  found  forty-one  persons  liable  to  do 
military  duty.  The  township  levy  that  year  was  one  mill ;  road,  one  mill,  which 
brought  into  the  treasury  $43.35  for  road  purposes.  The  fees  of  the  township 
offices  that  year,  1844,  was  $2.25  each  for  trustees;  clerk,  $4;  treasurer,  $2; 
supervisors  had  no  charge. 

The  first  male  teacher  who  taught  in  Dover  had  his  scholars  spell  United 

60 


474  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

States  commencing  with  You.  Dover  was  soon  after  fortunate  in  securing  a 
better  grade  of  teachers.  A.  J.  Canfield,  Rev.  J.  R.  Hibbard,  Mortimer  D.  Hib- 
bard,  Michael  Handy,  and  Miss  Amelia  Hibbard  (now  Mrs.  Darwin  Butler)  and 
many  others  taught  as  good  common  schools  as  was  generally  found  at  that 
■day.  Wages  for  males,  from  4io  to  $13  per  month  and  board  around,  and  for 
.females,$6  to  $8  and  board  around     This  was  paid  by  rate  bills. 

An  item  in  the  early  history  of  the  pioneers  of  Dover  worthy  of  mention  is, 
that  they  always  refused  the  use  of  whisky  at  their  raisings.  Western  Dover 
claims  they  have  never  been  cursed  with  a  saloon  in  that  locality  yet ;  an  effort 
was  made  some  years  ago  to  establish  one  by  Abel  Hall,  who  came  into  Spring 
Hill  with  some  molasses,  tea,  coffee  and  tobacco,  but  foremost  of  all  a  full  bar- 
rel of  whisky.  Some  women  of  the  town,  not  being  able  to  locate  the  whisky 
as  well  as  they  should  have  done,  got  an  auger  and  bored  through  the  side  of 
the  building  and  into  the  molasses  barrel,  which  by  morning  had  emptied  itself 
■on  the  ground,  the  women  supposing  all  the  time  that  they  had  struck  the 
whisky  barrel.  The  next  day,  however,  the  proprietor  had  to  "  pull  uip  stakes" 
and  leave  to  save  the  balance  of  his  stock.  No  effort  has  since  been  made  to 
open  another  saloon  at  Spring  Hill. 

Public  Buildings.  —  In  185 1  the  county  seat  of  Fulton  county  was  located 
am  this  township,  and  buildings  erected,  viz.,  the  court-house  and  jail.  This 
♦continued  to  be  the  seat  of  justice  until  the  beginning  of  the  year  1872,  when 
-all  business  was  removed  to  Wauseon,  Ottokee  having  been  the  county  seat 
about  twenty-one  years.  In  March,  1874,  the  commissioners  of  this  county 
.agreed  to  transform  the  old  county  buildings  into  an  infirmary,  and  for  that 
purpose,  bought  additional  lands,  built  a  large  farm  barn  and  changed  and  fit- 
ted the  old  court-house  into  quarters  for  the  care  of  the  poor,  and  about  the 
first  of  May,  1874,  had  all  things  ready  for  the  admission  of  inmates.  The 
farm  and  buildings  were  placed  under  the  superintendency  of  Oliver  B.  Verity 
and  his  wife.  They  commenced  May  2,  1874,  to  receive  inmates,  and  in  a  few 
•weeks  the  poor  and  infirm  of  the  townships  of  the  county  were  all  transferred 
to  the  "  Fulton  County  Infirmary." 

Officers  for  County. — This  township  has  furnished  a  goodly  number  of  offi- 
cers for  the  county.  Mortimer  D.  Hibbard  was  from  here,  the  first  auditor, 
.and  held  that  office  nearly  three  years  ;  Jason  R.  Hibbard,  eight  years,  or  four 
terms;  O.  A.  Cobb,  sheriff,  four  years;  Jacob  C.  Hoffmire,  sheriff  four  years; 
L.  L.  Carpenter,  treasurer,  four  years;  David  Ayers,  four  years;  Joseph  Jewell, 
recorder  (died  in  office) ;  Richard  Taylor,  four  years  recorder ;  Allen  Carmi- 
chael,  prosecuting  attorney ;  John  J.  Schnall,  surveyor  twenty-one  years ;  Jo- 
•seph  Shadle,  six  years  as  commissioner;  representative  to  the  Legislature, 
Amos  Hill.  She  has  furnished  four  infirmary  directors:  First  O.  A.  Cobb,  seven 
years;  Stephen  Eldredge,  three  years;  E.  H.  Patterson,  six  years,  and  Lucien 
H.  Guilford,  present  incumbent.  The  first  superintendent  and  matron  of  the 
infirmary,  O.  B.  Verity  and  his  wife,  held  their  offices  for  a  period  of  six  years. 


Fulton  County.  475- 


Post-Offices. — John  J.  Schnall  was  the  first  postmaster  when  the  office  was 
named  "Tedrow."  In  the  eastern  part  Henry  Herriman  was  the  first  postmas- 
ter, and  the  office  was  named  "Essex,"  and  afterwards  changed  to  "  Ottokee." 
"Emery"  post-office  was  established  at  a  very  early  date  with  Lucius  N.  Chat- 
field  postmaster.  These  three  exist  at  this  date.  Hosea  Day  was  the  first  post- 
master at  Ottokee.  This  township  has  an  area  of  thirteen  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  nineteen  acres  of  land,  or  about  twenty-one  sections  of  land.  In  1880 
its  population  was  ten  hundred  and  fifty- five  all  told.  The  valuation  in  1887 
of  real  and  personal  estates  was  $242,950,  upon  which  all  taxation  is  based. 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 
HISTORY  OF  FRANKLIN  TOWNSHIP. 

POLITICAL  DIVISIONS.— The  township  of  Franklin  is  quite  important 
from  the  peculiar  construction  of  its  territory  being  in  two  surveys;  the 
State  of  Ohio,  and  the  Territory  of  Michigan ;  also  three  very  important 
treaty  divisions  between  the  Indians  and  the  government  of  the  United' 
States:  The  first  with  General  Hull,  November,  1807,  at  the  city  of  Detroit, 
conveying  all  lands  east  of  a  line  run  due  north  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Au  Glaize  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  miles  ;  the  second  treaty  at  the  foot  of 
the  Rapids  in  the  Maumee,  September,  181 7,  between  the  United  States,  Lewis- 
Cass  and  Duncan  McArthur  representing  the  government,  and  the  Wyandotts, 
Senecas,  Delawares,  Shawanese,  Pottawotamies,  Ottowas  and  Chippewas,  the 
latter  granting  to  the  government  their  right  and  title  to  lands  in  northwest 
Ohio,  and  the  northeastern  portion  of  Indiana,  south  of  the  boundary  line  be- 
tween Ohio  and  Michigan,  and  known  as  the  "Fulton  line;  "  the  third  at  Chi- 
cago, August  29,  1 82 1,  between  General  Cass  and  the  Pottawotamies  and  their 
allies  the  Ottawas  and  Chippewas,  designating  all  the  territory  west  of  the 
treaty  line  made  at  Detroit,  and  north  of  a  line  due  west  to  Lake  Michigan,, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Au  Glaize,  excepting  five  designated  reservations,  all 
having  a  general  center  in  Franklin  township,  and  all  of  which  is  important  to 
the  general  reader  to  understand  that  the  old  "Fulton  line,"  and  the  "Michigan 
ilieridian,"  formed  part  of  the  boundaries  of  the  three  foregoing  named  Indian 
treaties,  and  as  has  been  remarked,  "surely  we  tread  on  interesting  ground, '^ 
for  the  history  of  all  this  surrounding  country  finds  its  center  here.  In  the  sur- 
vey of  the  territory  of  Michigan,  the  west  line  of  the  Indian  treaty,  made  by 
Hull  at  Detroit,  1807,  was  taken  as  the  meridian  line  of  their  survey  with  their 
base  line  about  sixty  miles  north,  and  extended  south  on  said  line  to  the  "Ful- 


4/6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ton  line."  The  Ohio  survey  numbering  east  by  range  from  the  State  line  of 
Indiana,  north  to  the  "  Fulton  line,"  giving  to  the  center  of  Franklin  two  im- 
portant starting  points,  two  east  ranges  and  one  west,  and  parts  of  six  congres- 
sional surveys,  and  the  Michigan  survey  numbering  south  of  base  line,  ten 
township  surveys,  and  terminating  on  the  "Fulton  line"  east  and  west  of  mer- 
ridian,  ending  with  town  ten  south. 

In  the  spring  of  1820  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  April  i,  organized  from 
Indian  territory  fourteen  new  counties,  among  which  were  Wood,  Henry, 
and  Williams,  south  of  the  "Fulton  line,"  and  which  afterwards  became  in  part 
component  parts  of  Fulton  county.  All  of  this  township  in  the  Ohio  survey, 
south  of  the  Fulton  line,  lying  west  of  the  west  boundary  line  of  Wood  county, 
which  afterward,  on  September  7,  1835,  became  the  west  boundary  of  Lucas 
county,  was  in  the  county  of  Williams,  and  not  organized  for  county  purposes 
until  April  I,  1824.  Prior  to  this  time  Williams  county  had  been  attached  to 
Wood  county  for  judicial  purposes,  the  county  seat  being  located  at  Defiance, 
then  a  part  of  Williams  county.  The  commissioners  of  Williams  county,  De- 
cember 6,  1 83 1,  at  a  regular  session  held  at  Defiance,  the  county  seat,  organ- 
ized the  township  of  Tiffin,  composed  of  towns  five,  six,  seven,  and  eight  north, 
range  four  east,  south  of  "  Fulton  line,"  and,  March  30,  1835,  subdivided  Tiffin 
township,  and  from  towns  six,  seven,  and  eight  created  the  new  township  of 
Springfield,  and,  at  the  same  time  extended  its  jurisdiction  to  the  "Harris 
line,"  over  the  disputed  strip  contiguous  on  the  north,  and  also  included  in  this 
extension  a  strip  one  mile  wide  off  of  the  west  end  of  towns  nine  and  ten  south, 
range  one  east,  then  being  held  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Territory  of  Mich- 
igan, and  in  the  county  of  Lenawee,  and  township  of  Medina  About  this 
date,  1835,  the  legislative  council  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan  organized  from 
the  western  part  of  Lenawee  county,  the  county  of  Hillsdale,  and  formed  the 
township  of  Mill  Creek  from  town  nine  and  fractional  town  ten  south,  range 
one  west,  and  a  strip  one  mile  wide  off  of  the  west  side  of  town  nine  and  frac- 
tional town  ten  south,  range  one  east,  overlapping  the  claim  of  Springfield  to  the 
■"Fulton  line."  Thus  this  tract  was  claimed  by  two  townships  and  one  State 
and  one  territory.  Michigan,  having  the  supremacy,  by  the  sympathy  of 
what  settlers  were  then  living  thereon,  exercised  full  and  complete  civil  juris- 
diction until  December  16,  1836,  when  the  whole  strip  in  dispute  became  a 
portion  of  Ohio,  and,  notwithstanding  the  claim  of  Springfield  to  said  land 
north,  she  could  not  get  in  edgewise  for  her  civil  control.  On  March  7,  1836, 
commissioners  met,  and  all  of  Springfield  township  north  of  town  six  north 
was  organized  into  Brady  township,  first  called  Brady  after  Captain  Brady. 
This  new  township  included  all  of  towns  seven  and  eight  north,  range  four 
€ast,  and  the  strip,  one  mile  wide,  off  of  the  west  end  of  towns  nine  and  ten 
south,  range  one  east,  and  all  of  towns  nine  and  fractional  ten  south,  range 
one    west,  south   of  the  "  Harris  line,"  and  wiping  out   the  name  of  Spring- 


Fulton  County.  477 


field  over  said  territory  newly  erected  into  Brady  township,  and,  on  June  16, 
■that  part  north  of  the  "  Fulton  line,"  legally  became  a  part  of  Brady  township, 
destroying  entirely  the  name  and  civil  authority  of  Mill  Creek  township,  erected 
at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  Hillsdale  county,  in  1835.  Afterwards, 
March  4,  1839,  at  a  session  of  the  county  commissioners  of  Williams  county, 
all  of  Brady  township  north  of  the  "  Fulton  line,"  was  set  off  to  Mill  Creek,  or 
organized  into  a  new  township  of  Mill  Creek.  In  1843  all  of  Mill  Creek  town- 
ship included  in  towns  nine  and  ten  south,  range  two  west,  and  one  mile,  or  the 
west  tier  of  sections  of  towns  nine  and  ten  south,  range  one  west,  was  set  off  to 
a  new  township  called  Madison,  and  on  April  i,  1850,  the  strip  one  mile  wide 
-off  of  the  west  end  of  towns  nine  and  ten  south,  range  one  east,  and  two  tiers 
of  sections  of  towns  nine  and  ten  south,  range  one  west,  were  set  off  to  Fulton 
county,  north  of  "Fulton  line,"  and  attached  to  Franklin  and  Gorham  town- 
ships, respectively,  adjoining  their  western  border.  Sections  one  and  two  of 
town  seven  north,  range  four  east,  and  thirty-five  and  thirty-six  of  township 
•eight  north,  range  four  east,  south  of  the  Fulton  line,  was  taken  from  Brady 
township  and  attached  to  Fulton  county  and  became  a  part  of  Franklin  on  the 
west. 

Organization. — This  township  at  a  commissioners'  meeting  held  at  Maumee 
City,  March  i,  1841,  was  organized  and  called  Franklin  township,  made  by 
taking  all  of  town  ten  south,  range  one  east,  excepting  one  mile  off"  of  the  vest 
■end  of  town  ten  south,  range  one  east,  which  was  cut  off"  from  the  township  of 
■Gorham,  and  all  of  towns  eight  north,  range  five  east,  and  one  tier  of  sections 
off  of  the  north  side  of  town  seven  north,  range  five  east,  from  German  town- 
ship, and  immediately  entered  upon  its  civil  jurisdiction  as  a  part  of  the  organ- 
ization of  Fulton  county.  On  the  28th  day  of  February,  1850,  the  Legisla- 
ture of  Ohio,  in  creating  the  new  county  of  Fulton,  ran  the  west  boundary  line 
west  of  the  line  of  old  Wood  county,  and  afterwards  Lucas  county,  and  adding 
to  the  further  area  of  Franklin,  from  the  township  of  Brady,  sections  i  and  2  of 
town  seven  north,  range  four  east ;  and  sections  35  and  36,  town  eight  north, 
range  four  east,  and  the  west  tier  of  fractional  sections  one  mile  wide  off"  of 
town  ten  south,  range  one  east,  and  two  tiers  of  section,  to  wit:  One  and  two 
and  fractional  sections  n  and  12,  off  of  the  west  side  of  town  ten  south,  range 
■one  west,  of  Mill  Creek,  which  thereafter  became  a  part  and  parcel  of  Franklin 
township,  which  embraces  in  its  area  six  parts  of  congressional  surveys. 

Boundaries. — Franklin  township  as  her  boundaries  mark  at  this  time  con- 
tains about  twenty- eight  and  one-third  full  sections  of  land,  or  an  area  of 
18,213  acres.  Its  real  and  personal  value  in  1887  was  $443,540,  as  shown 
•upon  the  present  duplicate  of  the  county.  This  township  is  in  the  center  tier, 
upon  the  extreme  western  border  of  Fulton  county ;  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  township  of  Gorham  ;  on  the  east  by  the  township  of  Dover ;  on  the  south 
by  the  township  of  German,  and  for  nearly  one  mile  at  the  west  end  on  the 


4?^  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


south  by  the  Fulton  line,  and  on  the  west  by  the  townships  of  Brady  south, 
and  Mill  Creek  north  of  the  old  Fulton  line  of  Williams  county,  O.  A  trifle 
over  one- half  of  its  present  area  is  upon  the  disputed  strip,  as  settled  by  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  December  i6,  1836.  It  was  the  tenth  town- 
ship in  its  organization  in  the  present  limits  of  Fulton  county. 

Topography.- — The  general  slope  of  the  surface  is  southwest.  The  lowest 
lands  are  adjacent  to  and  along  the  Tiffin  River  (Bean  Creek),  which  marks  a 
southwesterly  course  across  the  township,  east  of  the  first  beach  some  four  or 
five  miles  west.  Gravel  and  sand  spurs  from  the  sandy  plateau  of  Dover,  put 
out  on  the  extreme  eastern  border  and  southeast  corner  of  the  township,  and 
are  densely  covered  with  timber.  This  gravel  in  the  east  part  is  available  for 
good  roads,  and  may  be  used  at  numerous  points  in  the  township.  The  spurs, 
however,  are  soon  lost  in  the  lacustrine  deposits  of  the  Bean  Creek  valley. 
The  only  water  course  rising  beyond  the  limits  of  this  county  is  Bean  Creek, 
from  Devil's  Lake  in  the  State  of  Michigan,  and  flows  in  a  southerly  direction 
through  the  center  of  this  township  and  empties  its  waters  and  streamlets  in 
the  Maumee  at  Defiance.  The  streams  are  of  gentle  inclination  south,  and 
Mill  Creek  southeast,  and  empty  upon  its  right  bank.  The  waters  of  this 
township  pass  into  Bean  Creek,  and,  with  its  waters,  to  the  Maumee,  thence  to 
Lake  Erie. 

Water  Supply. — Nearly  everywhere  in  this  township  water  can  be  cheaply 
obtained  by  boring  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  feet.  This  township  is  famous 
for  its  artesian  wells,  wherein  the  water  of  many  of  them  rises  and  flows  to  the 
surface.  They,  at  this  day,  are  eminently  numerous  in  a  line  of  special  locality. 
Geology  says  "  they  are  found  in  a  belt  of  country  which,  in  common  with  the 
other  geological  features  of  the  vicinity,  has  a  northeast  and  southwest  trend," 
which  appears  true  here. 

SozY.^Along  the  valley  of  Bean  Creek  is  a  rich  lacustrine  deposit,  with 
abundance  of  gravel  closely  connected  with  the  Bean  Valley,  and  the  whole 
township  presents  a  very  level  appearance  and  rich  in  fruit  raising,  for  the  val- 
ley does  not  often  fail  in  that,  and  less  frequent  in  the  production  of  corn,  wheat,^ 
oats  and  potatoes,  and  all  the  varieties  of  agriculture,  or  to  the  rais.ing  fine 
cattle,  sheep  and  hogs.  The  prosperity  of  agriculture  to-day  within  its  bound- 
aries shows  its  wealth  in  all  that  makes  the  farm  enjoyable. 

Timber. ^-'\\\vs>  township,  in  its  early  days,  was  covered  with  an  almost  im- 
penetrable forest  of  giant  growth  of  the  various  kinds  usually  found  in  the  west, 
with  a  soil  too  wet  at  times.  A  great  part  of  the  timber  was  black  walnut, 
butternut,  white,  black  and  blue  ash ;  in  many  parts  was  very  fine  poplar  or 
whitewood,  trees  often  from  two  to  five  feet  across,  and  from  fifty  to  eighty 
feet  without  a  limb.  A  great  amount  of  this  timber  was  cut  and  burned  in 
log  heaps  by  the  early  settlers,  as  there  was  no  demand  for  it.  There  was 
also  a  great  amount  of  oak  of  different  kinds,  which  secured  for  the  settlers- 


Fulton  County.  47^ 


good  fencing  material,  for  which  it  was  and  is  now  used  largely  for  that  pur^ 
pose.  There  was  beech  and  maple  (both  hard  and  soft),  a  good  supply  of 
basswood,  sycamore,  red  and  white  elm,  black  cherry,  iron-wood,  hickory, 
dog-wood,  cotton-wood  and  the  bean-tree  along  the  creek,  with  its  beautiful 
flowers,  from  which  Bean  Creek  derives  its  name. 

Population. — Franklin  in  1880,  at  the  last  Federal  cencus  enumerated  1,201, 
and  is  fast  rising  into  prominence,  and  without  any  village  or  trading  post,  is 
more  than  keeping  equal  in  the  race  for  prosperity,  but  was  among  the  first  to 
begin  its  settlement  by  the  white  man,  as  early  as  1833,  and  in  rapid  succes- 
sion thereafter  did  immigration  flow  into  the  valley  of  the  "Bean,"  and  by  rea- 
son of  the  vast  improvements  in  clearing  out  Bean  Creek,  and  straightening  its 
zig-zag  water- courses,  it  visibly  marks  the  beginning  of  a  prosperity.  Under 
good  management  it  will  be  rich  in  agricultural  possibilities,  and  at  no  distant 
day,  be  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  other  agricultural  district  of  Fulton  county. 

Early  Pioneers. — It  has  been  said  that  Joseph  Bates  came  into  this  terri- 
tory, then  Williams  county,  on  section  two,  town  seven  north,  range  four  east, 
in  February,  1833,  while  others  claim  not  until  1834,  and  on  the  farm  known 
to-day  as  the  Shilling  farm.  In  the  absence  of  better  proof  we  will  accept  of 
the  record  as  given  by  A.  W.  Fisher,  in  his  historical  reminiscences  of  early 
settlers,  wherein  he  writes  to  Joseph  Bates's  daughter,  Mrs.  Alvord,  of  Cam- 
den, Michigan,  replying  to  which  she  declares  that  her  father  came  in  1832; 
from  the  testimony  given  by  others  it  will  be  doing  justice  to  the  memory  of 
Joseph  Bates  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  a  medium  date,  Feb.,  1833,  which 
would  seem  to  correspond  with  the  memory  of  many  living  witnesses.  He  be- 
came engrafted  to  the  soil  of  Fulton  county  by  reason  of  changes  made  in  the 
political  divisions  and  subdivisions  of  township.  He,  when  coming  to  the  val- 
ley of  the  Bean  Creek,  in  February,  1833,  was  within  the  limits  of  Brady 
township,  Williams  county,  and  was  then  not  a  resident  of  Fulton  county,  nor 
either  of  Wood,  which  held  control  of  all  east  of  Williams  until  1835,  when 
Lucas  was  organized  from  the  western  part  of  Wood,  and  so  controlled  the  ter- 
ritory until  Feb.  28,  1850,  when  the  county  of  Fulton  was  organized,  taking 
in  territory  from  Williams  upon  which  Joseph  Bates  resided,  but  he  loses  the 
honor  of  being  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  Williams,  and  lays  claim  to  the 
credit  of  being  the  first  white  resident  of  Fulton  county,  and  also  FrankUn  as 
she  exists  to-day.  During  all  this  term  of  "years,  from  1833  to  1850,  a  period 
of  seventeen  years,  Joseph  Bates  is  by  all  acknowledged  to  be  the  first  settler 
in  the  present  area  of  Franklin  township.  For  quite  a  period  of  time  he  alone 
endured  the  hardship  of  early  pioneer  life,  which  never  will  be  sufficiently  elu- 
cidated to  the  succeeding  generations ;  the  severe  labor  and  toil  to  make  for  a 
growing  family  a  home  —  always  the  aspiration  of  the  early  men  and  women  of 
the  wilderness — living  on  hominy  made  from  corn  pounded  in  wooden  mortars, 
and  such  wild  meats  as  might  be  obtained  by  the  rifle  from  the  woods,  caught 


480  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

in  the  intervals  of  labor,  and  often  without  milk  or  butter,  or  any  of  the  arti- 
cles of  luxury. 

Joseph  Bates,  in  a  very  early  day,  ran  a  hotel  called  "J.  Bates's  Inn."  In 
1 86 1  he  sold  his  possession  to  William  Ayers  and  moved  to  Iowa,  where  he 
died,  August  i,  1866,  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy- nine  years.  In  the  sum- 
mer and  winter  of  1830  and  1831,  Joseph  Bates  with  his  gun,  dogs,  bear  and 
wolf  traps,  came  from  the  East  to  Hardin  county,  O.,  where  he  hunted  and 
trapped  until  the  coming  spring,  and  during  this  time  lived  on  muskrats  and 
other  game  caught  in  traps  or  shot.  He  sold  his  furs  and  skins,  the  product  of 
his  fall  and  winter  labor,  and  came  to  then  Williams  county,  and  purchased  the 
southeast  quarter  of  section  two,  town  seven  north,  range  four  east,  now  Frank- 
lin township,  and  had  of  that  winter's  labor  $130  left.  He  went  back  to  his 
home  and  in  the  winter  of  1833,  started  with  his  family  for  his  new  purchase  in 
Williams  county,  cutting  his  own  road  through  an  unbroken  forest  from  Ot- 
tawa to  Defiance.  When  arriving  at  his  new  home  he  lived  three  days  in  a 
wagon,  until  he  could  erect  a  cabin  with  simply  his  own  and  family's  help. 
There  was  no  neighbor  nearer  than  twelve  miles.  He  then  cleared  some  land 
and  raised  that  year  the  first  grain  in  Franklin  township,  or  the  western  part 
of  Fulton  county.  A  large  part  of  his  life  here  was  spent  in  hunting  and  trap- 
ping, of  which  he  was  ever  fond.  On  the  20th  of  March,  1845,  his  wife  died, 
and  the  following  year  he  married  the  widow  of  Joseph  Borton,  sister  to  Ben- 
jamin, Nathan,  John  and  Job  Borton,  all  well  known  through  the  county. 

Joseph  Bates  was  born  in  Vermont  in  the  year  1787,  but  at  the  age  of  man- 
hood he  went  to  Canada,  where  he  married  Harriet  Dodge,  by  whom  he  had 
eight  children,  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  who  came  with  him  to  Williams 
county  (that  part  now  Fulton).  Truman,  who  moved  with  the  Packards  in 
1840  to  Missouri;  Thomas,  who  died  on  the  isthmus  on  his  way  to  California, 
in  1849;  Joseph,  who  died  in  1867,  in  Iowa,  and  James  who  now  resides  in 
Boon  county,  Iowa.  The  daughters,  Harriet,  who  married  Theron  Landon ; 
Belinda,  who  married  Warren  Hancock ;  Mary,  who  married  Cyrus  Barrett, 
and  Elizabeth,  who  married  Hiram  Alvord,  now  of  Reading,  Mich.  Mr. 
Bates  moved  from  Canada  to  New  York  and  from  there  to  Richland  county,  0., 
where  he  settled  in  his  early  hfe.  No  ordinary  set  of  men  and  women  could 
do  what  the  pioneers  of  this  county  have  done.  It  was  the  bravest  and  best 
who  dared  to  push  out  from  home  and  friends  and  all  the  enjoyments  of  civil 
life,  to  seek  a  home  in  this  great  Northwest,  long  believed  by  the  eastern  world 
unfit  for  the  homes  of  civihzed  men  and  women.  In  those  days  heroes  slept 
in  every  primitive  cabin,  whose  deeds  were  worthy  of  fame,  but  unrecorded ; 
the  memory  rests  only  with  the  living,  and  sleeps  with  the  dead. 

After  a  space  of  nearly  two  years  John  Shaffer  and  Adam  Poorman  entered 
the  Bean  Creek  valley,  near  where  Samuel  B.  Darby  lived  and  kept  a  store, 
March,  1835.     They  got  to  Bean  Creek  just  at  dark,  John  Shaffer  settling  on 


Fulton  County.  481 


section  thirty-two,  town  eight  north,  range  five  east,  and  Adam  Poorman  on 
section  five,  town  seven  north,  range  five  east;  when  arriving  on  the  banks  of 
the  Bean  they  encamped  over  night,  there  being  a  heavy,  cold  snow  upon  the 
ground,  about  four  inches  deep.  Each  spent  the  night  as  best  he  could,  and 
as  only  pioneers  knew  how.  At  daylight  next  morning  they  felled  two  trees 
across  the  creek,  cut  poles  and  split  what  they  could  and  made  a  bridge  across 
the  turbid  Bean,  then  swollen,  and  moved  over  with  their  goods  and  families, 
as  their  land  lay  upon  the  north  side  of  the  creek.  They  encamped  on  a  piece 
of  rising  ground  for  the  night,  after  crossing,  and  the  next  morning  were  sur- 
rounded with  water  from  one  to  five  feet  in  depth,  the  melting  snow  and  rain 
making  quite  a  flood.  When  the  water  went  down  they  put  up  a  cabin  for 
each  family.  John  Shaffer  had  quite  a  family  of  boys  ;  Samuel,  the  oldest, 
thirteen  or  fourteen  years  of  age,  Amos,  David,  Joshua  and  Riley.  His  house 
was  ever  the  traveler's  home,  and  he  the  newcomer's  friend.  In  1851,  John 
Shaffer  sold  out  his  farm  to  Lyman  Morrison  and  moved  into  Fulton  township, 
this  county,  and  from  there  in  1858  or  1859,  moved  into  Montcalm  county 
Mich.,  where  he  died  many  years  ago.  There  is  but  one  of  the  Shaffer  fam- 
ily in  this  county  now,  Joshua  Shaffer,  who  is  a  resident  of  Pike  township, 
having  a  fine  farm. 

Adam  Poorman  was  also  a  very  hard-working  and  industrious  man,  and 
did  his  full  share  in  improving  the  country.  He  was  also  a  friend  to  the  stran- 
ger and  the  new  settler.  His  farm  was  often  overflowed  by  water  of  the  creek. 
In  1846  he  sold  the  same  to  Daniel  Thomas,  and  bought  land  and  moved  into 
Dover  township  on  section  6,  town  10  south,  range  2  east,  and  commenced 
again  his  pioneer's  life  upon  soil  equally  liable  to  overflow  with  water  as  where 
he  first  settled,  in  Franklin.  Here  he  died,  many  years  ago,  respected  and  la- 
mented by  his  neighbors.  He  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters :  Cornelius 
was  killed  by  a  falling  tree,  in  1849;  Michael  and  Marion  are  still  living  in 
Dover  township,  well  advanced  in  years,  men  of  family,  having  good  farms. 
His  daughter  Anna,  now  the  wife  of  Royal  C.  Stevens,  is,  by  some,  claimed  to 
be  the  first  white  child  born  in  Franklin  township. 

Soon  after  John  Shaffer  and  Adam  Poorman  had  got  their  cabins  up,  John 
McLaughlin  and  Samuel  Ayers  came  to  the  township  from  Richland  county,  O., 
to  hunt  themselves  homes.  They  got  to  Bean  Creek  just  at  dark  and  found 
the  bridge,  built  by  Shaffer  and  Poorman.  They  thought  to  cross  with  the 
team,  but  Samuel  Ayers  said  he  would  try  it  first,  and  accordingly  walked 
nearly  over,  carefully  examining  the  same ;  but  as  the  north  end  was  the  low- 
est, resting  on  driftwood,  then  abundant  in  the  creek,  the  poles  of  the  bridge 
floated  and  he  fell  through  into  the  water  up  to  his  waist.  They  then  re- 
turned their  horses  to  the  wagon,  and  hearing  the  sound  of  the  cow-bell  some 
eighty  or  ninety  rods  north,  concluded  to  try  and  cross  the  bridge  on  foot, 
leaving  the  team,  and  make  for  the  cow-bell.      They  found  it  at  the  cabin  of 

61 


482  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

John  Shaffer,  at  about  eight  o'clock  that  night,  and  where  they  stayed  over 
night.      The  next  morning,  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Shaffer,  they  fixed  up 
the  bridge  and  got  the  team  over  the  creek,  and  McLaughlin  and  Ayers  went 
on  their  way  farther  west,  soon  found  themselves  homes,  and  returned  to  Rich- 
land county,  where  they  resided.      They  soon  prepared  themselves  and  fam- 
ilies to  come  to  Williams  county,  now  Fulton.    Another  sister,  Elizabeth,  came 
in  the  winter  of  1837,  with  the  family  of  Samuel  Ayers,  to  their  new  homes  in 
this  wilderness.      They  were  originally  from  Ferry  county,  Pa.      They  settled 
each   as   follows :    John   McLaughlin   on   section    i,    town  7    north,    range  4 
east ;    Samuel    Ayers   on   section   2,   town   7    north,    range  4   east ;    Joseph 
McLaughlin  on  section  i,  town    7  north,  range  4   east,  Ohio  survey.      John 
McLaughlin's  sister,  Elizabeth,  married    Adna    Reynolds.      On  that  event- 
ful day  she  did  a  washing  in  the  morning,  for  the  family,  shelled,  that  morning 
also,  one-half  bushel  of  corn,  and  that  afternoon  carried  it  on  her  shoulder, 
through  the  woods,  to  Bird's  mill,  located  on  Mill  Creek,  north,  got  it  ground, 
again  re-shouldered  and  carried  it  home,  baked  the  wedding  cake,  and  was  mar- 
ried the  same  evening.       The  distance  to  Bird's  mill  was  at  least  two  and  one- 
half  miles,  making  five  miles  to  and  from,  for  the  lady  to  travel.      This  was  in 
the  fall  of  1838.      Rachel   McLaughlin  married  one  Porter,  and  now  lives  in 
Steuben   county.  State  of  Indiana.      David  married  Libbie  Rogers ;  he  died 
many   years  ago.     Joseph  is  living,  and  has  raised  a  very  fine  family,  and  is 
highly  respected.     Asher  Bird  settled  here  on  section  8,  town  10  south,  range 
I  east,  in  1837,  ^f"^  that  year  built  the  first  water-mill  on  Mill  Creek,  which 
gave  it  the  name  it  bears  at  the  present  time.     This  was  the  first  grist-mill  built 
and  run  in  the  township. 

In  1837  Joseph  Ely,  Martin  Pike,  William  Young,  James  Baxter,  Jabez 
Jones  and  Albert  Chatfield  all  settled  on  the  west  side  of  the  creek,  excepting 
Albert  Chatfield,  who  settled  upon  the  east  bank,  farther  north.  They,  with 
the  other  settlers  at  this  time,  began  to  make  roads  and  build  bridges,  which 
were  crude,  barely  cut  out,  and  old  logs  removed  sufficient  for  a  team  and  wagon. 
This  answered  the  purpose  of  the  early  settlers  until  the  stumps  began  to  de- 
cay. In  1838  Jacob  Shaffer,  sr.,  settled  on  section  12,  town  10  south,  range 
I  east;  Michael  Shaffer  on  section  35,  town  8  north,  range  S  east;  David 
Ely  on  section  2,  town  7  north,  range  5  east,  and  Thomas  Walters  on  section 
36,  town  8  north,  range  5  east.  John  Bowser,  sr.,  came  from  Fairfield  county, 
O.,  in  the  spring  of  1838,  and  settled  on  section  34,  town  8  north,  range  5 
east.  He  had  six  sons,  a  part  of  whom  were  full  grown,  that  came  with  him. 
The  father  bought  each  one  of  his  boys  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land, 
and  with  the  aid  of  the  whole  combined,  being  very  industrious,  soon  cleared 
up  the  homestead,  and  the  rest  as  fast  as  needed.  John  Bowser  was  a  preacher 
of  the  society  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ.  His  house  long  served  as  the 
traveler's  heme,  and  a  meeting-house.      His  settlement  here  soon  drew  many 


Fulton  County.  483 


of  his  eld  neighbors  from  Fairfield  county,  to  wit:  Dorsey  Barnes,  his  son-in- 
law  ;  Ozias  Barnes,  John  J.  Clark,  Jacob  Hanshy,  Moses  Kirtz,  Noah  Specht, 
all  followers  of  Father  Bowser,  who  was  soon  surrounded  with  a  religious  ele- 
ment of  his  own  faith.  In  an  early  day  camp  meetings  were  held  upon  his 
lands.  He  died  in  1844.  Aaron,  his  youngest  son,  became  a  very  able  and 
successful  preacher  among  the  brethren,  and  served  several  terms  as  presiding 
elder  in  the  district.  He  died  a  few  years  ago  at  Columbus  Grove,  Putnam 
county,  O.  Jacob,  the  oldest  son,  who  lived  near  the  old  homestead,  was 
drowned  October  4,  1884. 

In  1837  Samuel  B.  Darby  and  family  came  from  Elmira,  Chemung  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  encamped  upon  the  bank  of  Bean  Creek,  and  put  him  up  a  cabin 
in  a  short  time  thereafter.  He  and  family  were  nearly  three  nionths  upon  the 
road,  and  endured  many  hardships  in  getting  here.  He  was  a  very  prominent 
settler  ifi  Franklin,  and  many  years  the  foremost  leader  in  affairs  of  the  county. 
He  died  at  his  old  homestead  July  15,  1881,  aged  seventy-seven  years,  his 
widow  yet  living  with  her  son.  Dr.  Francisco  L.  S.  Darby,  at  Wauseon. 

Peter  Minick  and  Peter  Andre  settled  on  sections  one  and  two,  town  seven, 
range  five  east,  in  1839.  Peter  Andre,  in  1845,  sold  out  and  moved  to  Wis- 
consin, and  soon  thereafter  died.  Peter  Minick  lived  many  years,  cleared  up 
a  good  farm  and  made  good  buildings.  His  children  have  grown  up  and  be- 
come well  settled  in  life.  Peter  died  in  December,  1881,  at  the  advanced  age 
of  seventy-five  years;  his  widow  still  lives  on  the  farm. 

Thomas  Walters  settled  on  section  thirty-six,  town  eight  north,  range  five 
east,  in  1838;  Joseph  Ely,  Leonard  Whitmore,  David  Meriolett  and  George 
Miller  also  came  during  the  same  year.  In  1839  came  Benjamin  Borton,  Geo. 
McFarlan,  Asher  Ely  and  his  sons,  William  and  O.  S.  Ely,  and  John  Sparks. 
In  1840  came  John  Wooster  and  Chauncey  Loveland  from  Richland  county. 
Wooster  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  became  to  the  early  sfettlers,  a  very 
useful  man.  In  1841  came  Nathan  Borton,  a  preacher  of  the  Quakers,  also 
John  Borton,  and  settled  on  section  thirty-five,  town  eight  north,  range  four 
east,  also  Isaac  Borton,  John  Jones,  P.  S.  Vanortrick,  afid  his  two  sons,  Abram 
and  John,  and  Peter  Vandervier.  In  1842  came  John  Kendall,  who  in  ain 
early  day  settled  in  Gorham,  Christian  Swartzentniver,  Dorsey  Barnes,  and 
possibly  others  that  have  been  overlooked. 

From  1842  to  1850,  the  time  of  the  organization  of  Fulton  county,  im- 
provements had  been  made  rapidly,  and  the  township  began  to  present  a 
homelike  appearance ;  large  immigrations  commenced  to  move  to  Franklin 
township,  as  well  as  other  townships  of  the  county.  In  1843  came  John  Den- 
nis, Orrin  G.  Greely ;  in  1844  John  Jacoby,  John  Fisher,  Bethuel  Borton  and 
P6t(tr  Hagerman ;  in  1845,  James  S.  Riddle,  Adam  Andre,  Nathan  Oliver, 
Nathan  Borton,  Phillip  R.  Fisher,  John  Mason,  Josiah  Mason,  Reuben  Mason, 
J.  C.  Masoh,  John  Arch,  Ezekiel  Masters,  Jacob  Cox  and  his  son,  John  Cox, 


484  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Benjamin  Persing  and  Lucius  N.  Chatfield ;  in  1846,  Benjamin  Parsing,  Johi) 
McGowen,  George  Kibler,  David  Carr  and  families,  Daniel  Thomas;  in  1847, 
John  Gype  and  large  family,  and  William  Ely  ;  in  1848,  John  Hardin,  Gideon 
Long,  Joshua  Conoway,  Obadiah  Borton  and  Chockley  Harlan  ;  in  1849, 
Richard  Rider,  Harvey  Miller. 

Of  these  that  came  prior  to  1850,  but  few  are  noW  living,  and  by  their 
deaths  the  old  homesteads  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  their  descendants, 
while  xnany  have  gone  into  strangers'  possession,  and  to-day  the  farms  and 
homes  of  the  old  pioneers  are  occupied  by  another  generation  of  men  and 
women,  with  scarcely  a  mark  to  show  to  the  world  the  labors  of  their  fathers 
and  mothers,  obliterated  by  the  improvement  of  time;  the  log  cabin  has  been 
removed,  the  old  log  school-house  has  passed  away,  and  their  places  are 
occupied  by  the  brick  or  painted  wooden  ones,  which  now  dot  the  land  all 
over  the  county;  and  where  once  was  the  Indian  trail  is  now  found  well  gra- 
ded highways  and  the  iron  rail  to  direct  the  course  of  the  iron  horse. 

Now,  of  those  who  came  to  Franklin  township  since  1 850,  and  at  present 
upon  the  territory, will  be  found  the  names  of  Lafayette  G.  Ely,  Michael  Mart- 
zolf,  Fred  Crumrine,  Garret  H.  Baum,  S.  W.  Baum,  John  Shilling,  James  Ran- 
dall, Levi  Kump,  J.  Garrison,  W.  Burns,  Hamilton  Persing,  Asa  Bortori,  Arthur 
Borton,  Charles  L.  Stevens,  Royal  C.  Stevens,  Ozias  Barnes,  grandson  of  the 
old  pioneer,  Ozias  Barnes,  Anthony  Snyder,  Lewis  Shipman,  Jacob  Koon, 
Jacob  Shadle,  Jacob  Doriot,  Eugene  Doriot,  John  Winzler,  William  Dunabar- 
ger,  Campbell  Ely,  Harrison  Ely,  Levi  Kump,  J.  Sloan,  William  Russell,  Har- 
rison Hittle,  Levi  G.  Hittle,  Ely  Shipman,  Josiah  Shank,  Daniel  Prickett, 
Jacob  Roth,  Jacob  Shofifner,  Michael  Lea,  John  Merelotte,  Peter  Merelotte, 
James  B.  Dickson,  Reuben  Wentz,  Samuel  Borton,  John  Gype,  Adam  Gype, 
Henry  Brame,  Thomas  Andre,  John  Dennis,  Christ  B.  Roop,  Levi  Buxton,  J. 
J.  Seller,  John  Minich,  sr.,  John  Minich,  jr.,  John  Shilling,  F.  Gegax. 

Schools. — Samantha  Crandall  taught  the  first  school  in  the  bounds  of 
Franklin  township,  in  the  old  cabin  of  Joseph  Bates.  She  had  to  cross  Bean 
Creek  on  a  felled  tree  across  the  creek,  evening  and  morning,  and  wade  through 
swales  and  water  to  and  from  school.  Her  mother  taught  the  next  school. 
They  both  died  over  thirty-five  years  ago.  The  time  of  Samantha  Crandall's 
teaching  was  in  the  year  1836,  and  was  conducted  as  a  private  school  of  the 
neighboring  families.  This  cabin  stood  on  section  2,  on  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Shilling  farm  ;  afterwards  Miss  Jane  Brundridge  taught  the  school.  The 
second  school-house  built  (log  cabin)  was  erected  by  Samuel  B.  Darby,  on  the 
east  bank  of  Bean  Creek,  near  Darby's  land,  and  Samuel  B.  Darby  taught  the 
first  school  here,  in  the  winter  of  1839.  In  1842  a  new  frame  school-house  was 
built  on  the  same  site.  The  Asher  Ely  school  district  was  organized  in  i845> 
and  hewn  log  cabin  was  built  for  the  district.  The  first  teacher  was  Augustus 
Porter.      The  Methodists  and  Presbyterians  used  this  house  for  a  long  time  as 


Fulton  County.  485 


a  place  of  worship.  Franklin  now  has  seven  school  districts  and  one  joint 
school^district,  formed  from  German  and  Franklin.  A.  W.  Fisher,  in  his  his- 
torical reminiscence,  says,  "that  which  is  now  called  sub-district  number  four 
has  produced  over  forty  teachers,  five  doctors,  three  lawyers,  three  merchants, 
two  jewelers,  one  minister,  one  professor,  one  editor,  one  portrait  artist,  one 
railroad  conductor,  one  telegraph  operator  and  one  commercial  traveler,"  and 
claims  it  as  a  record  of  which  few  country  schools  can  boast 

The  first  shoemaker  was  Benjamin  Persing ;  the  next  was  John  Hardin, 
who  settled  on  the  west  side  of  section  2,  in  1848,  and  made  shoes  and  boots 
some  three  years;  the  next  was  Joshua  Conoway,  in  1848,  who  carried  on  the 
industry  for  quite  a  number  of  years.  He  is  now  a  resident  of  Spring  Hill,  in 
Dover  township.  He,  to  the  old  settlers,  was. a  very  useful  man,  for  he  com- 
bined, for  his  industry, all  the  trades  necessary  in  business  life  :  he  was  a  mill- 
wright, wheelwright  and  carpenter,  and,  when  necessary,  plasterer,  painter, 
mason,  blacksmith,  wagonmaker,  shoemaker,  tailor  and  farmer. 

John  Borton  put  up  and  distilled  the  first  oils  from  peppermint,  spearmint,, 
sassafras  and  butter- weed,  in  1841,  and  has  always  made  it  a  successful  busi- 
ness industry.  He  is  still  in  the  business.  The  second  still  was  erected  by 
Asher  Ely,  in  1844,  and  run  three  years,  and  afterwards  abandoned.  Next 
was  Nathan  Borton's,  in  1846,  who  manufactured  large  quantities  of  oils  for 
many  years.  About  this  time  John  Mason  built  a  still-house  on  section  i,  and 
run  for  about  twenty  years,  when  the  industry  was  abandoned,  and  their  still- 
houses  have  long  since  fallen  into  decay.  George  Kibbler,  in  1852,  built  a 
whisky-still  in  connection  with  a  grist-mill,  the  first  and  only  still  ever  built 
and  run  in  Fulton  county.  In  1864  the  whole  was  sold  to  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Gigax,  who  repaired  the  same,  ground  a  couple  of  grists,  when  he  lost  the 
dam  by  floods,  and  then  the  mill  and  still  were  abandoned. 

Grist-Mills. — The  first  grist-mill  in  this  township  was  built  by  Asher  Bird, 
sr.,  on  section  8,  town  10  south,  range  i  east,  on  Mill  Creek,  in  1837.  Bird 
run  this  mill  until  his  death,  in  1842.  It  was  abandoned  at  a  very  early  date. 
1849  or  1850.  This  was,  without  doubt,  the  first  regular  grist-mill  in  Fulton 
county. 

In  1850  George  Kibbler  built  a  grist-mill  in  connection  with  a  saw-mill, 
and  run  them  until  his  death,  in  1864,  when  they  passed  to  other  parties,  and 
were  soon  abandoned.  These  were  both  water  mills  and  built  on  Mill  Creek. 
No  industry  of  this  kind,  by  water  or  steam,  is  carried  on  to-day  within  the 
present  limits  of  Franklin  township. 

The  first  cider-mill  was  built  and  run  by  Chockley  Harlan,  in  1856.  The 
press  was  of  the  beam  and  lever  style,  then  the  easiest  to  "  rig  up ;"  it  con- 
tinued only  a  few  years.  Some  years  later  John  Gype  and  brother  put  up  an 
improved  cider  press,  which  is  in  use  to-day,  doing  a  large  and  profitable  bus- 
iness. 


486  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


The  first  cane-mill  put  up  in  the  township  was  on  section  I2,  on  P.  R. 
Fisher  farm,  by  Obadiah  Borton,  in  1850,  and  here  was  worked  the  first  sor- 
ghum raised  in  Franklin,  and  here  was  made  the  first  sorghum  syrup.  In  1858 
John  Mason  built  a  mill  for  grinding  cane,  and  run  the  same  for  fifteen  years'. 
In  1865  Joshua  Conoway  put  up  an  extensive  cane-mill  and  did  a  big  business 
for  six  or  seven  years,  when  he  sold  out  his  farm  to  Samuel  Harley,  and  the 
mill  was  then  abandoned. 

As  early  as  1837  or  1838,  Albert  Chatfield  built  a  saw-mill  on  Bean  Creek, 
and  carried  on  quite  an  extensive  business  for  many  years.  The  mill  has  long 
since  fallen  into  decay.  The  old  land  marks  of  the  same  are  still  visible.  A 
grist-mill  was  built  near  the  old  saw-mill  many  years  after,  and  run  a  few  years, 
when  it  was  burned.  The  first  steam  saw-mill  was  built  by  John  Borton,  near 
the  south  side  of  section  35,  town  7  north,  4  east,  of  the  Ohio  survey,  in  1856, 
to  which  was  afterward  added  a  lath  and  shingle-mill.  Both  were  burned  in 
1879,  and  never  afterward  rebuilt.  Another  steam  mill  was,  in  later  years, 
built  near  the  eastern  side  of  the  township,  and  is  now  owned  and  controlled 
by  John  and  Peter  Gype,  and,  in  connection  with  it,  is  a  cider- mill  and  press. 
As  a  saw-mill  it  is  doing  a  large  and  flourishing  business.  It  was  built  at  very 
early  date  by  Michael  Shaffer,  who  sold  to  Gype  &  Smoker.  It  was  once 
burned,  but  afterwards  rebuilt.  It  is  now  the  only  saw-mill  in  the  present  lim- 
its of  Franklin. 

Stores. — In  1838,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Hastings  started  a  store  just  west 
of  Bean  Creek,  on  the  old  Maumee  and  Angola  road,  and  west  of  Samuel  B. 
Darby's  residence,  upon  the  south  side  of  section  32,  town  8  north,  5  east. 
After  a  few  years  it  was  abandoned.  In  that  early  day  of  Franklin  the  spring 
freshets  of  Bean  Creek  would  overflow  a  wide  area  of  country,  and  often  the 
settlers  would  have  to  "  boat  it  "  to  the  store  for  the  trade  desired  by  them.  In 
1838  Leonard  Whitmore  brought  a  small  stock  of  goods  to  the  Bean  Creek 
valley,  and  located  east  of  Bean  Creek  on  section  10,  town  10  south,  range  i 
east.  He  traded  there  for  a  number  of  years.  The  early  settlers  say  it  was 
abandoned  in  1843. 

Reuben  Mason,  in  1850,  opened  a  store  at  his  residence,  and  in  1852  laid 
out  the  village  of  Trenton  [it  only  existed  on  paper),  and  built  a  large  store- 
room, and  sold  goods  for  nearly  ten  years.  He  was  postmaster  at  Blanc,  for 
eleven  years,  and  until  the  post-oflfice  was  abandoned.  The  Blanc  post-office 
was  first  located  at  the  house  of  Jabez  Jones,  in  Franklin  township,  in  1850. 
The  mail  was  carried  on  horse-back  from  Toledo  to  Angola,  once  a  week. 
John  S.  Butler,  the  first  mail  carrier,  is  yet  living  in  Chesterfield,  in  this  county. 

In  1839,  soon  after  the  arrival  of  Samuel  B.  Darby,  to  the  banks  of  the 
winding  Bean,  he  opened  a  store  and  sold  goods  for  a  few  years,  when  he 
abandoned  the  trade.  Thus,  as  the  countfy  has  gf6Wn  older,  business  of  all 
kinds  has  drifted  to  common  centers  upon  the  railway  lines.      And  as  no  lines 


Fui.TON  County.  487 


of  this  kind  are  yet  in  Franklin,  all  that  was  once  this  busy  center,  workshops 
and  stores,  have  departed.  There  is  not  now  a  wagon  shop,  tailor  shop,  shoe 
shpp,  grist-mill,  still  or  store,  within  the  liniits  of  Franklin  township. 

Physicians. — The  first  physician  was  Ira  Smith,  who  came  in  1840.  He 
practiced  some  three  years  and  left.  In  1841  or  1842  Dr.  John  Kendall  came 
from  Gorham  township,  and  bought  and  settled  on  section  35,  town  8  north, 
range  5  east,  and  was  for  many  years  the  only  physician  of  general  practice  in 
the  township.  He  left  the  township  about  i860,  and  settled  at  Milburn,  some 
five  miles  west  of  Bryan,  Williams  county,  and  died  soon  after.  Dr.  Kendall 
was  one  of  the  associate  judges  in  the  early  days  of  the  county  of  Fulton.  A 
son  of  Dr.  John  Kendall,  Amos  Kendall,  in  1846  settled  on  Bean  Creek,  near 
Chatfield's  saw-mill,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  however 
stayed  but  a  few  years  and  moved  back  to  Gorham,  where  in  later  years  he  died. 

In  i860  came  Dr.  Schmidt,  and  practiced  medicine  until  1865,  when  he  left 
and  settled  in  Edgerton,  Williams  county,  where  he  died.  Lastly  was  Dr.  Wil- 
son, from  Stryker,  who  in  1 867  built  a  log  house  and  office  on  lands  owned  by 
Joseph  Ely.  His  fame  soon  spread  to  such  an  extent  as  to  bring  him  patients 
from  nearly  every  State  and  Territory  of  the  Union.  He  soon  had  to  build  a 
hotel  for  the  accommodation  of  his  patients,  and  a  bus  hne  was  established  from 
Archbold  on  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad  to  his  office.  In  1873  he  moved  to  Arch- 
bold,  and  there  soon  after  died.  He  was  a  wonderful  man,  a  mystery  to  all, 
yet  his  success  was  not  greater  in  healing  disease  than  other  physicians ;  his 
power  was  in  diagnosing  disease,  in  which  capacity  he  seemed  to  be  unusually 
expert. 

Churches.  —  In  1849  the  Methodist  Episcopal  denomination  built  a  church, 
the  first  in  the  township,  which  was  located  near  Master's  Corners.  In  1852 
the  Presbyterians  built  a  church  also  near  Master's  Corners,  which  was  the  sec- 
ond church  of  that  faith  built  in  the  county,  the  first  being  at  ^tna,  in  Pike 
township,  at  that  time.  In  1852  and  1853  the  Baptist  denomination  built  a 
church  near  the  Corners,  which  was  used  for  a  number  of  years,  but  subse- 
quently moved  away,  and  is  now  located  on  section  2,  town  10  south,  range  i 
east.  The  disciples  have  an  organization  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  town- 
ship, and  built  a  church  on  section  2,  town  7  north,  range  4  east,  in  1861. 
They  dedicated  it  February  20,  1862.  This  church  was  organized  under  the 
labors  of  Elder  L.  L.  Carpenter.  A  church  of  the  Reformers  or  Lutherans  is 
located  on  section  34,  town  8  north,  range  5  east.  They  have  a  small  chapel 
extemporized  from  a  school-house,  in  which  services  are  regularly  held.  These 
comprise  the  list  of  churches  and  church  organizations  within  the  limits  of 
Franklin  township. 

This  township  has  had  at  different  times  three  brick  yards,  in  each  of  which 
brick  was  made  for  several  years,  and  also  a  brick  and  tile  yard  was  opened 
near  the  Angola  and  Toledo  road  west  of  the  creek,  and  worked  by  J.  Shadle 


488  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

for  two  years,  and  then  abandoned.     To-day  this  industry  has  been  fully  aban- 
doned by  all,  and  no  brick  or  tile  are  made  in  the  township. 

There  are  no  railroads  touching  this  township  in  any  part,  neither  are  there 
any  post-offices  in  the  township ;  but  for  many  years  the  people  have  had  to 
get  their  mails  at  Tedrow  in  Dover  ;  Fayette,  in  Gorham  ;  and  Elmira,  in  Ger- 
man township  ;  and  in  the  western  part  at  West  Unity,  in  Williams  county. 

The  first  white  child  born  in  this  township  was  Annie  Poorman,  now  the 
wife  of  Royal  Stevens,  of  this  township.  The  second,  a  male  child,  was  Marion 
Poorman.  It  is  claimed  by  the  very  earliest  settlers  living  that  a  child  was  born 
to  Mrs.  Irena  Holt,  a  sister  of  Isaac  and  John  Reynolds,  of  Franklin,  and  soon 
after  birth  died.  This  was  really  the  first  white  child  born  in  Franklin  town- 
ship. 

Ransom  Reynolds  and  Pollonia  Crandall  were  the  first  persons  married  in 
Franklin,  and  Adna  Reynolds  and  Elizabeth  McLaughlin  were  the  second 
couple  married. 

Official  Roster  of  County  Officers.  — This  township  since  it  began  to  settle 
has  supplied  Williams  and  Fulton  with  the  following  county  officers :  George 
Ely,  auditor  of  Williams ;  Samuel  Ayers,  treasurer;  Ezekiel  Masters  and  Jo- 
seph Reasoner,  commissioners.  Ezekiel  Masters  served  two  terms  of  six  years 
as  commissioner  of  Fulton  county,  Joseph  Ely  five  terms  or  fifteen  years,  and 
Sylvester  Baum  the  present  commissioner;  Ezekiel  Masters  two  terms  in  the 
Legislature  of  Ohio  ;  Lafayette  G.  Ely  has  served  three  terms  as  auditor  ;  John 
Kendall,  associate  judge  under  old  constitution,  1850;  James  S.  Riddle  served 
as  infirmary  director  six  years  ;  Samuel  B.  Darby,  recorder  one  term,  and  filled 
a  vacancy  by  the  death  in  office  of  Joseph  Jewell ;  William  H.  Stevens,  three 
terms  or  nine  years  as  recorder.  The  number  of  years  service  in  some  county 
office  by  the  official  roster  of  this  township  amounts  to  fifty- two  years  for  Ful- 
ton county  since  its  organization,  April  i,  1850. 

Reminiscences. — In  a  very  early  day,  as  early  as  1836,  a  man  came  into  this 
county  and  entered  some  land  on  Bean  Creek  or  Tiffin  River,  at  the  Fulton  line, 
being  the  head  of  navigation.  It  is  reported  that  he  was  a  surveyor  and  engi- 
neer ;  that  he  laid  out  a  city,  platted  it,  and  called  it  the  city  of  New  Amster- 
dam, and  marked  the  steamboat  landing,  the  public  square  and  public  park, 
and  many  other  things,  among  them  lots  sold.  Then  he  went  to  Cincinnati, 
representing  it  to  be  almost  the  garden  of  the  world,  and  would  make  one  of 
the  great  cities  of  the  west.  He  sold  his  plat  and  the  land  adjoining  for  quite 
a  sum  of  money.  The  land  was  conveyed  from  one  person  to  another  for  some 
years,  when  finally  a  man  came  to  Toledo,  on  a  hunt  for  the  city  of  New  Am- 
sterdam. He  finally,  through  Robert  A.  Howard,  found  his  way  to  Bean  Creek, 
and  enquired  of  Samuel  B.  Darby,  for  the  city  of  Amsterdam.  As  the  river 
happened  to  be  at  the  height  of  navigation,  Darby  told  him  if  he  had  a  boat  he 
would  convey  him  to  the  site  of  the  city ;  but  the  water  would  be  from  one  to 


Fulton  County.  489 


ten  feet  deep,  and  that  the  land  had  been  sold  for  taxes,  and  further  informed 
him  that  he  (Darby)  held  the  tax  title,  and  would  like  to  have  the  money  on  it. 
The  man  soon  left,  and  has  never  been  back  since,  or  any  other  person  claiming 
the  original  title.  The  town  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  Coon  and  P.  W.  Poorman, 
residents,  and  is  said  to  be  yet  mostly  in  the  woods.  This  tract  with  others  in 
the  vicinity  was  entered  at  the  land  office  by  one  Heffenstine,  and  on  this  prop- 
erty the  city  was  located  {that  is,  on  paper). 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

HISTORY  OP  FULTON  TOWNSHIP. 

P RE-HISTORIC. — At  the  date  of  the  first  settlement  by  the  whites  of 
Fulton  township,  then  called  and  known  in  this  Northwest  as  tlie  "  Six- 
Mile  Woods,"  its  political  divisions  were  as  follows  :  That  part  lying  north  of 
the  "  Fulton  hne  "  was  included  in  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  and  of  those  set- 
tling in  said  territory  all  their  legal  business  and  the  payment  of  taxes  were 
done  at  Adrian,  then  the  county  seat  of  Lenawee  county.  They  so  continued 
to  do  until  December,  1836,  when  this  strip  of  land,  lying  between  the  Fulton 
and  Harris  lines,  was  assigned  to  and  afterward  became  a  part  of  Ohio.  Thi& 
was  the  result  of  what  has  been  termed  the  "  Michigan  War."  In  this  State- 
line  contest  between  Ohio  and  Michigan,  some  of  the  early  settlers  of  what 
was  erected  into  Fulton  township  participated  (mostly  in  behalf  of  Michigan). 
One  Peter  Broadsword  went  from  this  disputed  territory  to  Waterville,  south 
on  the  Maumee  River,  to  mill,  and  on  his  return  was  taken  prisoner  of  war,, 
near  old  Swanton,  on  the  Ohio  side,  and  was  detained  with  his  grist  of  corn 
meal  until  his  captors  became  convinced  that  he  was  not  in  any  manner  aiding 
the  "Wolverines;"  and  upon  fair  promises,  made  by  Peter,  he  was  per- 
mitted to  return  to  his  family  with  the  provisions,  for  which  they  had  become 
very  much  in  want.  The  portion  lying  south  of  the  Fulton  line,  in  the  State 
of  Ohio,  was,  at  this  time  of  the  early  settlement  of  the  territory,  and  up  to 
1841,  included  in  Swan  Creek  township,  as  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  and 
there  were  about  twenty-five  famihes,  settlers  on  the  territory  now  under 
municipal  control  of  this  township,  when  the  disputed  strip  was  turned  over 
to  Ohio.  It  may  be  said,  in  the  language  of  a  writer  in  Lenawee  county's 
history,  that  the  early  settlers  of  Fulton  township  had  many  things  to  contend 
with ;  it  was  said  that  the  land  was  too  low,  or  the  water  was  too  high  and 
there  was  no  way  for  drainage.  The  land  is  level,  and  was  heavily  timbered 
and  required  much  labor  to  fit  a  small  piece  for  cultivation.     When  the  crops 

62 


490  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

commenced  to  appear,  wild  animals  and  birds  were  early  to  gather  their  share  ; 
the  roads  through  the  woods  seemed  to  have  no  bottom,  arrd  long  pieces  had 
to  be  covered  with  logs,  rails  and  brush,  in  order  to  make  them  passable. 
The  streams  had  to  be  forded.  They  went  to  mill,  to  church,  and  to  visit 
each  other  with  ox  teams  and  lamber  wagons,  and  some  of  them  of  the  rudest 
kind — which  the  pioneer  well  knows  by  his  early  experience  in  the  wilds  of 
Ohio.  They  did  not,  in  that  day,  listen  to  the  sweet  sounds  of  the  organ,  or 
piano,  but  to  the  howls  of  the  wolves,  which  could,  in  resemblance  to  the  lis- 
tener, multiply  himself  until  one  would  be  ten,  and  ten  one  hundred  ;  also,  to 
the  hoot  of  the  owl  that  always  flew  so  noiselessly,  that  in  the  night  they 
would  not  be  aware  of  its  presence  till  the  hoot  broke  with  startling  effect  near 
them.  These  were  but  a  few  of  the  vicissitudes  of  early  pioneers.  But  through 
the  indomitable  courage  and  persevering  efforts  of  the  early  pioneers  this  has 
-all  been  changed  ;  the  woods  have  disappeared,  the  roads  have  become  smooth 
■and  pleasant  to  travel,  wild  animals  and  destructive  birds  have  left,  the  log 
■cabin  is  gone  and  fine  farm  dwellings,  large  and  productive  orchards  and  small 
fruits  of  all  kinds  have  taken  their  places.  Many  of  these  early  pioneers  have 
removed  to  that  house  not  made  with  hands ;  the  other  few  are  waiting,  with 
their  armor  on,  for  the  command,  and  but  a  few  short  years  and  we  have  them 
^with  us  no  more. 

•Organization. — It  is  found  on  examining  the  records  of  Lucas  county  that 
^t  a  regular  session  of  the  county  commissioners  of  said  county,  held  at  the 
city  of  Maumee,  March  i,  1 841,  the  township  of  Fulton  was  organized  by 
taking  from  Amboy  township  fractional  township  number  ten  south,  range 
four  east,  and  from  Swan  Creek  township  fractional  township  eight  north,  range 
eight  east,  and  the  north  tier  of  sections  from  township  seven  north,  range 
eight  east,  and  was  erected  into  a  township  and  named  Fulton  and  so  existed 
until  in  the  year  1846. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  commissioners  of  Lucas  county,  held  at  Mau- 
inee  June  2,  1846,  upon  the  petition  of  many  residents  of  Fulton  township,  it 
was  ordered  that  the  south  tier  of  sections  in  township  nine  south,  range  four 
east,  be  taken  from  Amboy  township  and  attached  to  Fulton  township,  so 
that  Fulton  township  at  present  contains  thirty  sections,  including  the  six 
fractional  sections  of  town  ten  south,  range  four  east,  north  of  the  Fulton  line. 
All  of  Fulton  township  prior  to  1850,  and  after  the  little  speck  of  the  Mich- 
igan and  Ohio  war,  belonged  to  and  was  included  in  Lucas  county,  and  all 
that  part  south  of  the  Fulton  line  was  originally  of  Swan  Creek  township,  and 
that  part  north  of  said  line  was  Amboy  township.  It  was  the  tenth  township 
in  its  organization  formed  in  Fulton  county. 

Topography. — Fulton  township  is  an  unusually  level  tract  with,  in  the  north 
part,  clay  and  the  south  part  sand  slightly  mixed  with  gravel,  and  the  whole 
underlaid  with  a   clay  subsoil.     It  was   covered  in  its   primitive  state  with  a 


Fulton  County.  491 


heavy  growth  of  timber  consisting  of  white  oak,  some  red  oak,  elm,  ash  and  a 
large  amount  of  cotton-wood  interspersed  with  yellow  poplar,  or  whitewood, 
and  some  basswood  (known  as  linn),  all  valuable. 

The  average  depth  of  the  deposit  upon  this  territory  is  about  eighty  feet, 
perhaps  less  in  the  southeast.  Water  is  generally  obtained  from  a  gravel  bed 
resting  directly  on  the  rock.  Fronj  the  northeastern  part  of  the  township, 
crossing  from  Amboy  township  is  what  in  geology  is  termed  a  second  beach, 
composed  of  a  coarse  sand  and,  in  some  places,  gravel  deposit  good  for  roads. 
Its  course  is  southwest  passing  through  Ai,  a  small  village,  and  out  of  the 
township  just  north  of  Delta  on  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad  in  York  township. 
Clay  suitable  for  tile  and  brick  making  can  be  found  in  abundance  in  many 
parts  of  the  township  and  under-drainage  is  here  attended  with  best  results. 
Endowed  with  no  natural  facilities  for  manufacture  or  commerce,  but  simply 
with  a  fertile  soil,  the  township  of  Fulton  is  calculated  alone  for  the  produc- 
tion of  food,  and  whatever  will  forward  her  agricultural  interest  is  of  vital  con- 
sequence to  her. 

Water  Courses. — The  great  water  drainage  of  this  township  is  to  the  south 
and  southeast  by  the  way  of  Swan  Creek,  which  stream  receives  nearly  all  the 
tributary  streams  of  the  entire  township,  and  are  emptied  by  said  creek  into 
the  Maumee  at  the  city  of  Toledo. 

Swan  Creek  has  its  rise  from  the  low  prairie  lands  in  the  extreme  north- 
west comer  of  the  township,  and  running  an  easterly  by  southeasterly  course 
across  the  township,  south  some  few  rods  west  of  Swanton,  and  at  this  place  it 
becomes  quite  a  stream  of  water,  and  in  the  days  before  steam,  was  utilized  as 
the  motive  power  for  machinery. 

Boundaries. — Fulton  township  lies  in  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  the  county 
of  FuJton  with  Lucas  county  on  the  east.  Swan  Creek  township  on  the  south,. 
Amboy  on  the  north,  and  Pike  on  the  west.  It  is  about  equally  divided  by 
the  Fulton  line  running  east  and  west. 

Roads. — The  roads  are  remarkably  smooth  all  over  the  township.  The 
Toledo  and  Angola  was  the  first  road  of  any  importance  running  near  the- 
center,  east  and  west,  through  the  township  ;  it  was  laid  from  Toledo  to  An- 
gola, Ind.,  about  1840,  by  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  run  without  much  regard  to 
the  United  States  survey  divisions.  Before  the  advent  of  railways  this  was  a 
stage  route,  and  an  important  thoroughfare  westward  toward  the  then  frontier. 

Railways. — The  Lake  Shore  road  crosses  the  southeast  corner  of  this 
township  diagonally  upon  section  one,  town  seven  north,  range  eight  east,  and 
the  village  of  Swanton  lays  near  the  track  and  nearly  all  within  Fulton  town- 
ship. 

Churches. — ^Fulton  township,  from  its  earliest  settlement,  has  had  ministerial! 
services  of  various  denominatioos,  first  the  Christians  and  Presbyterians,  and 
later  the  Methodist ;  but  -still  later  in  its  township  organization  other  denomi- 


492  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

nations  prevailed — Catholics,  German  Reformed,  and  United  Brethren.  The 
township  contains  three  churches  and  the  town  hall,  which  is  also  used  for 
church  services. 

Early  Settlers. — From  the  best  information  obtainable,  John  W.  Harter, 
his  wife  and  three  children,  were  the  first  white  people  settling  in  Fulton  town- 
ship, on  the  west  half  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  thirty-five,  town 
eight  north,  range  eight  east,  in  May,  1834.  Mr.  Harter  came  from  Huron 
county,  O.,  by  the  usual  mode  of  transportation  at  that  time — a  canvas-covered 
wagon,  drawn  by  two  pair  of  oxen.  His  destination  was  the  Six  Mile  Woods, 
as  then  known  abroad.  When  some  two  miles  from  his  land  (having  about 
four  weeks  before  purchased  the  same  of  the  United  States,  and  which  they 
intended  for  their  future  home),  they  came  to  the  end  of  the  road,  and  it  be- 
came necessary  for  Harter  to  chop  and  clear  a  road  the  remainder  of  the  way 
to  his  land.  Clearing  a  road  through  the  forests  in  those  days,  where  brush 
and  fallen  timber  was  far  too  plenty,  required  considerable  labor,  and  a  fair 
amount  of  fortitude  and  perseverance.  But  these  obstacles  were  easily  over- 
come by  these  early  pioneers.  A  vast  amount  of  time  and  labor  were  allotted 
to  the  first  settlers  in  clearing  road,s,  which  means  to  cut  and  remove  brush, 
logs,  and  other  obstructions,  a  sufficient  width  to  admit  the  passage  of  a  team 
and  wagon  between  the  trees. 

These  roads  were  very  crooked,  winding  around  wind  falls  and  swampy 
places  between  trees  and  across  creeks  without  bridges.  It  required  the  great- 
est care  of  the  teamsters  to  get  through  this  new  country,  on  one  of  those 
roads,  without  getting  stuck  in  mud  holes,  and  fast  against  trees,  stumps,  and 
other  obstructions,  which  were  numerous. 

Mr.  Harter  and  family  occupied  their  covered  wagon,  as  the  most  of  the 
first  settlers  were  compelled  to  do,  for  a  residence,  which  answered  for  their 
kitchen,  dining-room,  bed-room,  and  parlor  for  four  weeks  after  their  arrival, 
and  until  they  could  build  a  log  cabin. 

There  is  no  person  or  family  to-day  more  elated  in  moving  into  their  new 
and  commodious  house,  built  after  the  best  architectural  designs,  than  were  the 
Harter  family  in  moving  into  that  log  cabin,  surrounded  by  the  dense  forest, 
with  wild  flowers  carpeting  the  earth,  and  the  bright  rays  of  the  sun  in  stream- 
lets through  the  tree  tops,  and  the  fervent  prayers  offered  in  that  lone  cabin  to 
Him,  the  guide  and  support  of  all  earthly  goodness — all  these  made  the  Har- 
ter family  a  happy,  contented,  and  industrious  community. 

There  was,  at  that  time,  an  Indian  resort  nea!r  the  cabin,  on  the  west  bank 
of  Swan  Creek,  where  the  Indians  would  come  in  the  fall  of  the  year  and 
rem.ain  until  spring,  hunting  deer,  turkey,  and  other  game  for  food,  as  well  as 
for  their  hides,  which  they  would  exchange  at  Maumee  City,  some  sixteen 
miles  distant,  for  such  articles  as  they  would  select  at  those  trading- places,  and 
return  to  make  maple  sugar  in  the  spring.  They  were  always  kind  with  their 
new  neighbors,  always  willing  to  share  with  them  their  venison  and  sugar. 


o^l4^^^^^.e^^ 


Fulton  County.  493 


In  the  fall  of  1834  and  spring  of  1835,  there  was  a  large  immigration  to  the 
Six  Mile  Woods,  or  now  in  Fulton  township.  Among  those  who  came  dur- 
ing that  fall  were  John  J.  Teachworth  and  his  family ;  Henry  Lake  and  his 
family,  a  wife  and  five  children  ;  Alexander  Boyd,  who  died  in  1837,  and  the 
very  first  person  laid  in  the  Ai  Cemetery  ;  he  left  a  widow,  two  sons,  and  one 
daughter.  Charles  Welch  came  with  a  wife  and  large  family  of  boys,  and  the 
forest  by  them  was  soon  converted  into  splendid  wheat  fields.  Welch  was 
successful;  he  died  in  1878,  in  Amboy  township.  Daniel  Q.  Berry  settled 
here  in  1834,  with  his  wife  and  seven  boys;  he  settled  in  town  ten  south, 
range  four  east,  where  he  died  in  1844,  his  widow  surviving  him  some  sixteen 
years  only.  Abraham  Willcox  came  from  the  State  of  Connecticut  in  1835, 
and  settled  in  township  ten  south,  range  four  east  (Michigan  survey),  where  he 
continued  to  reside  until  his  death,  in  1852.  Ezra  A.  Willcox  came  about  the 
same  time  as  his  brother ;  he  was  the  first  peddler  in  the  township,  supplying 
the  early  settlers  with  clocks  made  in  Connecticut. 

Rev.  John  Shaw  came  in  1834,  and  settled  on  the  east  half  of  the  north- 
east quarter  of  section  ten,  town  ten  south,  range  four  east ;  he  however,  left  in 
the  latter  part  of  1835.  ^r.  Maxfield  made  and  burned  the  first  brick  in  the 
township  on  this  same  place  in  1837.  George  Black  came  in  1834.  Mr. 
Black,  in  1844,  moved  to  Stone  Ridge  (now  Whitehouse),  Lucas  county,  O. 
Judge  Thatcher  settled  here  in  the  fall  of  1834.  He  served  several  years  as 
trustee,  when  he  moved  back  to  Connecticut  in  1866,  where  he  died  a  short 
time  after. 

Alexander  Vaughn  moved  from  Holmes  county,  O.,  in  the  spring  of  1835, 
on  section  three,  in  town  ten  south,  range  four  east.  They  lived  in  the  cov- 
ered wagon  while  building  a  log  house,  and  moved  into  it  as  soon  as  one-half 
of  the  floor  was  laid.  Mr.  Vaughn  was  trustee  of  the  township  a  number  of 
years.  He  died  in  1847.  His  widow  afterwards  married  Thomas  C.  Berry, 
and  moved  to  Branch  county,  Mich.,  where  she  died  in  1862.  One  of  her 
■daughters,  Jane,  is  now  the  wife  of  Ozias  Merrill,  who  lives  upon  and  owns  the 
old  homestead.  Another  of  the  daughters  married  Isaac  Springer,  and  resides 
near  Wauseon,  in  this  county.  James  C.  Vaughn,  a  son,  is  one  of  the  com- 
missioners of  Fulton  county,  and  resides  at  Swanton,  this  township.  He  filled 
the  office  of  trustee  a  number  of  years,  and  also  served  as  land  appraiser  in  the 
township.  Alexander  Vaughn  had  two  sons  in  the  late  war,  James  C.  and 
Caleb  Vaughn.  Jacob  Hamp  moved  from  Holmes  county,  O.,  in  1835,  with 
a  wife  and  five  boys;  two  were  soldiers  in  the  late  war — John  and  Eli  Hamp. 

Jacob  Hamp  died  in  1850,  his  widow  surviving  him  until  she  was  one  hun- 
dred and  seven  years  old.  She  died  at  the  home  of  her  son,  John  Hamp,  at 
Ai  in  1879.  She,  while  living,  was  a  very  useful  old  lady  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. She  was  quite  a  good  physician  and  nurse,  and  knew  what  pioneer  life 
was.     On  many  a  night  she  has   rode  from  two  to  six  miles  on  horseback  at 


494  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  calls  of  these  pioneers,  often  througfa  storuas  and  muddy  roada  to  render 
relief  to  the  sick  ;  her  whole  life  has  been  a  busy  one.  She  was  bom  in  1772, 
before  the  Revolution,  and  hence  her  whole  life  was  that  of  a  pioneer. 

Peter  Broadsword  settled  here  in  1834,  on  sectron  ten,  town  ten  south, 
range  four  east.  He  had  two  daughters  ;  one  naarried  Mr.  Burchard  and  now 
resides  at  Waterville,  Lucas  county,  and  the  other  married  a  Mr.  Almon,  and 
resides  at  South  Swanton,  Lucas  county. 

Gideon  W.  Raymond  settled  on  section  thirty-two,  town  eight  north, 
range  eight  east,  in  1834.  He  was  justice  of  the  peace  for  several  years,  and 
taught  school  in  the  first  school-house  in  the  Clark  district  in  1837;  afterwards 
taught  the  Ai  school  some  four  years.  He  now  resides  in  Pike  township,  this 
county.  Isaac  Day  was  Uving  in  the  city  of  Utica,  State  of  New  York,  and 
having  lost  by  death  his  wife  and  infant  son,  he  determined  on  trying  his  for- 
tune in  the  wilds  of  Ohio.  On  September  14,  1834,  leaving  his  only  daughter 
with  his  deceased  wife's  most  intimate  friends,  he  started  for  Ohio,  and  on  his 
arrival  bought  a  piece  of  land  on  section  fifteen,  in  the  present  Swan  Creek. 
That  fall  he  put  up  a  log  cabin,  and  with  his  hoe  planted  one-half  acre  of 
wheat  He  remained  there  that  winter,  and  in  the  spring  of  1835  he  planted 
out  his  garden  and  other  crops,  so  that  in  August  he  was  able  to  have  ripe 
melons,  green  corn,  cabbage  and  cucumbers.  The  lOth  of  the  following  Oc- 
tober John  Nobbs  with  his  wife  and  three  children,  started  for  Ohio,  bringing 
with  them  Isaac  Day's  daughter  ;  also  John  Day,  his  wife  and  three  sons  and 
one  daughter.  They  arrived  at  the  cabin  of  Isaac  Day  October  20,  1835,  ^ 
glad  day  for  father  and  child.  Isaac  Day  soon  left  the  place  he  first  settled 
upon  and  located  on  section  thirty- three,  town  nine  south,  range  four  east 
John  Nobbs  and  John  Day  settled  upon  the  same  section.  John  Day's  family 
being  the  largest,  they  put  up  his  cabin  first,  then  the  cabin  of  John  Nobbs, 
but,  in  November  death  entered  John  Nobbs's  family  and  claimed  a  son. 
There  being  no  cemetery  they  laid  him  to  rest  on  their  new  lot  On  January 
25,  1836,  John  Nobbs  and  family  moved  into  their  log  house,  Isaac  Day  and 
daughter  with  them.  In  September,  1837,  John  Day  sickened  and  died,  and 
there  being  no  undertaker  at  that  time,  kind  neighbors  united  and  made  a 
coffin,  and  near  and  dear  friends  kindly  laid  him  away.  His  widow,  with  three- 
young  boys,  away  from  the  home  of  her  youth,  on  an  unimproved  piece  of 
land,  were  left  to  battle  alone  in  poverty,  with  all  the  difficulties  of  pioneer  life. 
But  with  prudence,  care  and  industry  they  succeeded  in  making  a  good  living,, 
and  the  boys  acquired  a  fair  common  school  education. 

In  November,  1837,  the  pioneers  built  a  log  school-house  in  the  district. 
Isaac  Day  wishing  his  daughter  to  learn  to  write,  put  in  a  writing  desk  for  her 
use.     Gideon  W.  Raymond  taught  the  district  school  that  winter. 

One  Night  with  Wolves. — As  Isaac  Day  was  on  his  way  honve  fromi  the 
land  office,  in  1835,  following  the  road  or  trail,,  as  best  he  could  by  the  aid  of 


Fulton  County.  4^5 


blazed  trees,  when  arriving  near  what  is  now  Delta,  this  county,  darkness  over- 
took hJTH,  in  the  old  windfall  south  of  that  place.  The  howling  of  wolves  soon 
adrnwrnished  him  to  seek  a  place  of  safety.  This  he  did  by  climbing  the  near- 
est tree  where,  standing  with  one  foot  at  a  time  on  a  Hmb  of  the  tree,  all  that 
night,  with  the  howling  of  the  disappointed  wolves,  he  waited  patiently  for 
daylight,  then  cautiously  descending  from  the  upper  room  of  that  hotel,  he  re- 
suHied  his  journey  homewards  in  safety. 

William  Stair  settled  on  section  35,  and  continued  to  reside  there  till  his 
death,  1^50.  He  left  two  sons  :  Josiah  Stair,  who  was  for  several  years  trus- 
tee of  the  township,  and  John  Stair.  Both  were  in  the  Union  army.  He  had 
two  daughters,  one  of  whom  married  Joel  Wilt,  and  the  other,  EHza,  married 
Mr.  Kline. 

Ami  Richards  came  from  the  State  of  Connecticut,  in  1836,  and  settled  on 
section  9,  town  10  south,  range  4  east.  He  served  as  treasurer  of  the  town- 
ship f©r  many  years.  Mr.  Richards  was  a  lover  of  books,  while  living,  and  his 
Kibrary  was  always  well  supplied  with  the  best  of  the  age.  He  was  denominated 
a  Free-thinker.  He  had  taken  the  Boston  Investigator  for  fifty  years.  He  died 
in  1883,  at  his  homestead,  and  left  a  widow,  two  sons  and  four  daughters ;  one 
of  the  latter  is  the  wife  of  James  Harrison,  jr.,  of  this  township. 

Shubal  Nixon  settled  here  in  1835.  He  is  yet  living,  residing  in  the  State 
of  Michigan.  Joseph  Babcock  came  in  1835.  He  was  a  school  teacher  of  the 
first  class,  and  took  great  pleasure  in  the  advancement  of  his  school.  He 
taught  in  the  first  school-house  built  in  the  township.  He  died  1868.  His 
wife  survived  him  two  years,  dying  in  1870,  leaving  four  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. Ro^bert  J.,  one  of  the  sons,  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  in  1881,  and 
holds  that  office  to-day. 

Samuel  Durgin,  with  his  family,  wife  and  two  daughters,  came  from  the 
State  of  New  Hampshire,  in  1837,  and  settled  upon  section  6,  town  10  south, 
range  4  east.  He  was  justice  of  the  peace  up  to  1850,  when  he  was  appointed 
clerk  of  Fulton  county  at  its  organization  (1850),  and  was  afterwards  elected 
by  the  people,  for  a  term  of  three  years.  In  1853  he  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  Ohio,  and  was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  for  two  years,  taking  his 
seat  January,  1854.  He  taught  the  Ai  school  for  a  series  of  years,  and  for 
many  years  was  county  school  examiner.  In  1863  be  was  elected  clerk  of  the 
court,  and  at  the  end  of  a  three  years'  term  he  moved  to  Wauseon,  where  he 
died,  about  1873.  His  widow  is  yet  living.  In  reference  to  the  life  of  Samuel 
Durgin,  who  was  known  to  the  people  for  forty  years,  be  was  naturally  of  a  re- 
ligious cast  of  mind,  witli  strong  convictions  of  duty  to  his  fellow  man.  He 
had  no  sympathy  with  any  mere  formalism.  He  might  have  exhibited  a  species 
of  roughness  in  manner,  yet  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  education  from  the 
common  school ;  blunt  and  plain  in  speech,  a  good  debater,  very  severe  and 
sarcastic  at  times,  with  his  opponent.  All  the  early  settlers  of  the  county  will 
recollect  Samuel  Durgin. 


496  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Samuel  Dowling  came  from  Trumbull  county,  this  State,  formerly  from 
Ireland,  and  settled  on  section  3,  town  10  south,  range  4  east,  in  1838.  He 
continued  to  reside  there  until  his  death,  in  1883.  He  was  a  very  public- 
spirited  and  industrious  man,  a  good  neighbor  and  fine  farmer.  One  of  his 
sons,  Daniel,  is  now  sheriff  of  Fulton  county.  Patrick  Dowling,  another  son, 
in  his  early  youth  became  a  resident  of  Toledo ;  was  in  the  war,  and  several 
times  promoted  for  his  bravery.  He  served  two  terms  as  sheriff  of  Lucas 
county,  and  afterwards,  under  the  administration  of  President  Arthur,  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster  at  Toledo,  and  held  that  position  until  1886.  There  were 
two  girls,  Mary  Ann  and  Katy,  the  former  living  in  Lucas  county,  and  Katy  in 
Amboy  township,  this  county. 

Martin  and  Emery  Wilson,  brothers,  settled  in  this  township  in  1843. 
Both  were  industrious  and  successful  farmers. 

Charles  V.  Merrill  and  family  came  from  the  State  of  Maine  in  1837,  and 
settled  on  section  four,  town  ten  south,  range  four  east.  He  was  a  minister  of 
the  Christian  Church  and  the  first  in  the  township.  He  was  zealous,  holding 
meetings  at  the  different  cabins  of  the  early  settlers,  and  log  school- houses. 
His  work  extended  in  the  different  townships  and  so  continued  until  his  death. 
His  widow  still  resides  on  the  homestead.  He  left  three  children  surviving 
him,  although  twelve  were  born  to  them.  John  C,  the  youngest,  worked  the 
farm  and  caring  for  the  mother.  He  was  two  years  treasurer  of  the  township, 
and  was  also  engaged  in  mercantile  business  with  John  Nobbs  at  Ai  until  1871, 
when  he  left  for  Nebraska. 

Jonathan  Wood  with  his  family  settled  here  in  1838.  He  was  a  great 
educator  among  the  young  pioneers  and  a  strong  adherent  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  a  fine  Sabbath  school  organizer. 

Mr.  Wood  was  clerk  of  the  township  from  its  organization  until  1854. 
He  rendered  good  service  as  nurse  in  the  [hospitals  of  the  army,  carefully 
attending  the  sick  and  wounded.  He  died  in  1879.  One  of  his  daughters, 
Frances,  spent  the  most  of  her  youth  in  teaching  school,  principally  in  Mem- 
phis, Tenn.     She  is  now  the  wife  of  G.  W.  Fisher,  of  Memphis. 

David  Springer  also  came  from  the  State  of  Maine  to  Maumee  in  1836, 
and  settled  on  section  four,  town  ten  south,  four  east,  and  died  in  1866.  His 
widow  died  in  1879  leaving  five  children.  Stephen  Springer,  the  oldest,  who 
studied  law  with  the  late  Henry  S.  Comager,  of  Toledo,  was  elected  city  mar- 
shal which  position  he  held  three  years;  in  1854  he  was  elected  sheriff  of 
Lucas  county  and  served  two  years,  during  which  time  he  had  to  perform  the 
unpleasant  duty  of  hanging  Ward,  the  wife  murderer  of  Sylvania,  that  county. 
Soon  after,  in  i860,  he  died  with  the  consumption  at  the  old  homestead. 
Isaac  Springer,  another  son,  was  justice  of  the  peace  several  years  ;  was  twice 
elected  and  served  as  treasurer  of  Fulton  county ;  twice  elected  and  served  as 
auditor,  and  also  served  as  school  examiner.     He  followed  the  mercantile  bus- 


Fulton  County.  497 


iness  at  Ai  from  1853  to  1858  and  afterwards  at  Wauseon,  from  i860  to  1876. 
He  now  resides  near  Wauseon. 

Robert  Pennel  settled  here  in  1836,  and  is  now  living  at  Napoleon, 
Henry  county.  He,  with  three  other  of  the  boys,  was  in  the  Union  Army 
and  made  good  records. 

Levi  Merrill  with  his  family  came  from  the  State  of  Maine  in  1838, 
and  settled  on  section  four,  town  ten  south,  four  east,  and  there  lived  until  his 
death  in  1881,  his  wife  dying  some  nine  years  before.  They  had  nine  chil- 
dren. Naman  Merrill,  one  of  the  children,  was,  in  1853,  by  the  commissioners 
appointed  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Fulton  county,  upon  the 
resignation  of  Samuel  Durgin  to  become  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  to  which 
he  had  been  elected.  Mr.  Merrill  was  afterwards  elected  clerk,  and  served  the 
county  two  successive  terms.  He  was  elected  prosecutor  in  1862,  and  served 
one  term.  He  studied  law  under  the  instruction  of  the  Hon.  Amos  Hill,  and 
followed  the  profession  until  1878  when  he  became  associated  with  Col.  E.  L. 
Earber,  in  the  Bank  of  Wauseon,  from  i860  until  his  death  in  1879.  Ozias 
Merrill,  another  son,  has  followed  farming  the  most  of  the  time.  He  has  held 
the  office 'of  clerk  and  treasurer  for  several  years;  in  1865  was  elected  auditor  of 
Fulton  county  and  served  until  1871  ;  was  then  elected  and  served  as  a  mem- 
ber from  this  county  in  the  constitutional  convention  in  1873-4.  He  was 
formerly  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Ai,  from  1856  to  1886,  and 
postmaster  at  Ai  from  i860  to  1872.  He  now  resides  on  the  farm  his  wife's 
father  entered  in  1835. 

Clement  Canfield  settled  here  in  1838.  His  oldest  boy,  Albert  B.  Canfield, 
for  a  long  time  sold  "yankee  notions"  from  a  wagon  some  eight  or  nine  years. 
He  was  twice  elected  treasurer  and  served  Fulton  county  from  1866  to  1870. 
He  afterward  moved  to  Nebraska. 

Hartman  Canfield  and  family  settled  here  in  1838.  He  settled  on  section 
33,  in  town  eight  north,  range  eight  east.  He  was  a  very  useful  man  in  the 
community ;  always  a  good  nurse  and  caring  for  the  wants  of  the  sick.  He 
died  in  1871  and  left  four  children,  two  boys  and  two  girls.  Both  boys  were 
in  the  Union  service. 

John  Viers  with  his  family  settled  on  section  five,  town  seven  north,  range 
eight  east  (Ohio  survey)  in  1834,  and  continued  to  reside  there  to  his  death  in 
1878.  He  left  a  widow  and  thirteen  children,  nine  boys  and  four  girls.  Five 
of  the  boys  served  in  the  Union  army.  Elijah  Herrick  and  family  settled  here 
in  1845,  and  still  resides  on  the  first  one  hundred  acres  he  bought.  He  was 
land  appraiser  in  1853,  when  he  appraised  Fulton,  Swan  Creek  and  Amboy 
townships;  was  again  elected  in  1859,  and  appraised  again  Fulton  township. 
He  was  eight  years  assessor  of  the  township,  and  held  the  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace  several  years.  He  came  from  Detroit  in  1822  and  settled  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Maumee,  near  where  the  city  proper  now  stands.     He  is  an  hon- 


498  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

est  and  enterprising  farmer,  a  good  model  for  the   young  farmer  of  this  day. 
He  had  a  family  of  six  children,  two  of  whom  died  some  years  since. 

Robert  Watkins  settled  on  section  three,  town  seven  north,  range  eight 
east,  in  1836,  where  he  died  in  1876. 

Isaac  Fauble  settled  on  section  five,  town  seven  north,  range  eight  east,  in 
1842,  where  he  died  several  years  ago.  He  left  two  sons  who  reside  in  the 
township. 

Joseph  Dennis  settled  on  section  one,  town  ten  south,  range  four  east,  in 
1835,  and  died  at  his  daughter's,  Mrs.  Russell  Bartlett,  in  Amboy  township  in 
1885.  He  left  a  family  of  nine  children,  six  boys  and  three  girls,  all  worthy 
citizens. 

Africa  Spaulding  settled  on  section  2,  town  7  north,  range  8  east,  in  1834, 
and  died  in  1881.  There  is  but  one  of  this  family  now  living,  a  daughter,  who' 
resides  in  Swan  Creek,  this  county. 

Mr.  Haynes  settled  here  in  1836,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his 
death  in  1 841  or  1842.  He  had  one  son,  Jacob  Haynes,  who  now  resides  near 
Luke's  Corners,  in  this  township. 

William  H.  Harris  settled  on  section  4,  town  7  north,  range  8  east,  in  1835. 
He  was  supposed  to  have  been  murdered  in  1837.  His  wife  died  in  1836,  and 
was  the  first  person  buried  in  the  Viers  cemetery,  this  township.  David  Born 
has  resided  on  this  farm  that  Harris  owned  for  the  past  thirty-five  years.  He 
has  been  a  quiet  and  useful  citizen. 

Hiram  Clark  settled  here  in  1835,  ^^^  in  1843  sold  to  Thomas  Watkins. 
Cyrus  Clark  settled  here  about  the  same  time  as  his  brother  Hiram.  His  place 
is  now  owned  by  John  Watkins,  of  Delta. 

Luther  Dodge,  mentioned  heretofore  in  connection  with  the  first  store  of 
the  township,  settled  here,  on  section  number  11,  town  10  south,  range  four 
east,  at  a  very  early  day,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Horatio  Witt.  Mr.  Witt 
came  with  his  parents  in  1848  or  1849.  He  has  been  assessor  and  trustee  of 
the  township  a  number  of  years.  He  is  a  practical  farmer  and  a  kind  and  val- 
uable citizen.     He  was  in  the  Union  army. 

George  W.  Thompson  settled  here  in  1836,  where  he  soon  after  died.  His 
son,  Orrin  Thompson,  has  been  in  the  hotel  business  for  the  past  twenty  years 
at  Lyons,  Wauseon  and  Napoleon. 

Josiah  W.  Bartlett  settled  here  in  1843,  and  sold  to  Calvin  Quiggle  in  1853, 
on  the  land  now  owned  by  J.  W.  Deck.  Calvin  Quiggle  engaged  in  the  drug 
business  and  died  1873.  His  widow  was  a  very  intelligent  woman,  formerly 
from  Wilbersham,  Mass.,  and  now  resides  at  Delta.  One  son,  R.  C.  Quiggle, 
has  been  clerk  of  Lucas  county  for  two  successive  terms,  and  now  resides  at 
Toledo.  Three  of  these  boys  were  soldiers  in  the  Union  service  and  one  was 
killed  in  1864. 

James  Fenton,  a  prominent  and  successful  farmer,  came  into  this  township 


Fulton  County.  499 


at  a  still  later  period  of  its  history,  1847.  He  was  a  young  man  and  married 
a  daughter  of  one  of  its  early  pioneers,  Miss  Hannah  Lake,  in  1849.  He  re- 
sides now  at  Swanton. 

John  Fenton,  a  brother  of  James  Fenton,  came  about  the  same  time,  and 
soon  became  the  owner  of  the  property  originally  the  homestead  of  Alexan- 
der Boyd.  He  has  ever  since  occupied  a  position  of  influence  in  the  political 
field,  and  an  unenviable  position  among  his  brother  farmers.  He  has  held 
many  important  offices  in  the  township,  serving  a  long  time  as  justice  of  the 
peace.  He  served  this  county  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  for 
four  years,  being  two  terms,  from  1870  to  1874.  He  is  now  successfully  re- 
tired from  the  duties  of  active  life  and  devoted  alone  to  the  farm.  He  is  one 
of  the  respected  and  honored  citizens  of  Fulton  county. 

Historical  Incidents. — In  the  fall  of  1834,  Mr.  Harter,  before  spoken  of  as 
the  first  settler,  finding  the  Six- Mile  Woods  setthng  apparently  with  permanent 
inhabitants,  went  back  to  Huron  county,  his  former  home,  and  induced  a  mill- 
wright by  the  name  of  Bryant  Hanly  to  accompany  him  back  to  his  new  resi- 
dence. In  the  spring  of  1835  they  built  a  grist-mill  on  the  north  part  of  his 
land,  near  where  Winfield  Cline's  house  now  stands.  This  mill  was  known  as 
the  "Horse  Mill."  Mr.  Hanley  superintended  its  construction,  and  Thomas  C, 
Nicholas  Q.,  and  William  Berry  doing  the  most  of  the  work.  The  two  latter 
named  men  sawed  all  the  lumber  for  the  mill  with  a  whip-saw.  This  was  done 
by  rolling  a  log  on  a  skidway,  high  enough  for  one  man  to  stand  under  the 
log  to  manage  the  lower  end  of  the  saw,  who  was  designated  as  the  "pit-saw- 
yer." The  top  sawyer  stood  on  the  top  of  the  log  and  managed  the  upper  end 
of  the  saw.  It  required  great  muscular  power  to  run  this  kind  of  a  saw- mill, 
the  first  in  the  township,  a  qualification  possessed  by  Nicholas  Q.  and  William 
Berry,  far  above  the  average  man.  They  were  expert  sawyers  and  made 
lumber  in  this  primitive  manner,  not  inferior  to  that  made  by  the  mills  of  more 
modern  times.  Ozias  Merrill  says,  "  I  have  a  piece  of  sassafras  board  given  me 
by  N.  Q.  Berry,  sawed  in  this  manner  in  1834,  and  will  deposit  it  in  our  log 
cabin,  at  the  fair  ground,  to  take  its  place  among  other  relics  of  pioneer  days." 
This  horse  saw- mill  had  also  a  grinding  capacity  of  from  two  to  five  bushels 
per  hour.  The  horse  would  trot  around  the  circle  designated,  hitched  to  a 
sweep  sixteen  feet  long.  Horses  being  very  scarce,  oxen  had  to  be  used  on 
many  occasions,  for  the  propelling  power  to  the  mill.  On  such  occasions  the 
motion  proved  too  slow  for  doing  good  work,  and  through  the  mechanical  skill 
of  Thomas  C.  Berry,  the  mill  was  geared  so  that  oxen  could  be  successfully 
used.  The  bolt  of  this  mill  was  turned  by  hand,  similar  to  turning  a  grind- 
stone. Although  the  flour  made  would  hardly  compare  with  the  roller  pro- 
cess of  to-day,  yet  those  pioneers  ate  their  bread  and  cake  with  as  good  a  relish, 
and  enjoyed  their  buckwheat  cakes  or  corn  dodgers,  prepared  from  the  flour 
thus  obtained,  as  we  of  to-day  with  all  our  modern  mill  improvements. 


500  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Many  of  the  settlers  had  no  teams  and  they  would  carry  their  grist  of  wheat, 
corn  or  buckwheat,  on  their  shoulders,  or  haul,  in  the  winter  season,  on  hand 
sleds  to  this  mill,  some  two  to  six  miles,  guided  only  by  blazed  trees,  or  Indian 
trails,  and  in  many  instances,  returning  long  after  dark.  This  mill,  in  1 840, 
was  moved  one  mile  south  on  Swan  Creek,  and  converted  into  a  water-mill  by 
Harter  and  Stair.  It  sustained  a  good  mill  reputation  and  proved  to  be  of  great 
convenience  to  the  early  settlers. 

Aside  from  Harter's  primitive  mode  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  for  his 
grist-mill,  in  1835,  the  first  saw-mill  built  in  Fulton  township,  and  owged  by 
Nicholas  Q.  Berry,  was  on  Swan  Creek,  which  ran  through  Berry's  farm,  and 
was  run  by  water  power.  This  required  a  mill-  race  about  fifty  rods  long,  and 
from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  from  three  to  four  feet  deep.  This  race  N. 
Q.  Berry  dug  with  his  shovel,  most  of  the  work  being  done  at  noon-time  and 
evening,  after  his  day's  work  on  the  farm  was  completed.  He  would  com- 
mence work  on  the  mill-race  and  frequently  work  until  late  in  the  night.  The 
"  head  "  of  water  was  somewhat  deficient,  causing  a  slow  motion  of  the  saw, 
but  when  there  was  plenty  of  water  no  time  was  lost  in  running'the  mill,  and 
many  logs  were  by  this  mill  converted  into  good  lumber. 

In  1853  Michael  Cline  built  a  steam  saw- mill  near  where  once  stood  the 
famous  "  Horse  Mill."  The  steam  mill  was  burned  three  years  after  its  con- 
struction. 

Iram  Strong  built  a  steam  saw-mill  in  1852,  about  one  mile  north  of  Luke's 
Corners.  Michael  Kreiger  built  another  steam  saw-mill  in  1856;  Miles  Hays 
built  another  about  i860,  a  short  distance  north  of  Swanton.  There  is  at 
present  a  saw-mill,  with  planing  attachments,  at  Swanton,  owned  and  managed 
by  J.  D.  Hall.  Pilliod  Brothers,  in  1887,  put  up  a  flouring-mill,  which  is  now 
in  successful  operation. 

The  grist-mill  at  Ai  was  built  by  Miles  Hayes,  in  1866,  and  is  now  owned 
by  C.  Packham. 

School- Houses. — The  first  school-house  built  in  this  township  was  in  1836, 
on  the  southeast  corner  of  the  east  half  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  ten, 
town  ten  south,  range  four  east.  It  was  built  of  logs,  and  finished  and  fur- 
nished without  taxing  the  land — all  contributed.  It  was  "  chinked  "  and 
plastered  with  mud  from  the  adjoining  soil.  It  had  a  fire-place  made  of  clay 
and  sticks  built  up  "  cob  house  style,"  and  cropping  out  just  above  the  ridge 
of  the  roof,  and  plastered  upon  the  inside  with  clay  mortar.  This  formed  a 
safe  as  well  as  a  comfortable  heating  apparatus.  The  seats  were  made  of  logs 
about  ten  inches  in  diameter,  and  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  length,  and  split  into 
halves  and  hewed  to  smooth  them  upon  the  split  side.  They  were  then 
mounted,  the  split  side  up,  on  wooden  legs  of  proper  height  for  the  scholars. 
For  writing  desks  they  bored  holes  into  the  logs  about  three  feet  from  the 
floor,  into  which  they  drove  pins,  projecting  in  the  room  far  enough  to  support 


Fulton  County.  501 


a  board  or  slab  placed  on  the  pins.  For  windows  they  would  cut  out  one  log 
the  whole  length  of  the  building,  and  stop  the  opening  with  oiled  paper.  This 
would  admit  some  light,  and  keep  out  the  cold.  Some  were  furnished  with 
glass,  7  by  9,  and  when  this  school-house  was  completed,  with  a  good  fire 
nearly  the  entire  length  of  one  end  of  the  building,  it  furnished  a  good  and 
comfortable  institution  for  training  the  young  minds  successfully  in  the  element- 
ary branches.  Another  school- house,  of  the  same  character,  was  built  the 
next  winter,  1837,  in  the  Clark  neighborhood,  not  far  from  the  residence  of 
Daniel  .Snyder.  Others  of  like  description  were  built  as  the  township  was  set- 
tled. In  1842  the  first  frame  school-house  was  built  by  David  Springer,  at 
Ai,  and  since  moved  across  the  road  and  remodeled  for  a  dwelling,  now  owned 
by  James  Wheaton.  Another  school-house  was  soon  after  built  in  the  Dodge, 
or  Witt  district.  Still  later  they  became  quite  numerous.  Now,  in  1887, 
Fulton  township  contains  eleven  school-houses — ^seven  brick  and  four  frame 
—  all  in  good  condition. 

Miss  Julia  Chamberlain,  with  her  sister  (Mrs.  Samuel  Durgin),  came  to  this 
township  in  1.837,  ^^^  taught  the  first  school  in  a  small,  log  school-house, 
which  stood  where  the  present  school  now  stands,  in  the  Ai  district.  Miss 
Chamberlain  afterwards  married  Davenport  Williams,  of  Maumee  City  (now 
South  Toledo),  where  she  now  resides.  The  wages  paid  teachers  from  1837 
to  1850,  was  from  twelve  to  fifteen  dollars  per  month,  and  from  one  to  two 
dollars  per  week  allowed  for  female  teachers  boarding  around  among  the  fam- 
ilies in  the  district. 

Miss  Harriet  O'Brien  taught  the  first  summer  term  in  the  Clark  district,, 
but  being  taken  sick.  Miss  Huldah  Merrill  finished  the  term.  Miss  O'Brien 
was  soon  after  married  to  Dr.  Colton,  one  of  this  township's  first  physicians. 

Among  the  early  teachers  were  Mr.  Reed,  Luther  Dodge,  Miss  Almeda 
Doughty,  A.  Sawyer,  Samuel  Durgin,  G.  W.  Raymond,  Miss  Lucy  Clough, 
Margaret  Emery,  Jonathan  Woods,  Joseph  Babcock,  Ezra  Tunison,  John  Clen- 
dening,  Miss  Julia  Chamberlain,  Harriet  O'Brien,  Huldah  Merrill,  and  Miss- 
Elenor  Johnson. 

Pui/ic  Worship. — The  first  building  used  for  public  worship  in  this  town- 
ship was  J.  W.  Harter's  log  cabin,  where  the  Rev.  Shaw  held  religious- 
services  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1834  and  1835.  Rev.  Gideon 
Johnson  came  from  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  in  1842,  an  ordained  minis- 
ter of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  soon  formed  a  circuit,  holding  religious 
services  at  the  Ai  and  Dodge  school-houses  in  this,  and  at  the  Bartlett  school- 
house,  in  Amboy  township  ;  also  at  the  Parcher  school-house,  in  Pike  town- 
ship. He  was  an  earnest  worker  in  his  ministerial  labors,  and  a  good  citizen. 
He  is  now  in  Illinois,  and  has  been  some  thirty- three  or  thirty-four  years. 
Since  the  early  pioneer  ministers  have  died  or  moved  away,  Fulton  township 
has  been  well  supplied  by  ministers  of  various  denominations,  mostly  residing 


502  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

in  other  townships.  There  are  now  three  churches.  The  town  hall  is  used 
when  desirable  for  church  services.  Jonathan  Wood  organized  the  first  Sab- 
bath-school, and  for  a  number  of  years  superintended  the  same,  at  Ai.  His 
attention  was  wholly  given  to  Sabbath-school  labors,  and  it  always  prospered 
while  under  his  charge. 

Post-offices. — The  first  post-office  in  the  township  was  kept  in  David 
Springer's  log  house.  It  was  established  in  1843,  and  named  Ai.  Isaac 
Springer  was  appointed  postmaster.  Miss  Julia  Springer,  Ozias  Merrill,  Will- 
iam Critzer,  David  Yonkman,  and  James  Grove  have  since  held  the  office, 
Grove  being  the  present  postmaster.  There  is  at  present  another  office  at 
Swanton,  established  in  1854. 

Merca7itile. — The  first  store  was  built  on  the  east  half  of  the  southwest 
quarter  of  section  eleven,  town  ten  south,  range  four  east,  and  a  general  sup- 
ply store  was  carried  on  in  the  same  by  Luther  Dodge,  from  1839  to  1844, 
when  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  Lucas  county,  and  left  for  Maumee.  A  good 
•exchange  business  was  done  in  butter,  eggs,  corn,  dried  deer  skins,  and  kirka- 
man  (golden  seal)  roots.  The  latter  grew  very  common  on  the  higher  bottom- 
lands of  the  forest,  and  was,  by  the  children,  dug,  washed  and  dried.  When 
so  cured  and  in  good  order  it  was  bought  by  Luther  Dod'ge  for  fifty  cents  a 
pound  in  trade.  Dodge  was  very  courteous  and  obliging  as  a  tradesman. 
This  store  enterprise  was  very  profitable  to  him,  as  well  as  a  great  convenience 
to  his  many  patrons.  Luther  Dodge  has  since  died,  and  his  widow  now  re- 
sides at  Toledo  with  Charles  Dodge,  her  brother-in-law,  a  prominent  attorney 
of  the  Toledo  bar. 

Ai. — Thomas  C.  Berry  built  a  small  store  building  at  Ai  in  1849,  in  which 
he  carried  on  a  small  grocery  trade  until  1851,  when  he  sold  out  to  Henry 
Haughton.  In  1853  Isaac  Springer  bought  a  half  interest,  and  soon  after  en- 
larged the  building.  In  1854  Samuel  Smout  bought  the  half  interest  of  Henry 
Haughton.  About  this  time  Isaac  Springer  was  elected  treasurer  of  Fulton 
county,  and,  in  1856,  Ozias  Merrill  purchased  Springer's  interest  in  the  store, 
and  soon  after  William  E.  Haughton  purchased  the  interest  of  Smout.  In 
1857  Isaac  Springer  again  connected  himself  in  the  interest  of  said  store  by 
purchasing  W.  E.  Haughton's  interest;  and,  in  1858,  a  larger  building  was 
built  by  the  firm.  In  connection  with  their  store  they  built  and  run  an  ashery, 
and  took,  in  exchange  for  their  goods,  all  kinds  of  farm  produce,  ashes,  salts 
and  potash,  and  hauled  the  same  to  Toledo.  Since  then  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness at  Ai  has  been  carried  on  by  Ozias  Merrill,  Edward  Vaughn,  David  Yonk- 
man, A.  B.  Canfield,  Whitfield  Manly,  Thomas  O.  Williams,  Calvin  Quiggle, 
William  Critzer,  Elijah  Gambell,  James  Grove,  and  Dr.  J.  B.  Taylor ;  the  two 
latter  being  all  engaged  at  present  in  the  trade  of  Ai. 

Swanton. — From  1858  to  1875  Joseph  H.  Miller  was  engaged  in  the  mer- 
cantile business  at  Swanton,  this  township,  and  was  also  agent  for  the  railroad 


:^Wj^ 


Fulton  County.  503 


company  for  sixteen  years  of  the  time.  He  has  been  successful  and  has  ac- 
cumulated sufficient  for  himself  and  family.  William  Guyser  has  followed  the 
mercantile  trade  since  he  came  out  of  the  rebellion  of  1861,  and  is  a  general 
produce  dealer.  Mr.  Charles  was  a  partner  until  about  one  year  ago.  Will- 
iam Guyser  is  yet  in  the  business  with  Charles  Marsh,  his  son-in-law,  as 
partner. 

Swanton  now  contains  two  good  hardware  stores,  one  by  L.  D.  Boyer,  and 
the  other  by  Hubbell  &  Drening.  It  also  has  one  drug  store,  conducted  by 
A.  Q.  Price,  with  a  branch  at  Ai,  by  Mrs.  Amelia  Critzer.  Charles  Hilton 
and  Joseph  H.  Miller  care  for  the  hungry  and  weary  at  the  only  hotels  now 
in  the  township.  Prior  to  the  days  of  steam  railways  Mr.  Stair  kept  a  hotel, 
then  styled  "  Farmers'  Inn,"  where  Josiah  Stair  now  resides.  One  other  was 
kept  one- half  mile  from  Mr.  Stair's,  by  John  J.  Teachworth.  They  were  for  the 
purpose  of  accommodating  those  early  settlers  in  locating  for  themselves  homes 
in  this  unbroken  forest.  It  was  not  infrequent  that  three  or  four  canvas- 
covered  wagons,  filled  with  emigrants,  would  be  accommodated  at  one  of  these 
hotels  over  night;  Another  large  hotel  was  built  by  Christopher  Watkins,  on 
section  five,  town  seven  north,  four  east,  in  1850,  which  building  was  used  in 
part  for  a  store.  A  large  trade  was  done  by  Watkins  until  the  building  of  the 
railroad,  when  business  declined.  It  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  Fauble,  and  used 
as  a  residence. 

Marriage. — The  first  marriage  alliance  formed  in  this  township  was  that  of 
Nicholas  Q.  Berry  and  Miss  Catharine  Burgtufi",  both  from  the  State  of  New 
York,  in  December,  1834.  They  went  to  Maumee  and  were  married  by  Dr. 
Conant.  Their  wedding  tour  was  from  that  city  to  Berry's  log  cabin,  in  a  lum- 
ber wagon,  a  distance  of  sixteen  miles  over  crooked  roads  and  logs,  through 
creeks  without  bridges  and  around  swamps.  They  have  ever  since  resided  on 
the  same  farm,  but  instead  of  the  log  cabin  they  have  a  good  frame  house,  and 
a  carriage  has  supphed  the  place  of  the  old  wagon.  They  have  five  children. 
There  has  not  been  a  death  in  the  family  of  this  first  marriage  in  the  fifty-two 
years,  nor  have  they  ever  changed  location.  Yet  they  have  been  residents  of 
Lenawee  county,  Fairfield  township,  Michigan  territory,  Amboy  and  Fulton 
townships,  Lucas  county,  and  afterwards  Fulton  county,  O. 

James  C.  Vaughn,  at  present  commissioner  of  the  county,  was  the  first  white 
child  born  in  what  is  now  Fulton  township.  His  birth  dates  August  30,  1835. 
His  mother  would  frequently  have  fires  built  around  the  cabin  to  frighten  away 
the  wolves,  fearing  they  would  carry  away  and  devour  her  boy. 

The  first  building  destroyed  by  fire  was  the  log  cabin  owned  by  Joseph  Bab- 
cock,  in  1 84 1,  near  where  the  town  hall  now  stands.  The  next  was  the  log 
cabin  of  Joel  Johnson,  near  Luke's  Corners,  in  the  fall  of  1843.  Johnson  and 
his  wife  were  gathering  hickory  nuts  some  distance  from  the  house,  leaving  two 
small  children  in  the  care  of  Joel's  father,  an  old  gentleman,  and  quite  deaf,  who 


504  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

was  near  shaving  shingles ;  when  G.  C.  Babcock,  who  was  returning  to  his 
home  some  distance  north,  discovered  that  the  house  was  on  fire,  and  immedi- 
ately gave  the  alarm.  When  help  arrived  it  proved  too  late  to  save  the  build- 
ing, but  not  until  the  arrival  of  Johnson  and  his  wife  was  it  known  that  the  two 
children  were  burning  in  the  building.  Nothing  then  could  be  done  to  save 
them  from  a  horrible  death.  Their  bodies  or  what  was  left  of  them,  were  found 
where  the  bed  stood,  thus  indicating  that  under  that  they  had  fled  to  seek  ref- 
uge from  the  flames  which  so  mercilessly  consumed  them  The  later  fires  in 
the  township  were  P.  Berry's  wagon  shop  at  Ai,  in  1862,  and  one  other  in  same 
place  in  1870;  John  Nobbs  and  John  C.  Merrill's  store  and  contents,  at  Ai,  in 
1870  were  burned;  in  1875  Isaac  Berry's  barn,  and  soon  after  Eli  Haup's  saloon, 
John  Viers's  house,  and  the  residence  of  David  Swank,  at  Swanton,  were  burned 
and  all  their  contents ;  the  barn  and  contents  upon  the  old  homestead  of  Daniel 
Dowling,'  sr.,  burned  in  the  fall  of  1886;  the  residence  of  Emery  Wilson  with 
most  of  its  contents,  and  some  $400  in  currency,  was  burned  January,  1887.  In 
the  spring  of  1839  a  daughter  of  William  Pennell  was  burned  to  death.  The 
parents  were  making  sugar  some  distance  from  their  cabin,  and  were  startled  by 
the  frantic  screams  of  their  little  girl,  whose  clothes  had  in  some  way  caught 
fire  at  the  house ;  becoming  alarmed,  the  child  started  for  her  parents  in  the 
sugar  camp  for  help,  and  her  cries  attracted  their  attention,  and  they  hastened 
to  her  assistance,  but  the  flames  from  the  clothing  had  accomplished  its  work. 
After  three  months  of  untold  sufiering,  death  came  to  her  relief  She  was  the 
second  person  laid  away  in  Ai  cemetery. 

It  would  not  be  amiss  to  relate  an  event  that  has  proved  to  be  a  mystery 
so  far,  and  the  facts  should  be  saved  to  generations  to  come  as  the  story  is  told 
by  neighbors.  Barnet  R.  Poorman,  one  of  the  early  pioneers,  continued  his 
residence  on  the  place  he  first  settled  in  1836,  until  he  sold  his  farm  to  Jacob 
Luke  in  1849.  In  1842  Poorman,  who  was  quite  an  elderly  gentleman,  mar- 
ried Belissa  Johnson,  a  sprightly  young  lady  some  twenty-five  years  younger 
than  himself.  In  1849  one  Griffith,  on  his  return  from  the  Mexican  war  in 
which  he  served,  made  his  home  with  Elijah  Blubaugh  living  near  Poorman's, 
and  soon  after  formed  a  friendly  acquaintance  with  Poorman's  wife.  His  visits 
soon  became  too  frequent  for  the  now  indignant  husband.  He  then  sold  the 
farm  to  Jacob  Luke,  receiving  $1,000  in  gold.  Soon  after  the  sale  of  the  place 
this  Griffith  and  Poorman's  wife  were  suddenly  missed  in  the  neighborhood. 
Poorman's  story  was  that  his  wife  and  Griffith  had  taken  one-half  of  the  pur- 
chase money  received  of  Jacob  Luke,  and  left  the  country.  This  was  accepted 
-of  him  in  good  faith  throughout  the  township  ;  but  in  1870  while  one  of  Jacob 
Luke's  boys  was  at  play  near  the  school-house,  and  where  Mr.  Poorman  was, 
while  in  possession,  in  the  habit  of  burying  his  potatoes,  there  was  discovered 
some  bones.  On  examination  made  by  the  neighbors  they  were  found  to  be 
human  bones,  and  as  the  early  settlers  had  never  known  of  any  one  being  bur- 


Fulton  County. 


S05 


ied  in  that  vicinity,  it  created  quite  an  excitement  throughout  the  township, 
and  rumor  soon  adopted  the  theory  that  the  bones  thus  found  were  all  that 
remained  of  what  was  Belissa  Poorman.  An  inquest  was  held,  but  no  definite 
conclusion  was  ever  arrived  at  as  to  the  identity  of  these  decomposed  bones. 
Mrs.  Poorman's  near  relatives  as  well  as  many  of  the  neighbors,  will,  with  a 
great  deal  of  plausibility,  always  maintain  the  theory  that  the  unfortunate  wo- 
man was  willfully  murdered  and  buried  there,  instead  of  accompanying  Griffith 
to  any  distant  home.  Neither  Griflfith  or  Mrs.  Poorman  have,  since  1849,  been 
heard  from  by  any  of  the  friends  or  neighbors. 

It  has  been  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  that  there  were,  as  near  as 
can  now  be  ascertained,  twenty-five  families  within  the  present  limits  of  Fulton^ 
township  up  to  1836,  then  an  unorganized  territory.  They  were  John  W. 
Harter,  May,  1834;  John  J.  Teachworth,  Charles  Welch,  Daniel  Q.  Berry,. 
Judge  Thatcher,  Peter  Broadsword,  Isaac  Day,  John  Viers,  Alfred  Spaulding, 
Henry  Lake,  George   Black,    all  in    1834.      In    1835    were  Alexander  Boyd, 

Abraham  Wilcox,  Alexander  Vaughn,  Ezra  Willcox,  Rev.  John  Shaw, 

Maxfield,  Jacob  Hamp,  jr.,  John  Nobbs,  John  Day,  William  Stair,  Gideon  W. 
Raymond,  Shubal  Nixon,  Joseph  Babcock,  Joseph  Dennis,  W.  H.  Harris, 
Hiram  Clark,  Cyrus  Clark,  Luther  Dodge.  In  1836  a  further  increase  by 
Ami  Richards,  Robert  Pennel,  Robert  Watkins  and  G.  W.  Thompson,  and 
perhaps  others  concerning  whom  the  time  of  their  coming  cannot  be  definitely 
settled  at  this  day.  With  these  early  pioneers,  in  those  primitive  days,  life- 
was  remarkably  social.  They  had  no  jealousies  or  neighborhood  differences- 
to  disturb  the  harmony  of  their  intercourse  in  all  their  friendly  gatherings,  and 
some  of  these  were  the  happiest  days  of  their  lives.  To-day,  when  the  more 
mature  boy  and  girl  looks  back  over  the  many  splendid  farms  and  farm-houses 
now  seen  all  over  the  township,  they  hardly  realize  the  fact  that  this  country, 
a  little  over  forty  years  ago,  was  then  a  mighty  unbroken  forest,  without  roads, 
and  nothing  but  trails  or  blazed  trees  to  guide  the  movement  of  the  early 
settlers.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  settlers,  the  procession  of  canvas- 
wagons,  filled  with  emigrants,  dropping  out  to  settle  here  and  there,  and 
others  going  on,  was  quite  a  curiosity,  and  from  early  in  1834  to  1840  this 
township  was  settled,  and  settled  too  by  as  noble  a  class  of  men  and  women 
as  any  country  may  well  feel  proud  of  The  great  mass  of  them  were  from 
New  England,  New  York,  and  some  from  Pennsylvania.  They  were,  speak- 
ing within  bounds,  men  and  women  of  character  and  intelHgence ;,  full  of 
enterprise,  far  above  the  age.  They  came  west  to  found  a  new  empire,  and 
how  faithfully  have  they  accomplished  their  mission !  Fulton  township  has 
furnished  to  this  and  Lucas  county,  five  sheriffs,  one  city  marshal,  three  at- 
torneys at  law,  one  banker,  two  members  of  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  one 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  187 1,  two  auditors,  two  clerks  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  one  prosecuting  attorney,  one  clerk  of  the  court 

61 


5o6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

for  Lucas  county,  one  postmaster  in  Toledo,  one  judge,  three  commissioners, 
two  treasurers  of  the  county,  besides  many  other  subordinate  situations  ;  and 
a  class  of  educators,  the  first  upon  the  soil,  not  excelled  by  the  more  modern 
style  of  to-day.  The  coldness  and  selfish  exclusiveness  which  now,  too  often, 
separates  those  living  in  the  same  neighborhood  into  cliques  and  castes,  mak- 
ing distinction  in  society,  was  unknown  in  the  early  days  of  this  township. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  this  township  is  one  purely  agricultural. 
She  has  a  rich  soil,  and  may  be  said  to  be  well  watered  ;  that  since  1834  an 
unbroken  wilderness  of  very  heavy  timber,  has,  by  the  diligent  use  of  the  ax 
and  hand-spike  and  maul,  been  converted  into  fertile  fields  and  pleasant 
homes.  In  area  it  contains  18,213  acres;  assessed  value  for  1887,  real  and 
personal,  is  $464,890,  with  a  population  in  1880  of  1,563.  Ai  was  for  many 
years  the  center  of  trade  of  the  township,  but  the  incoming  of  the  railroad,  and 
its  passage  at  a  distant  point,  drew  away  her  trade  and  turned  it  into  other 
channels. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 
HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  township  at  present  embraces  a  part  of  three  county  organizations,  to 
wit:  The  counties  of  Wood,  Henry  and  WiUiams,  which  were  by  the 
Legislature  of  Ohio  organized  from  Indian  territory  April  i,  1820,  south  of 
the  Fulton  line.  In  1835  Lucas  county  was  organized  from  Wood  county, 
embracing  all  the  territory  west  of  Lake  Erie  south  of  said  line  to  the  northern 
line  of  Henry  county,  and  running  west  to  the  Williams  county  line.  After 
this  territory  became  a  part  of  Lucas  county,  June  6,  1836,  three  ranges  of 
townships  were  organized  into  the  township  of  York,  and  the  elections  were 
held  at  what  is  called  "York  Center."  About  two  years  thereafter,  March  5, 
.18  3  8,  by  the  commissioners  of  Lucas  county,  Clinton  township  was  organized, 
■embracing  ranges  five  and  six  west  of  York,  formerly  under  its  municipal  con- 
trol, and  the  first  election  for  Clinton  township  was  held  at  the  cabin  of  Isaac 
Tedrow,  then  Hving  on  section  nine,  town  seven  north,  range  six  east.  On 
March  4,  1839,  German  township  was  organized  by  the  commissioners  of 
Lucas  county  from  towns  seven  and  eight  north,  range  five  east.  The  first 
election  was  held  at  the  residence  of  Jonathan  Barnes,  on  section  fourteen. 
On  the  1st  of  March,  1841,  the  commissioners  took  from  German  township  all 
of  town  eight  north,  range  five  east,  and  one  tier  of  sections  off  the  north  side 
of  town  seven  north,  range  five  east,   and   organized  it,  with  other  territory. 


Fulton  County.  507 


into  the  township  of  Franklin.  In  1850,  at  the  organization  of  Fulton  county, 
by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  the  area  of  German  township  was  en- 
larged by  taking  a  strip  two  miles  wide  off  the  north  side  of  town  six  north, 
range  five  east,  then  Ridgeville  township,  Henry  county.  The  Legislature  at 
this  same  session  took  from  Brady  township,  in  Williams  county,  a  strip  of  land 
two  miles  wide,  embracing  two  tiers  of  sections  upon  the  east  side  of  Brady, 
excepting  sections  one  and  two,  which  were  organized  in  Franklin,  and  at- 
tached the  same  to  German  township.  These  form  its  present  boundaries. 
German  township  has  fifty-two  full  sections  of  land,  making  an  area  of  fifty-two 
square  miles,  or  33,280  acres.  It  is  now  composed  of  sections  seven  to  thirty- 
six,  inclusive,  town  seven  north,  range  five  east,  and  sections  one  to  twelve, 
inclusive,  town  six  north,  range  five  east,  and  sections  eleven,  twelve,  thirteen, 
fourteen,  twenty-three,  twenty- four,  twenty- five,  twenty-six  and  thirty-five, 
thirty-six  town  seven  north,  range  four  east,  from  Williams  county. 

Boundaries. — German  township  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  Clinton  town- 
ship ;  on  the  north  by  Franklin ;  on  the  west  by  Williams  county,  and  on  the 
south  by  Ridgeville  township,  Henry  county.  It  lies  in  nearly  a  square,  com- 
pact form,  and  is  but  one  mile  longer  east  and  west,  than  north  and  south,  and 
is  composed  of  parts  of  three  Congressional  surveys,  or  townships. 

Topography. — German  township  is  very  level  in  its  surface  appearance,  and 
gives  prominence  to  the  lacustrine  clay  throughout  its  whole  area.  In  the 
northeast  part  some  few  spurs  of  sand  and  gravel  seem  to  put  out  from  the 
openings  and  slightly  overlap  the  clays,  and  are  especially  available  for  roads. 
These  sand  spurs  cover  but  a  small  area  of  the  township,  and  are  limited  to 
the  northeast  part,  in  patches,  and  the  underlying  clay  may  be  reached  in  a 
few  feet.  These  spurs  are  as  heavily  timbered  as  the  more  level  clay  land,, 
and  where  they  reach  down  upon  the  clays  are  generally  richer  in  fertility. 
Clay,  suitable  for  brick  making,  can  be  found  in  abundance,  and  in  qualit5r 
well  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  tile,  but  as  yet  this  industry  is  poorly  de- 
veloped. The  importance  of  thorough  under-draining  to  the  attainment  of 
best  results  in  agriculture  in  this  township,  is  now  generally  recognized  as  of 
important  value  to  farm  industry.  The  exceeding  flatness  and  consequent 
saturation  of  the  soil  was  an  evil  of  the  early  days,  and  nowhere  was  the  town- 
ship reliable  for  good  crops,  and  drainage  in  a  large  measure  had  to  be  made 
to  obviate  these  apparent  difficulties,  and  to  secure  reliable  crops  and  easy 
tillage.  German  is  endowed  with  no  natural  facilities  for  manufacture  or 
commerce;  but  simply  with  a  fertile  soil,  she  can  only  be  considered  as  a 
producer  of  food,  and  whatever  will  forward  this  is  of  vital  consequence  to  her. 
Viewed  in  this  light  it  appears  to  be  of  leading  importance,  and  the  day  can- 
not be  far  distant  when  tile  manufacture  will  be  conducted  here  on  an  exten- 
sive scale. 

Timber  and  Supply. — The  timber  covering  the  virgin  soil  of  German  town- 


So8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ship  was  very  dense  throughout  its  whole  area;  it  was  tall  and  the  whole  of  an 
extremely  vigorous  growth ;  the  varieties  include  elm,  in  abundance,  bass- 
wood,  oak  of  several  varieties,  hickory,  black-walnut,  whitewood,  butternut, 
sugar  maple  and  a  sprinkling  of  beech,  in  some  parts,  and  in  the  lowest  lands 
black  ash,  white  ash  prevails  throughout  the  township,  and  an  undergrowth  of 
blue  beech  and  hard  hack. 

Streams  and  Water  Supply. — This  township  has  but  a  small  number  of 
running  or  unfailing  streams.  The  largest  of  note  is  Bean  Creek,  formerly 
known  as  Tiffin  River ;  it  drains  the  northwest  corner  of  the  township,  and  in 
its  course  is  very  crooked  and  sluggish,  and  passes  into  Williams  county  in  a 
southwesterly  course  to  the  Maumee  River,  by  which  all  the  waters  of  the  en- 
tire township  reach  Lake  Erie.  Brush  Creek  has  its  rise  near  the  center  of 
Dover  township,  and  is  given  some  prominence  from  the  springs  of  the  sand 
area  near  Spring  Hill.  It  runs  in  a  southwesterly  course,  and  receives  a  few 
streamlets,  mostly  upon  its  south  side,  made  principally  by  drainage  from 
the  farm  land,  and  traverses  the  township  of  German  south  and  east  of  its 
center,  and  leaves  the  township  south  of  Archbold;  and  thence  makes  its  way 
to  Bean  Creek,  into  which  it  empties  near  Evansport,  Springfield  township, 
Williams  county.  In  the  western  part  of  the  township  there  are  a  few  small 
branches  that  lead  west  to  Bean  Creek,  but  these  are  quite  insignificant  as  to 
a  water  supply.  Since  drainage  has  been  going  on  the  declension  of  water  in 
the  wells,  and  other  sources  of  supply,  is  alarming  in  case  of  extreme  drouth  ; 
the  only  permanent  supply  can  be  had  by  deep  borings,  which,  in  some  places, 
afford  an  artesian  supply. 

Soil,  etc. — The  soil  of  this  township  is  productive  in  everything  that  can  be 
produced  from  the  soil  in  any  township  of  the  county ;  a  rich  clay  loam,  en- 
tirely stoneless,  presents  itself  to  the  surface,  and  is  entirely  referable  to  the 
lacustrine  deposit.  It  is  retentive  of  vegetable  manures,  and  gives  a  splendid 
return  for  their  application.  It  has  for  its  subsoil  a  more  unmodified  clay, 
approaching  the  Erie  or  blue  clay,  and  is  rather  impervious  to  water  proceed- 
ing from  rain  falls,  which  is  soon  evaporated  in  dry  weather.  The  general 
slope  of  the  surface  is  to  the  southwest.  The  lowest  land  in  the  township 
would,  in  all  probability,  lie  in  the  southwest  part.  The  average  depth  of  the 
drift,  taking  Archbold  for  the  basis  of  calculation,  would  be  on  an  average  146 
feet,  or  upon  a  level  with  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie. 

Early  Settlers. — The  first  settlement  in  this  township  was  made  by  German 
pioneers  in  August,  1834.  They  were  Nicholas  King,  who  afterwards  returned 
to  Wayne  county,  O.,  on  account  of  an  accident  that  befell  him,  but  who  soon 
returned  ;  Jacob  Bender,  wife  and  seven  children  ;  Christian  Lauber,  wife  and 
four  children  ;  George  Meister,  wife  and  five  children ;  Jacob  Grunday,  wife 
and  five  children  ;  Moses  Kibbler,  wife  and  six  children,  and  Christian  Rupp 
and  family.     Accompanying  these   families  from   the  fatherland  were  Henry 


Fulton  County.  509 


and  Jacob  Roth,  Christian  Reigscker  and  Michael  Figy,  all  young  men  and  un- 
married. They  were  also  accompanied  by  one  John  Gunday,  who  stayed  but 
a  short  time  and  then  returned  to  Wayne  county,  from  whence  he  came.  This 
•colony  was  composed  of  forty-three  persons,  all  told,  and  most  of  them  were 
from  Millhausen,  a  small  town  in  Switzerland.  Besides  these  were  one  or  two 
families  from  the  north  of  France,  but  nearly  all  fresh  from  the  Old  World.  The 
first  house  put  up  by  these  colonists  was  erected  by  Christian  Lauber  very 
soon  after  his  arrival,  upon  section  ten,  whereon  the  family  resides  at  this  day. 
The  rest  of  the  heads  of  families  soon  selected  their  land,  and  cabins  were  built 
in  quick  succession.  When  putting  up  the  first  cabin  there  came  to  them  a 
man  whom  they  ascertained  to  be  Joseph  Bates  from  near  Bean  Creek,  who 
was  hunting  and  who  offered  his  assistance  in  helping  the  little  colony  to  cabins. 
The  only  shelter  they  had  at  that  time  was  the  sunny  side  of  large  stumps, 
protected  by  putting  up  a  few  blankets.  The  next  day  Mr.  Bates  returned 
-with  his  rifle  and  ax  and  three  men,  two  of  whom  were  Abner  and  WiUiam 
Ayers,  who  were  boarders  with  Bates.  They  all  "  turned  in"  and  helped  these 
new-comers  construct  their  cabins  and  saw  them  all  comfortably  housed.  They 
then  left  for  their  own  homes.  A  portion  of  these  colonists  were  late  arrivals, 
having  landed  in  New  York  but  a  few  weeks  before.  They  came  to  Cleveland 
and  then  to  Massilon,  O.,  where  they  were  met  by  friends  who  had  heard  of 
their  coming.  They  liked  this  country.  They  had  heard  of  the  Maumee  Val- 
ley and  with  the  advice  of  their  friends,  concluded  to  emigrate  thereto  ;  accord- 
ingly they  purchased  five  yoke  of  cattle  and  the  necessary  wagons,  and  started 
about  the  first  of  August  for  German  township,  then  an  unorganized  territory. 

After  several  days  travel  they  reached  Napoleon  and  were  much  disap- 
pointed, for  they  supposed  it  to  be  a  place  of  some  magnitude,  from  the  name 
it  carried,  a  name  so  famihar  to  them  in  the  old  world.  Here  they  found  but 
one  building  and  that  occupied  by  a  man  named  Hueston.  Here  they  left  their 
teams  and  families  for  three  weeks,  while  all  the  men  went  forward  with  their 
axes  and  cut  and  cleaned  out  a  track  the  distance  of  fifteen  miles.  Musquitoes 
-were  numerous  and  troublesome,  and  at  times  almost  unendurable. 

They  were  nine  days  in  cutting  their  way  to  what  is  now  called  Lauber 
Hill,  after  which  they  returned  to  Napoleon,  and  after  three  days  of  prepara- 
tion, set  out  for  German  and  established  themselves  on  their  selected  lands, 
two  miles  east  of  the  present  village  of  Burlington.  For  a  long  time  they  had 
little  to  eat  except  corn  bread,  and  they  ground  a  large  portion  of  this  between 
two  stones,  one  above  and  one  below,  and  manipulated  the  same  by  hand. 
They  had  no  place  to  get  grinding  done  in  the  whole  country,  short  of  Mau- 
mee. This  journey  was  long,  expensive  and  tedious,  and  seldom  undertaken. 
They  had  cows,  but  no  enclosures.  The  range  was  extensive  and  often  did 
they  have  to  go  to  Napoleon  and  get  them,  and  in  the  summer  season  a  de- 
pendence on  them  for  food  was  very  uncertain.     They  made  a  dish  which  was 


Sio  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

called  by  them  "pumpkin  pap,"  on  which  young  and  old  fed  with  voracious  ap- 
petites. Some  time  after  they  had  got  settled  Grunday  went  to  Maumee  Mills 
for  grist  and  the  purchase  of  flour.  He  found  a  large  quantity  of  mushrooms, 
of  which  he  gathered  three  bags  full  and  brought  them  home,  and  the  settlers 
ate  so  freely  of  them  that  they  were  made  sick,  but  all  got  well  without  any 
fatal  results. 

Soon  after  this  colony  was  settled  they  found  themselves  nearly  out  of  pro- 
vision, and  flour  at  Maumee  at  that  time,  1834,  was  worth  fifteen  dollars  per 
barrel ;  potatoes  one  dollar  per  bushel  and  corn  the  same.  Some  of  the  set- 
tlers went  to  Maumee  for  six  barrels  of  flour  and  other  provisions.  This  was 
about  the  last  of  August,  1834,  and  while  absent  there  came  to  the  settlement 
one  Captain  Williams  with  a  party  of  chainmen  and  axmen ;  also  with  them 
was  Ambrose  Rice,  of  Perrysburgh,  as  the  surveyor,  laying  out  the  State  road 
from  Maumee  through  the  Six  Mile  Woods,  via  Delta,  through  (now)  York, 
Clinton  and  German  to  West  Unity.  They  were  weary  and  suffering  for  some- 
thing to  eat,  and  seeing  a  fine  baking  of  bread,  clean  and  tempting,  wanted  to 
buy  it,  but  the  women  would  not  sell  it,  as  that  was  all  they  had.  The  teams 
were  away  at  Maumee,  and  when  they  would  return  was  uncertain.  But  this 
surveying  party  must  have  the  bread  ;  they  made  the  women  all  reasonable  of- 
fers, still  of  no  avail ;  they  then  took  all  the  bread  that  was  necessary  for  a  few 
days'  use,  leaving  a  generous  compensation  therefor,  and  went  on  with  their 
work. 

At  this  time  the  nearest  settler  was  Joseph  Bates,  and  the  next  was  at  least 
six  miles  away,  in  Williams  county,  so  we  understand  they  could  not  rely  on 
borrowing. 

This  colony  were  principally  Aumish,  a  branch  of  the  Menonites,  which 
are  a  strong  body  of  that  faith  in  the  township  to-day.  This  generation  of  col- 
onists are  fast  passing  away  ;  their  trials  and  vicissitudes  in  endeavoring  to  es- 
tablish homes  for  themselves  and  famihes  could  only  be  overcome  by  that  pa- 
tience, industry  and  fortitude  which  characterized  all  early  pioneers. 

These  men  have  all  made  their  mark  on  the  calendar  of  time  that  well  de- 
fines the  type  of  a  generation  that  is  passing  away  ;  whose  record  for  good 
deeds  is  worthy  of  merit  to  history.  They,  we  can  say,  brought  beauty  out  of 
a  wild  forest ;  they  changed  weakness  into  strength  ;  they  created  means  when 
there  were  none,  and  what  these  colonists  were  to  German  township  in  her  in- 
fancy, will  live  for  all  time. 

These  were  all  the  persons  that  came  to  this  township  during  the  year 
1834,  at  least  these  are  all  can  be  found  at  this  late  day. 

Again,  in  1835,  it  is  found  that  John  Reynolds  and  his  family  came  to  the 
territory  from  Vermont,  and  settled  on  the  east  bank  of  Bean  Creek,  then 
within  the  territory.  In  the  present  limits  the  same  year  it  is  found  that 
Augustus  Hull  and  wife,  Peter  Wyse,  wife,  and  children,  Peter  Leithy,  Chris- 


Fulton  County. 


S" 


tian  Funkhouser,  Peter  Rupp,  W.  Greiser  and  family,  Christian  Beck  and 
family,  George  Ditto  and  family,  and  perhaps  Mr.  Kanipe,  whose  son  now 
occupies  the  old  homestead,  and  possibly  others  whose  names  cannot  be  re- 
called. 

In  the  year  1837  one  of  the  most  prominent  emigrants  was  Benjamin 
Brown,  who  settled  on  section  five  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  and  who  after- 
wards located  on  section  seventeen.  He  came  from  Vermont.  His  wife  was 
the  daughter  of  John  Reynolds.  Both  died  many  years  ago,  leaving  three 
children — two  boys  and  one  girl. 

In  1836  there  came  Henry  Lutes  and  John  Lutes,  both  doctors  and  preach- 
ers, Roswell  Reynolds,  son  of  John  Reynolds,  and  Ira  Eaton.  The  last  named 
came  from  Seneca  county,  O.,  and  afterwards  laid  out  the  town  of  Etonburgh, 
which  bad  for  its  early  beginning  a  few  log  huts.  George  and  William  John- 
son came  in  1836  from  England,  and  bought  a  large  property  on  Bean  Creek, 
on  which  they  afterward  built  what  was  called  Johnson's  mills,  a  saw  and 
grist-mill. 

In  the  next  year  came  Jonathan  Barnes  and  Dorsey  Barnes.  Dorsey 
Barnes  left  soon  after  and  settled  in  Gorham.  They  came  to  the  township  in 
1837,  from  Virginia.  Jonathan  Barnes  was  a  very  prominent  man,  and  be- 
came a  leading  citizen  of  German.  He  settled  near  where  Nicholas  King  now 
resides.  In  1837  also  came  Samuel  Burkholder  and  family,  Peter  Noffsinger, 
John  Rivnaugh,  and  Benjamin  Lee,  from  England,  Samuel  Gibbons  and  family 
with  Joseph  Noffsinger,  from  France. 

In  1838  and  1839  another  influx  of  immigrants  occurred,  for  which  the 
township  was  further  indebted  for  all  that  was  to  advance  its  agricultural  and 
educational  interests.  Among  the  settlers  in  that  year  were  Samuel  B.  Darby, 
Jacob  G.  Wilden  and  family,  Jonathan  Rogers  and  family,  James  F.  Rogers 
and  family,  Michael  Gish,  the  first  hotel  proprietor  of  the  township  at  Eaton- 
burgh,  James  Smith,  Joel  Smith,  a  local  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  John  Reid,  Henry  Roth,  John  Wyse,  Christian  Recknor,  Peter  and 
Jacob  Rupp,  Jacob  Depler,  and  their  families,  Joseph  Sander,  Hugh  Fairchild, 
Augustus  Clare  and  their  families,  and  perhaps  many  others  equally  worthy  of 
mention,  but  whose  names  are  forgotten. 

During  the  decade  1840  to  1850,  when  the  county  of  Fulton  was  organized, 
the  population  began  to  increase  with  rapidity,  which  gave  strength  to  the 
agricultural  industry.  The  settlers  of  those  years  were  as  follows  :  Albert  S. 
Fleet  came  with  his  family  in  1840.  He  had  been  here  the  year  before  and 
bou'ght  his  land  on  section  nineteen.  He  was  from  Steuben  county,  N.  Y. 
Jacob  Lipe,  Moses  Stutesman,  George  Gasche,  Peter  Noffsinger,  Joel  Smucker, 
Samuel  Ames,  Christ  Kloffenstein,  William  McCucheon,  Peter  Short,  George 
Betts,  John  L.  Betts,  Joseph  Clare,  Anthony  Moine,  Peter  Gull,  Joseph  Schad, 
Fred  Grouse,  Peter  Weaver,  Jacob  Lininger,  John  Lininger.  Jacob  Vernier, 


512  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

George  Vernier,  Peter  Kloffenstein,  Peter  Grimm,  J.  A.  Wolverton,  J.  P. 
Flora,  Jacques  Greiser,  Samuel  Wait,  and  William  H.  Dickason,  perhaps  other 
families. 

It  is  well  to  remember  the  past  and  to  recall  the  toil  and  privations  and 
self-sacrifices  of  those  who  pushed  forward  in  the  wilderness  of  this  township 
to  hew  out  and  provide  pleasant  homes  for  themselves  and  families,  for  to 
them  it  was  no  slight  test  of  bravery  to  face  a  wilderness  empty-handed,  as 
were  many  of  the  first  emigrants,  and  feared  the  treachery  of  the  wily  Indian 
of  the  forest.  It  was  no  small  expenditure  of  physical  strength  which  cleared 
away  the  majestic  forest  and  brought  the  untold  wealth  of  the  land  to  the 
front,  smiling  with  bountiful  harvests;  and  yet,  to  these  old  pioneers  it  was  a 
labor  of  love,  as  they  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  their  posterity,  enjoy- 
ing the  fruits  of  their  improvements  and  dwelling  amid  plenty,  with  all  the 
comforts  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  a  grander  age. 

Miscellaneous  Items. — The  first  election  in  this  township  after  its  organiza- 
tion was  held  at  the  residence  of  Jonathan  Barnes,  when  13  votes  were  polled. 
This  was  in  April,  1839;  in  1850  74  votes  were  cast;  i860,  271  votes,  while 
at  the  most  recent  election  over  300  votes  were  polled. 

Samuel  B.  Darby  was  the  first  justice  of  the  peace.  The  first  school  in  the 
township  was  taught  in  the  winter  of  1839  and  1840  by  Samuel  B.  Darby. 
The  first  school-house  built  in  the  township  was  on  the  State  road,  one-half 
mile  west  of  Burlington,  and  the  pioneer  teachers  were  Samuel  B.  Darby, 
Milton  Zouver,  Harriet  Schnall,  Miss  Baker,  Miss  Shipman,  Mary  Ann  Pretty- 
man,  Miss  Geesey,  and  Miss  Darby.  Wages  of  lady  teachers  at  that  period 
were  all  the  way  from  one  to  two  dollars  per  week  and  board  ;  and  for  male 
teachers  not  less- than  $12  per  month  and  board.  The  township  has  at  present 
fifteen  sub-school  districts,  and  one  graded  school  for  the  village  of  Archbold. 

Church  Growth. — Lilly  Bridge  was  the  first  preacher  of  the  United  Breth- 
ren in  Christ.  His  labor  was  missionary  and  occurred  in  1838.  The  first 
traveling  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were  Austin  Cole- 
man and  McEnder  Capp.  The  first  quarterly  meeting  in  the  township  was 
held  by  the  Rev.  John  Jones,  then  presiding  elder.  The  first  preaching  by  the 
Aumish  was  at  the  house  of  Christian  Lauber,  in  the  fall  of  1835,  by  Chris- 
tian Beck,  and  then  organized  a  society  that  now  numbers  265  members. 
Nicholas  King  is  the  present  preacher  in  charge. 

The  M.  E.  Church  at  Burlington  was  the  first  organized  body  of  that  faith 
in  the  township  with  a  membership  of  about  thirty. 

The  Catholics  built  the  first  church  of  the  township,  at  or  near  its  center, 
and  are  quite  numerous  in  membership. 

Henry  Lutes  and  his  brother  John  were  prominent  local  preachers  of  the 
M.  E.  Church  in  the  early  days  of  German. 

The  first  English  services  held  in  the  township  was  at  the  residence  of  Mr. 


Fulton  County.  513 


John  Reynolds,  Henry  Lutes  officiating.  There  are  now  seven  churches  in 
the  township  at  large,  supporting  good  frame  or  brick  structures  and  named 
as  follows :  The  New  Baptist,  New  Menonite,  German  Baptist,  Methodist 
Episcopal  (at  Burlington),  Old  Lutheran  (brick),  Aumish  (frame),  and  the  Eck- 
ley  branch  of  the  old  Aumish  (brick).  Pettisville  supports  an  Episcopal 
Church  (frame),  while  the  village  of  Archbold  has  five ;  one  Catholic,  one 
Lutheran,  one  German  Reformed,  one  Episcopal  Methodist,  and  one  German 
Baptist.  The  whole  township  supports  thirteen  churches  and  two  independent 
organizations,  whose  meetings  are  held  at  private  residences. 

Physicians. — L.  K.  Carpenter  was  the  first  resident  physician  ;  he  was  of 
the  old  Thomsonian  school,  and  was  of  some  importance  to  the  early  settlers. 
The  next  in  order  was  Dr.  Blaker ;  the  third  was  William  Winterstein,  who 
run  for  clerk  of  the  court  and  was  defeated,  and  who  soon  after  left  the  town- 
ship ;  the  next  were  Drs.  Schnetzler  and  Murback.  The  last  two  named  are 
now  in  Archbold. 

The  first  marriage  ceremony  was  that  of Holt  to  Miss  Irene  Reynolds, 

in  1837. 

The  first  child  born   in   the   township  was  Elizabeth  Wyse,  October,  1837. 

The  first  death  was  the  wife  of  Daniel  Spade,  1838.  Marriages  and  deaths 
were  few  up  to  the  year  1850. 

The  first  saw  and  grist-mill  was  put  up  in  1841  by  George  and  William 
Johnson,  on  the  State  road,  two  miles  west  of  Burlington.  They  were  both 
water  mills  situated  upon  the  bank  of  Bean  Creek. 

Henry  Roth  was  the  first  shoemaker. 

The  first  blacksmith  was  John  Reid. 
'      The  first  highway  laid  out  was   the  State   road,  running  east  and   west 
through  Burlington  to  West  Unity,  sometime   about   the    1st   of  September, 

1834- 

Jacob  G.  Wilden  was  the  first  merchant  in  the  limits  of  German  township 
as  it  is  to-day.  He  laid  out  the  town  of  Burlington  in  1839.  Burlington  was 
laid  out  in  a  very  few  years  after  the  State  road  was  opened,  and  was  thought 
to  be  quite  an  important  town  ;  but  its  business  and  population  have  latterly 
largely  diminished.  It  now  shows  but  little  of  the  enterprise  it  had  in  1850. 
It  has  but  one  store,  one  cabinet  shop,  one  shoe  shop,  and  one  blacksmith 
shop.  It  has  one  school  and  church.  It  also  contains  one  lawyer,  who  has 
been  a  resident  of  the  burgh  since  1858. 

Jacob  G.  Wilden  was  the  original  mover  in  all  the  enterprises  of  the  town  ; 
he  opened  a  store  and  run  an  ashery  upon  a  large  scale ;  built  a  saw- mill,  and 
in  1843,  seeing  the  need  of  a  better  supply  of  water  for  his  business,  com- 
menced to  dig  for  it,  but  when  at  a  depth  of  forty  feet  left  the  well  for  the  night. 
Before  renewing  their  digging  in  the  morning  they  tested  the  well  by  letting 
down  a  lighted  candle  ;  it  went  down  safely  until  very  near  the  bottom  when 

65 


514  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  candle  ignited  what  was  supposed  to  be  gas,  but  no  explosion  followed  ,•; 
the  flames  gradually  arose  in  the  well  until  near  the  surface  when  a  terrible 
explosion  took  place,  which  was  heard  seven  or  eight  miles  distant.  Several 
persons  were  injured,  among  them  Mr.  Wilden  himself,  who,  by  the  serious- 
ness of  the  accident,  was  obliged  to  retire  from  business.  The  well  was  allowed 
to  fill  up  and  was  never  completed  for  use.  The  emission  of  gas  is  noticeable 
to  this  time. 

Montgomery  Hooker  Fitch,  a  half  breed  Indian,  sold  the  first  goods  in 
German. 

Archbold  is  an  important  village  on  the  Lake  Shore  Railway.  It  first 
sprung  into  existence  in  the  summer  of  1855,  following  the  building  of  the  rail- 
road. Haywood  &  Ditto  laid  out  the  first  division  of  the  village.  Wentzler, 
Schnetzler  and  Depler  have  since  laid  out  additions.  Its  business  enterprise  is 
second  only  to  Wauseon,  nine  miles  east.  It  now  supports  a  large  tile  factory,, 
and  oar  factory,  wagon  and  blacksmith  shop,  two  saw-mills,  one  grist-mill,  one 
tannery,  one  tailor  shop,  and  one  meat  market ;  it  has  four  dry  goods  stores, 
two  hardware  stores,  two  furniture  stores,  two  agricultural  implement  stores, 
two  hotels,  one  drug  store,  two  millinery  stores,  one  newspaper,  the  Archbold 
Herald,  proprietors  Taylor  Brothers,  and  one  jewelry  and  toy  store.  One  of 
the  saw-mills  has  a  very  extensive  planing  attachment,  and  is  also  doing  a  large 
business  in  the  manufacture  of  staves  and  heading.  Archbold  has  four  churches 
and  a  large  and  flourishing  graded  school.  The  estimated  population  of  Arch- 
bold is  1,000  persons. 

Pettisville,  upon  the  eastern  line  of  the  township,  and  a  part  of  the  town 
lies  in  Clinton.  It  is  a  place  of  but  little  industry,  and  has  a  very  unequal  fight 
for  existence,  situated,  as  it  is,  with  Wauseon  on  the  east,  and  Archbold  on  the 
west.     It  is  a  place  for  small  country  trade. 

Before  1840  the  settlers  went  all  the  way  to  York  Center  to  vote.  Through 
the  efforts  of  S.  B.  Darby,  a  post-office  was  established  at  Elmira,  in  May,  1839,. 
and  Darby  was  the  first  postmaster.  At  this  time  the  township  has  three  post- 
offices,  Elmira,  Archbold  and  Pettisville.  In  very  early  days  men  and  women 
wore  wooden  shoes,  and  some  may  be  now  seen  wearing  them  occasionally. 
Men  wore  buckskin  breeches.  Corn  meal  and  water,  and  corn  coffee,  with 
hominy,  were  often  the  sole  food  of  many  families.  Wooden  forks  and  knives- 
were  used  to  eat  with,  and  often  a  log  leveled  upon  the  top  was  the  table.  Bed- 
steads were  often  constructed  of  poles  with  basswood  bark  for  cords,  while  the 
ticks  for  the  few  first  years,  were  filled  with  leaves  from  the  forest.  Such  was 
the  Ufe  in  the  first  days  of  these  pioneer  adventurers.  Money  was  scarce  and 
hard  to  get.  The  markets  and  mills  were  very  distant.  Oxen  were  used,  and 
it  was  worth  half  the  load  to  get  to  mill  and  market.  Cows  were  quite  plenty^ 
the  range  large  and  they  would  often  stray  away. 

In  1886  the  personal  valuation  of  German  township  was  $194,400,  includ- 


Fulton  County.  515 


ing  Archbold  with  its  valuation,  23,190  dollars.  That  year  German  produced 
from  4,864  acres  sown  88,467  bushels  of  wheat ;  from  2,854  acres  she  harvested 
103,770  bushels  of  corn;  from  1,966  acres,  75,754  bushels  of  oats;  1,479  bush- 
els of  clover  seed,  2,166  tons  of  hay  ;  6,567  bushels  of  potatoes;  the  butter  pro- 
duced was  62,407  pounds;  eggs,  27,951  dozen.  German  has  575  acres  of 
orchard.  The  sole  industry  of  this  township  is  farming,  and  is  pursued  with 
good  success.  The  Teutons  make  good  farmers,  full  as  successful  as  any  of  the 
Americans,  and  have  and  exhibit  as  much  competitive  pride  in  all  their  rela- 
tions, and  in  all  industries. 

Population.  —  In  the  beginning,  1834,  the  population  was  43  souls  all  told; 
in  1870,  it  was  2,323;  in  1880,  she  had  increased  to  3,035,  of  which  eighteen 
were  clergymen,  two  were  lawyers,  two  were  doctors,  and  an  unknown  quantity 
were  school  teachers.  In  naming  the  present  occupants  of  the  soil  mention  will 
be  made  of  some  of  those  who  have  been  especially  prominent  in  township 
affairs  and  general  enterprises  for  the  public  good.  George  Gasche,  William 
Dickason,  Jacob  Zimmerman,  Rev.  Nicholas  King,  Benedict  Meister,  Jacob 
Bender,  Fred  Flory,  Joel  Smucker,  John  W.  Roseborough,  attorney,  Martin  C. 
Palmer,  Rev.  J.  F.  Cook,  WilHam  Gecsey,  Daniel  McLaughlin,  Peter  Gull, 
James  F.  Rodgers,  Moses  Stutesman,  John  Lininger,  Frederic  Crouse,  Joseph 
Flory,  Henry  Grimm,  Frank  and  Charles  Grimm,  Albert  Betts,  Fred  Beuclerc, 
Charles  Bourquin,  Peter  Short,  Joseph  Claire,  Anthony  Moyne,  Daniel  Seigle, 
Christian  Shantz,  Jacob  Crouse,  John  Lininger,  jr.,  Joseph  Feathers,  Andrew  L. 
Markley,  John  Speice,  Benjamin  Ruffer,  Henry  Rice,  George  Diehlman,  Nicho- 
las Rufifer,  Christian  Gibbs,  Michael  Weber,  Henry  Pike,  John  Gigax,  Gotlieb 
Gegax,  Moses  Rupp,  J.  W.  Funkhouser,  J.  D.  Nofifsinger,  P.  Klopenstine,  Ja- 
cob Rupp,  H.  Yeager,  and  many  others  who  are  as  worthy  of  note  as  repre- 
sentative men  in  the  present  various  industries  of  the  township. 

Official  Roll. — This  township  has  sent  from  its  residents  since  its  organiza- 
tion, 1839,  to  represent  it  in  the  county  as  follows:  Jonathan  Barnes,  as  com- 
missioner of  the  county,  and  who  was  the  first  man  from  German.  He  died  in 
office ;  his  successor  was  William  McCutcheon,  of  the  same  township ;  John 
W.  Roseborough,  prosecutor  three  times,  in  all  six  years ;  Truman  H.  Brown, 
clerk  of  courts,  served  three  years ;  Levi  W.  Brown,  probate  judge,  three  terms ; 
John  B.  Schnetzler,  county  treasurer,  two  terms;  A.  D.  Newell,  probate  judge, 
term  commences  the  second  Monday  in  February,  1888;  Doctor  Schnetzler, 

one  term  of  two  years  ;  A.  J.  Murbach,  two  terms, Hartman,  two  terms  as 

coroners  of  the  county.     In  all  the  official  roll  of  the  township  in  county  offi- 
ces shows  nearly  twenty- eight  years  of  service,  with  two  as  yet  incomplete. 


Si6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

HISTORY  OF  aOEHAM  TOWNSHIP. 

GORHAM  township  was  named  for  Elisha  Gorham,  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  this  locahty,  and  a  prominent  petitioner  for  the  township  organization, 
before  the  board  of  county  commissioners  of  Lucas  county.  It  is  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  State  of  Michigan  ;  on  the  east  by  Chesterfield ;  on  the  south 
by  the  township  of  Frankhn,  and  on  the  west  by  the  township  of  Mill  Creek, 
in  the  county  of  Williams,  and  is  situated  in  the  extreme  northwest  corner  of 
Fulton  county.  It  has,  upon  its  northern  boundary,  the  counties  of  Hillsdale 
and  Lenawee,  and  contiguous  thereto,  the  township  of  Wright,  of  Hillsdale 
county,  and  the  townships  of  Medina  and  Seneca,  of  Lenawee  county. 

Pre-historic. — Long  years  before  the  white  man  had  trod  the  soil  of  Gor- 
ham township,  it  was  inhabited  by  the  Pottawattamies,  and  a  small  fragment  of 
the  Ottawas,  whose  last  home,  in  Ohio,  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Maumee. 
This  township,  like  all  the  other  territory  of  Fulton  county,  lies  wholly  within 
the  Maumee  valley.  It  is  generally  believed,  by  most  historians,  that  no  white 
man  trod  the  soil  prior  to  1800,  either  the  trader  or  missionary;  at  least  we 
find  no  account  of  such  fact,  and  none  for  settlement,  until  early  in  1833- 
This  date,  without  any  doubt,  was  the  beginning  of  settlement  in  the  county. 
At  the  date  of  the  first  white  settlement  upon  this  territory  it  was  included  in 
the  territory  of  Michigan,  and,  with  all  the  territory  north  of  the  Fulton  line, 
contiguous  to  Lenawee  county,  south,  was  organized  into  Lenawee  county  in 
1826,  and  was  called  the  township  of  Logan,  with  the  county  seat  at  Tecum- 
seh.  In  the  winter  of  1834  the  legislative  council  of  the  territory  of  Michigan 
subdivided  the  township  of  Logan  into  three  townships,  and  called  the  western 
part  Medina,  the  middle  part  Seneca,  and  the  east  Fairfield,  and  exercised 
jurisdiction  in  said  political  divisions  south,  to  the  "  Fulton  line  "  excepting  a 
strip,  one  mile  wide,  off  the  west  side  of  town  9  south,  range  i  east,  and  two 
tiers  of  sections  off  the  east  end  of  town  9  south,  range  I  west,  which  was  taken 
from  Lenawee  county  and  organized  into  Hillsdale  county,  in  1831,  and  there- 
upon the  territory  became  a  part  of  Mill  Creek,  and  the  county  seat  was  at 
Hillsdale,  where  all  local  and  legal  matters  had  to  be  disposed  of,  respectively, 
by  the  inhabitants  thereof 

In  December,  1836,  this  entire  strip  of  land,  north  of  the  Fulton  line  and 
south  of  the  Harris  line,  by  an  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  was 
set  off  to  Ohio,  and,  on  the  28th  day  of  February,  1837,  the  Legislature  of 
Ohio  extended  her  jurisdiction  over  it,  and  attaching  it  to  the  counties  of  Lu- 
cas and  Williams,  respectively,  with  all  the  territory  adjacent,  north  to  the 
Harris  line,  which  had  been  fixed  as  the  southern  boundary  of  Michigan.    This 


Fulton  County.  517 


survey  was  made  in  18 19,  by  Joseph  Fletcher,  and  by  proclamation  of  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  dated  March  15,  1820,  was  brought  into  mar- 
ket by  a  public  offering  on  the  first  Monday  of  July  following.  The  land  of- 
fice of  this  survey  was  at  the  city  of  Monroe,  near  the  mouth  of  the  River 
Raisin,  in  the  present  State  of  Michigan,  where  all  the  records  of  said  survey 
and  the  entry  of  lands  may  be  found,  which  were  made  prior  to  December,. 
1836,  when  it  became  a  part  of  Ohio.  Whoever,  on  this  strip,  in  1826,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  thereafter,  desired  to  get  to  a  grist-mill,  had  to  carry 
their  grain  to  Tecumseh,  where,  without  doubt,  was  built  the  first  mill  north 
of  the  Maumee  River,  unless  near  Detroit. 

Prior  to  the  transfer  of  this  territory  to  Ohio,  all  settlers  thereon  were  resi- 
dents of  Logan  township,  Lenawee  county,  and  territory  of  Michigan,  until 
183 1,  when  the  county  of  Hillsdale  was  organized  from  the  western  part  of 
Lenawee.  Then  all  west  of  the  meridian  line  became  residents  of  Hillsdale 
county  and  of  the  township  of  Mill  Creek;  and,  after  1834,  those  living  east 
of  the  meridian  line,  by  the  subdividing  of  Logan  township,  became  residents 
of  the  township  of  Medina,  and  so  remained  until  1836. 

This  territory  now  embraced  in  Gorham  township  is  peculiar  for  having 
been  in  four  township  organizations,  to  wit :  Logan,  Medina  and  Chesterfield,, 
of  the  east  part,  and  Mill  Creek,  of  the  western  part,  and  fifthly  and  lastly, 
Gorham.  Gorham  was  under  the  jurisdiction,  in  1826,  of  Lenawee  county,, 
and  in  the  winter  of  183 1,  the  western  part  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Hills- 
dale, which  so  retained  jurisdiction  until  1836,  when  Lucas  county  exercised 
jurisdiction  over  about  one-half,  and  Williams  county  the  other  half,  until 
April  I,  1850,  when  Fulton  county  was  erected,  and  which  has  had  uninter- 
rupted jurisdiction  to  the  present  date. 

Township  Organization. — At  a  commissioners'  session  held  at  the  city  of 
Toledo,  March  6,  1838,  upon  petition,  the  township  of  Gorham  was  organized, 
by  taking  all  of  towns  9  and  10  south,  range  one  east,  south  of  the  Harris  line, 
the  boundary  line  between  Ohio  and  the  State  of  Michigan  all  having  been 
under  the  organization  of  Chesterfield  township  since  June  4,  1837;  further, 
by  taking  two  tiers  of  sections  from  the  east  side  of  Mill  Creek  township,  in 
Williams  county,  west  of  the  meridian,  being  in  town  9  south,  range  i  west. 
At  some  period  of  time  since  the  organization  of  this  township,  and  by  the 
commissioners  of  Fulton  county,  the  west  half  of  sections  7  and  18,  town  9 
south,  range  2  east,  was  detached  from  Chesterfield  township  and  attached  to 
Gorham.  At  present  Gorham  contains  nearly  forty-four  full  sections  of  land, 
or  an  area  of  27,559  acres,  embracing  the  west  half  of  section  7,  fractional, 
along  the  Harris  hne,  and  section  8,  town  9  south,  range  2  east ;  also  fractional 
sections  (along  State  line),  7,  8,  9,  10,  11  and  12,  and  7,  18,  19,  30  and  31, 
full  sections  along  the  meridian,  east  -side;  and  13,  14,  15,  16,  17,  20,  21,  22, 
23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29,  32,  33,  34,  35  and  36,  full  and  perfect  congressional 


5i8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

sections.  Town  9  south,  range  i  east,  and  fractional  sections  11  and  12,  along 
the  Harris  line ;  13,  14,  23,  24,  25,  26,  35  and  36,  town  9  south,  range  i  west, 
of  meridian. 

Population. — In  1834,  at  the  beginning  of  settlement  was  Hiram  Farwell, 
wife  and  one  child;  total  3.  In  1880,  the  last  Federal  census,  2,029,  and  at 
this  date,  1887,  the  population  is  estimated  at  not  less  than  2,500,  according 
to  assessors'  annual  report;  being  an  annual  increase  of  about  fifty  persons  since 
the  fall  of  1834.  The  agricultural  power  of  this  township  is  not  yet  fully 
developed,  and  with  a  populous  commercial  center  upon  the  Canada  Southern 
Railroad,  is  likely  to  be  the  second  township  in  the  county  in  population  and 
power  of  agricultural  and  mechanical  industry. 

Productive  Industry  and  Valuations. — The  chief  productive  industry  of  this 
township  is  wholly  confined  to  agriculture,  of  which  the  prime  factor  is  the 
raising  of  wheat,  corn,  and  oats;  and  of  grasses,  clover  and  timothy  are  here 
raised  to  perfection.  Sheep,  hogs  and  cattle  raising  is  another  quite  important 
industry  of  the  farmers,  which  taken  all  together  may,  with  propriety,  be  classed 
as  one  of  the  best  agricultural  townships  in  the  county.  The  fine  buildings, 
houses  and  barns,  and  well  fenced  fields  declare  to  the  traveler  the  fact  of  the 
industry  of  its  population  in  accumulating  wealth  by  the  varied  agricultural 
pursuits  which  this  township  alone  possesses. 

Timber  and  Supply. — The  township  is  very  heavily  timbered.  It  has  a 
fine  growth  of  beech  and  maple  in  the  northern  and  western  part,  interspersed 
with  white  and  red  oak,  giving  the  township  a  fine  supply  of  rail  timber.  All 
this  is  intermingled  with  whitewood  and  black  walnut  and  hickory ;  also  white 
ash  which  is  prevalent  upon  the  highlands,  and  black  ash  quite  plenty  on  more 
swampy  tracts.  In  the  south  part  the  beech  and  maple  disappear  as  we  near 
the  Bean  Creek  Valley,  where  the  prevailing  timber  is  the  more  sturdy  elm, 
burr  oak,  white  and  black  ash,  whitewood  and  black  walnut.  The  whole  was 
formerly  filled  with  a  dense  undergrowth  of  ironwood  and  dogwood. 

Streams. — The  course  of  the  streams  through  the  township  is  generally 
southeast  towards  Bean  Creek,  which  runs  upon  its  eastern  boundary,  crossing 
the  southeast  corner,  and  thence  southwest  across  Franklin  on  its  southern 
boundary.     Springs  abound  in  many  places  west  of  Bean  Creek. 

The  water  supply  for  stock  and  domestic  uses  is  abundant  since  it  has  been 
demonstrated  by  the  auger  that  there  is  a  large  supply  basin  below  the  lacus- 
trine deposit.  It  is  often  obtained  by  flowing  fountains,  of  which  there  are 
many  at  the  present  day. 

Early  Settlers. — There  is  no  account  that  any  Indian  or  white  man  lived 
within  the  present  limits  of  Gorham  township  prior  to  1833.  They,  the  Indians, 
had  no  camping  grounds,  as  no  indications  of  such  appear  upon  its  soil,  the 
surest  record,  if  there  had  been,  before  the  advent  of  the  real  settler.  Yet  the 
soil  was  for  ages  trodden  by  the  warrior  and  hunter  of  the  dusky  tribes  of  the 
forest  for  game  alone. 


Fulton  County.  519, 


The  first  real  settlers  in  Gorham  township  were  Hiram  Farwell  and  wife, 
who  came  early  in  the  fall  of  1834  and  settled  on  the  east  side  of  section  10, 
town  nine  south,  range  one  east,  now  called  Ritter's  Station,  on  the  Canada 
Southern  Railroad.  He  came  from  the  State  of  New  York  with  his  wife,  and 
raised  a  family  of  three  girls  and  one  boy.  He  was  a  man  much  esteemed  by 
the  early  settlers  for  his  candor  and  peace-making  peculiarities  in  the  whole 
range  of  his  social  circle.  He  sometimes  preached  and  was  often  called  to 
minister  comfort  and  consolation  to  mourners  at  funerals  and  helping  to  lay 
at  rest  their  dead. 

He  has  long  since  passed  to  that  bourne  from  whence  no  traveller  returns. 
On  the  31st  day  of  December,  1834,  in  the  evening,  David  Severance  and 
his  wife,  Esther,  arrived  in  the  township  of  Mill  Creek  (now  Gorham)  and 
located  for  themselves  a  farm  on  the  north  side  of  section  36,  town  nine  south, 
range  one  west  of  the  meridian,  which  really  made  them  the  first  settlers  of 
the  original  township  of  Mill  Creek,  Williams  county,  and  the  second  family 
in  the  present  limits  of  Gorham  township.  David  Severance  was  born  in  the 
State  of  Vermont,  and  his  wife,  Esther  (Knapp)  Severance,  was  born  in  Jeffer- 
son county,  N.  Y.,  July  3,  1797.  She  died  February  17,  1887,  =^"d  David 
Severance  in  1844.  Both  died  upon  the  farm  on  which  they  first  settled. 
They  came  to  Ohio  in  18 19,  soon  after  marriage.  At  the  death  of  Esther 
Severance  she  left  six  living  children  (having  buried  four),  fifty-one  grand- 
children, eighty-two  great-grandchildren,  and  two  great-great-grandchildren, 
and  many  of  this  lineage  are  now  living  in  the  township  of  Gorham. 

Among  the  settlers  of  1834  that  can  be  remembered  were  Abijah  Cole- 
man, town  nine  south,  range  one  west,  with  a  wife  and  family. 

Waldron  and  Alfred  Severance  came  at  the  same  time,  with  their  father 
and  mother,  David  and  Esther,  and  soon  became  the  main  support  of  a  large 
and  growing  family. 

Among  those  that  came  in  1835,  that  can  now  be  called  to  mind,  were 
William  Lee  and  his  wife,  who  settled  in  Gorham  in  March,  1835,  upon  sec- 
tion 13,  town  nine  south,  range  one  east  of  meridian.  In  1846,  this  family 
moved  to  Chesterfield.  He  died  in  1854,  leaving  five  children.  Lewis  and 
Almon  M.  Lee  are  residents  of  Chesterfield.  The  very  earliest  of  the  settle- 
ments of  this  township  commenced  just  south  of  the  Harris  line,  but  north  of 
this  line  many  settlers  had  located  at  an  earlier  date.  Very  soon  settlements 
commenced  in  the  southwest  corner  and  center  of  the  township ;  they  were 
John  Gillett,  Gorham  Cottrell,  sr.,  September,  1835  J  Freeman  Coffin  in  June; 
Clement  Coffin  in  June,  and  in  September,  1835,  Sardis,  Joseph  and  Erastus 
Cottrell.  Just  north  of  and  contiguous  to  the  Harris  line  were  Henry  Meach, 
Justice  Cooley,  James  JMcCrillis,  sr.,  Orville  Woodworth,' Abel  Perry,  John 
Gould  and  Henry  Teneyke,  whose  lands  lay  principally  in  Ohio.  In  the  spring 
of  1835  came  James  Baker  and  wife  and  settled  on  section  14,  town  nine  south. 


520  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

range  one  east.  They  came  from  Pittstown,  Rensselaer  county,  N.  Y.  He 
died  many  years  ago,  his  wife  dying  before  him.  In  1852  he  built  a  saw-mill 
in  Royalton  township,  just  west  of  the  present  village  of  Lyons,  and  sawed 
the  planks  for  that  and  the  adjoining  townships,  for  the  plank  road  built  in  the 
season  of  1853,  and  which  road  was  laid  out  upon  what  is  known  in  history  as 
the  Vistula  road,  leading  from  Toledo  to  Morenci,  Mich.,  James  Baker  was 
followed  the  same  season  by  Martin  Lloyd,  Stephen  Chaffee,  William  Sutton, 
Asa  Butler,  and  WiUiam  Griffin. 

In  the  season  of  1836  came  Levi  Crawford,  Philip  Clapper,  John  Whaley, 
John  C.  Whaley,  Aaron  Price,  Calvin  Ackley,  Nelson  Fellows,  John  Donald- 
son, his  wife  Catherine,  and  boy,  Daniel  Donaldson. 

Of  the  later  settlers  for  1837,  1838,  1839  and  1840,  it  is  found  from  the 
best  information  upon  the  subject,  that  they  were  George  McFarland,  John 
Jacoby,  Elisha  A.  Baker,  Simeon  Baker,  Lucius  Ford,  Nathan  Shaw,  Hosea 
Ford,  Elijah  Snow,  wife  and  family,  three  boys  and  three  girls ;  Wendal  A. 
Mace  and  wife,  one  boy  and  two  girls ;  George  W.  Sayles  and  family,  Alfred 
Whitman  and  wife,  Abel  Paul  and  family.  Justice  L.  Hale  and  family,  a  mother 
and  her  two  daughters ;  Willard  E.  Gay,  Nathan  Salsbury,  and  Nathan  Sals- 
bury,  sr.,  Joseph  Sebring,  Josiah  Colvin,  Benjamin  Russell,  Almon  Rice,  Milo 
Rice,  John  Kendall,  M.D.,  James  Griffin,  Amos  Kendall,  M.D.,  Hiram  Hadley, 
Alanson  Pike,  Rensselaer  S.  Humphrey,  and  James  P.  Emerick.  Fifteen  of 
the  heads  of  families  of  the  last  named  have  answered  the  call  of  the  boatman 
and  have  been  rowed  over  the  river  to  their  final  home. 

The  history  of  these  old  pioneers  serves  as  a  type  of  a  generation  who  are 
fast  passing  away  ;  whose  many  trials  and  vicissitudes  could  only  overcome 
by  that  patience,  industry  and  fortitude  which  has  characterized  these  early 
pioneers,  and  which  has  left  an  example  in  struggles  and  perseverance  to 
accomplish  results  for  the  benefit  of  the  generations  to  come  after  them,  which 
is  born  of  a  faith  founded  on  the  belief  of  the  justness  of  the  Creator;  that 
good  deeds  shall  be  rewarded,  and  though  many  have  not  lived  to  see  the 
promised  land,  yet  in  the  fullness  of  time  the  sunshine  of  a  better  Christian 
civilization  will  surely  have  its  dawning. 

A  few  have  lived  to  see  the  forest  displaced  by  the  golden  grain  and  fruits 
of  the  husbandman  ;  the  fine  painted  dwelling  taking  the  place  of  the  first  log 
cabin ;  cities,  towns,  churches  and  school-houses,  standing  all  over  where  once 
they  saw  the  native  wilderness.  And  where  once  was  the  Indian  trail  they 
now  see  roads,  bridges,  canals  and  railroads.  Within  the  first  ten  years  a  very 
large  immigration  set  towards  this  township,  mostly  from  central  New  York, 
and  as  Hiram  Farwell  first  opened  up  the  forest  to  the  sunlight,  it  was  left  for 
these  to  put  the  finishing  touch  to  all  that  was  primeval ;  they  were  Michael 
Martzolf,  Ansel  Ford,  sen.,  Asa  Cottrell,  Daniel  Hoffinan,  Benedict  Zimmerman, 
Cornelius  Jones,  Henry  Emerick,  John  Saltzgaber,  Oliver  B.  Verity,  Day  Otis 


r  'I 


'C^ 


Fulton  County.  t,2T 


Verity,  .James  Henry  Verity,  Jacob  Woodward,  Abram  Van  Valkenburg,  Na- 
than Salsbury,  jr.,  Ephraim  Sergeant,  Truman  L.  Scofield,  Jacob  Cox,  Martin: 
Bielhartz,  William    Conrad,  Amos  Ford,  Philander  Crane,  Israel  Mattem,  Ja- 
cob Mattern,  A.  P.  Boyd,  Joseph  O.  Allen,  Jacob   Demerrit,  John   Gamber, 
Henry  Gamber,  George  Acker,  sen.,  George  Acker,  jr.,  Charles  Hoffman,  Sam- 
uel Hoffman,  Isaac  Hoftman,  Daniel  Hoffman,  John  Paul,  Obadiah  Griffin,  Johm 
Woodward,  Stilly  Huffman,  William  Davis,  Daniel  Bear,  William  C.  Ely,  Jo- 
seph Ely,  Benjamin  Dee,  Stephen  Hicker,  Franklin  Ford,  Amos  Belden,  Bain- 
bridge  Belden,  John  Mallory,  Peter  Holben,  George  W.  Kellogg,  Truman  Whit- 
man, John  B.  Kimmel,  John  D.  Brink,  Jared  Parker,  Peter  F.  Chambard,  Wil- 
liam F.  Ward,  Junius    Chase,  J.  P.  Ritter,  Jacob  Hipput,  Thomas  C.  Lester,  J. 
L.  Wise,  George  Lewis,  Ebenezer  Lloyd,  Lyman  Ellsworth,  George  F.  Dubois, 
George  Graves,  David  F.  Spencer,  Edward  Gamble,  A.  Amsbaugh,  Rial  Sweat- 
land,  Henry  T.  Caulkins,  Daniel  Rhodes,  Oliver  Town,  Uriah  S.  Town,  Hosea 
Harmdon,  Isaac  Town,  John  W.  Lilley,  George  Gamber,  Henry  Punches,  Sam- 
uel  Farst,  Hon.  A.  W.  Flickinger,  William  Plopper,  W.  P.  Garrison,  William^ 
Thompson,  John  Wiley  and  Josiah  Woodworth,  the  latter  being  killed  by  light- 
ning about  1846.      He,   when  killed,  was  living  in   the  part  taken  from  Milt 
Creek  township. 

Since  1850  a  generation  of  young  men  and  women,  sons  and  daughters  of 
these  old  pioneers,  have  been  clothed  with  the  mantle  of  their  fathers.  Many 
who  have  not  been  named  before,  with  their  fathers  and  mothers,  have  come^ 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  pioneer  life.  As  far  as  can  be  obtained,  the 
names  of  such  are  ;  Gabriel  D.  Snow,  Spencer  T.  Snow  and  Dolly  Farwell  Snow„ 
his  wife ;  Benjamin  L.  Sayles,  Columbus  Sayles  and  Ellen  (Scofield)  Sayles^ 
his  wife;  Wendel  A.  Mace  and  Amanda  (Bush)  Mace,  his  wife;  James  Mc- 
Crillis  and  his  wife,  Jane  (Sutton)  McCrillis;  A.  A.  Gay,  H.  S.  Conrad,  Charles 
Conrad,  Charles  H.  Van  Ostrand,  Thomas  T.  Baker,  Byron  M.  Hoag,  Asher 
E.  Bird,  Gorham  Cottrell,  jr.,  Ezekiel  T.  Griffin,  George  W.  Coffin  and  his  wife,, 
Cyrus  Ford  and  wife,  James  Brink,  John  Cox  and  Edwin  Farwell.  Many  of 
the  children  of  the  first  pioneers  have  gone  to  the  far  west,  again  renewing  their 
frontier  life,  while  their  places  are  occupied  by  later  immigrations,  some  of 
whom  will  be  named,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  to  wit :  Miles  L.  Wolcott, 
R.  Todd,  Harvey  Baker,  William  Kinkaid,  J.  Reynolds,  Abram  Schneider, 
E.  Jones,  Anson  M.  Aldrich,  S.  Youngs,  B.  F.  Robinson,  Calvin  W.  Thomas,. 
John  Smith,  S.  A.  Allen,  C.  Hettinger,  John  Bielhartz,  J.  Walkup,  A.  Kanaur,. 
Thomas  Ellis,  Solomon  Gotshall,  S.  Oswald,  W.  W.  Oswald,  J.  Toosley,  He- 
man  A.  Canfield,  William  Woollace,  Jacob  Gorsuch,  Solomon  C.  Wynn  and 
many  others,  who  also  have  aided  in  the  physical  and  intelligent  advance  of 
the  township,  which  is  appreciated  and  worthy  of  note  in  the  history  of  to-day. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  wealth  of  historical  reminiscence  forms  the  root  from 
which  springs  the  spirit  of  a  people,  and  from  which  they  secure  the  most  no- 


522  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ble  nourishment.  A  hasty  glance  at  these  old  pioneers  and  their  works  must 
suffice  to  represent  to  the  future  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  and  whose  im- 
age those  of  the  present  now  bear. 

Reminiscences. — It  is  said  that  Hiram  Farwell  erected  the  first  cabin  where- 
in whites  dwelt,  which  was  located  on  the  east  side  of  section  lo,  town  9  south, 
range  i  east,  and  he  lived  therein  for  a  good  many  years.  He  sold  this  farm 
of  his  pioneer  days  to  John  Paul,  and  then  went  to  Morenci  to  live,  where  he 
died  many  years  ago.  His  wife  is  yet  living,  a  hale  and  hearty  woman  of  ad- 
vanced years.  She  is  living  with  her  daughter,  Dolly,  wife  of  Spencer  T.  Snow, 
at  Morenci.  Farwell  built  and  run  an  ashery  for  many  years.  He  manufac- 
tured potash  to  some  considerable  extent.  The  ashes  from  burnt  log  heaps 
was  here  used  by  the  other  pioneers  over  quite  an  extensive  territory  and  it  is 
thought  he  was  the  first  in  the  township  to  engage  in  that  industry. 

In  later  years  Elijah  Snow  built  and  run  an  ashery  located  on  the  east  side 
■of  section  17,  town  9  south,  range  i  east.  He  run  this  industry  very  exten- 
sively until  his  age  forbid,  when  the  farm  and  ashery  passed  into  the  hands  of 
his  son,  Gabriel  D.  Snow,  and  was  successfully  run  by  him  until  about  i860. 
He  also  had  a  store  in  connection  with  the  ashery  and  this  was  the  first  store 
in  the  township.  Both  father  and  son  have  gone  to  their  long  home  ;  the  father 
at  a  good  old  age,  but  the  son  in  the  prime  of  life. 

Philander  Crane  built  and  operated  an  ashery  south  of  Handy,  as  early  as 
1 841,  and  worked  it  for  two  or  three  years  and  stopped.  These  were  all  the 
/regular  asheries  in  the  township,  and  all  suspended,  except  Snow's,  at  a  very 
■early  day.     This  industry  is  not  now  carried  on  in  the  township. 

Rensselaer  S.  Humphrey  was  the  first  man  to  clear  up  the  land  upon  which 
a  part  of  Fayette  is  located.  He  built  the  first  log  cabin  within  the  present 
•limits  of  the  village,  and  cut  away  the  brush  for  a  highway,  now  the  main  street. 
He,  as  carpenter,  built  the  first  frame  house  for  George  W.  Sayles,  and  the 
second  for  Justice  L.  Hale  ;  the  first  on  section  eight  and  the  second  on  section 
nine.  He  also  built  the  first  frame  school-house  in  the  township,  on  the  north- 
east corner  of  section  seventeen.  He  built  and  owned  the  first  steam  saw-mill 
un  the  township,  located  on  section  nineteen,  near  the  western  limits  of  Fayette. 
Jn  1850  he  built  a  store  and  blacksmith  shop  which  laid  the  foundation  for  Fay- 
lette.  In  1857  he  built  a  steam  grist-mill  and  operated  the  same  for  a  few  years 
in  partnership  with  Dr.  Joseph  O.  Allen.  It  was  the  first  grist-mill  in  the 
township  and  the  only  one  at  this  day  located  at  Fayette. 

'Cemeteries. — The  first  cemetery  in  the  township  was  located  on  the  north- 
'east  corner  of  section  17,  town  9  south,  range  i  east,  at  what  is  called  the 
■"  Snow  school-house,"  in  the  year  1848.  The  next,  on  the  lands  now  owned 
by  George  W.  Coffin,  was  built  some  years  later.  In  still  later  years,  after  the 
village  of  Fayette  came  into  existence,  there  was  laid  out,  for  burial  purposes, 
a  cemetery,  on  a  beautiful  spot,  for  the  purpose,  now  within  the  corporate  Hm- 


Fulton  County.  523, 


its  of  the  village.  These  are  all  the  public  cemeteries  in  Gorham  township  at' 
this  date.  Quite  a  large  number  of  the  township  people  bury  at  Morenci,. 
Mich. ;  those  upon  the  northeast  border  and  the  west  and  southwest  part  use 
the  "  Masters  Cemetery,"  in  Franklin  township. 

Schools  and  Teachers. — The  first  organized  school  district  in  the  township 
was  in  the  Cottrell  settlement,  in  1836,  and  a  log  school-house  was  built  upon 
the  southwest  corner  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  section,  21,  town  9  south, 
range  i  east. 

In  1842  another  district  was  organized  in  the  "Snow  Settlement,''  and  a 
frame  school-house  was  built  by  R.  S.  Humphrey,  it  being  the  first  frame 
school-house  in  the  township.  At  about  this  period  another  school  district  was 
organized  in  the  east  part,  and  a  log  school-house  built.  Oliver  B.  Verity 
taught  the  winter  school  of  1844  and  '45,  at  fourteen  dollars  per  month,  and. 
board  around,  which  all  teachers  of  that  age  did ;  a  practice  that  never  went 
out  of  date  until  the  adoption  of  the  free  school  system  in  1854.  Thus  began 
school  education  in  Gorham  township.  The  demand  for  other  districts  has 
since  kept  apace  with  the  improvement  and  population.  The  township  now 
has  eight  school  districts,  and  one  joint  sub-school  district  in  the  southeast 
corner,  besides  a  special  school  district  for  Fayette.  Lucinda  Rogers  taught 
the  first  school  in  Gorham  township,  commencing  in  May,  1836,  in  the  Cott- 
rell district.  She  commenced  her  school  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  territory 
of  Michigan,  and  ended  it  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Ohio.  As  the  teacher  got: 
her  wages  by  a  "  rate  bill,"  the  transfer  did  not  interfere,  as  the  bill  was  col- 
lected of  the  parents  of  those  attending  the  school.  This  school-house  was 
used  for  about  fifteen  years  as  a  school-house  and  for  church  purposes,  com- 
bined.    The  log  building  was  standing  as  late  as  1862. 

The  first  school  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  township  was  taught  in  a  log 
building,  and  was,  in  an  early  day,  known  as  the  Severance  school- house.  It 
was  situate  in  the  southeast  corner  of  section  26,  town  9  south,  range  i  west_ 
This  school  had  no  legal  organization,  and  was  supported  by  subscription.. 
Elizabeth  Freeman,  now  the  wife  of  Waldron  Severance,  taught  here  in. the 
summer  of  1842.  In  1845  a  frame  school-house  was  built  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  section  35,  town  9  south,  range  i  west,  and  was  painted  red,  as  is 
well  known  to  many  of  the  inhabitants  Hving  at  the  present  time.  Miss  Mi- 
nerva Cottrell,  the  daughter  of  Asa  Cottrell,  and  the  wife  of  George  Acker,  of 
Morenci,  Mich.,  was  the  first  teacher  in  the  red  school- house.  It  has  since 
been  changed,  and  the  district  centre  located  on  the  south  side  of  section  26, 
same  township  and  range.  There  are  no  small  districts  in  the  township,  and 
it  can  boast  of  as  good  schools  as  any  in  the  county,  excepting,  perhaps,  the 
schools  at  Fayette  andJWauseon. 

Churches. — In  1853  was  built  the  first  church  of  the  township,  and  dedi- 
cated by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  denomination;  it  was  originally  located  in- 


524  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  southeast  corner  of  the|northeast  quarter  of  section  20,  town  9  south,  range 
I  east,  at  what  has  been  called  "  Cottrell's  Corners,"  and  stood  there  for  a 
number  of  years,  when  the  centre  of  the  Methodist  population  shifted  to  Fay- 
ette, to  which  place  the  church  was  removed.  The  building  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  1859  or  i860,  and  a  substantial  brick  edifice  was  erected  in  the  place  of  the 
old  one.  The  Disciples  have  completed  a  substantial  building  for  worship, 
•during  the  past  year.  They  are  in  a  flourishing  condition.  These  two  named 
•churches  are  the  only  ones  in  the  township,  and  not  one  is  outside  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Fayette.  The  worshipers  of  the  township  attend  at  Morenci,  Fayette, 
-or  Masters  Corners,  in  Franklin  township. 

Saw-mills. — The  first  saw-mill  was  built  upon  the  farm  of  Rensselaer  S. 
Humphrey,  now  the  western  limits  of  Fayette,  by  R.  S.  Humphrey  and  James 
P.  Emerick.  The  same  was  run  by  them  for  a  few  years,  when  the  mill  was 
sold  to  one  Taylor,  who,  in  1859,' was  gored  to  death  by  a  vicious  bull,  upon 
the  farm  of  Philander  Crane,  two  miles  east  of  Fayette.  The  mill  was  soon 
after  abandoned.  About  the  time  of  the  building  of  this  saw-mill,  another  was 
built  by  Calvin  Ackley,  near  the  meridian  line.  The  mill  was  simply  an  ex- 
periment to  test  a  new  invention — the  application  of  a  band  saw.  It  proved  a 
failure  and  was  soon  abandoned.  The  next,  and  now  the  only,  saw- mill  in  the 
township  (except  at  Fayette),  was  built  by  James  Baker,  on  section  13,  town 
9  south,  range  i  east,  and  is  now  owned  by  Thomas  T.  Baker  and  Alphonso 
Whaley.  All  these  saw-mills  were  run  by  steam.  All  the  competitive  indus- 
tries of  Gorham  township,  excepting  the  single  branch  of  agriculture,  have  been 
driven  to  Fayette  or  centralized  at  other  points  upon  lines  of  railroad,  outside 
the  limits  of  the  township. 

The  first  physician  of  this  township  was  Dr.  John  Kendall,  who  settled  a 
few  rods  north  of  Fayette,  in  about  1839  or  1840,  but  he  left  and  went  to 
Franklin  township  about  1841  or  1842.  The  next  physician  was  Dr.  Joseph 
O.  Allen,  who  located  within  the  present  limits  of  Fayette  in  1851.     About 

this  time  one  Dr. Davis  settled  at  Cottrell's  Corners  and  practiced  there 

for  two  or  three  years  and  left.  This  is  all  of  the  M.  D.'s  who  settled  here  at 
an  early  date,  before  Fayette  started  its  journey  for  village  life,  and  there  are 
jione  now  practicing  outside  of  Fayette. 

Post- Offices. — In  1839  Gorham  post-office  was  established  and  held  for  a 
number  of  years  at  the  house  of  Erastus  Cottrell.  He  was  the  first  post- 
master. It  was  afterwards  removed  to  Fayette,  and  later  was  changed  in 
name  to  Fayette,  and  is  the  only  post-office  ever  located  in  the  township. 

The  First  White  Child.  — Fhila.  Farwell  was  the  first  white  child  born  in 
the  township.  She  now  is  the  wife  of  Charles  Perry,  living  just  over  the  line 
of  Gorham,  in  Medina  township,  Mich.,  but  she  is  fully  identified  with  the  in- 
terests of  her  native  township  in  all  its  relations. 

Justices  of  the  Peace. — Erastus  Cottrell  was  the  first  justice  of  the  peace  ; 


0r^,UiCt.^ 


Fulton  County.  525 


the  second,  Amos  Belding ;  the  third,  Israel  Mattern,  and  the  fourth  Jared  C. 
Parker ;  Oliver  B.  Verity  the  fifth.  Israel  Mattern  has  held  the  office  for  a 
great  many  years  in  succession,  and  is  to-day  an  acting  justice  of  the  peace 
residing  at  Fayette. 

Miscellaneous. — The  first  election  held  in  the'township  after  its  organiza- 
tion, was  at  the  residence  of  Erastus  Cottrell,  on  the  first  Monday  of  April, 
1838.  In  1853  was  shown  some  of  the  physical  manifestations  of  what  is 
called  "  Spiritualism,"  which  for  weeks  upon  weeks  drew  large  crowds  of 
visitors  to  witness,  many  of  whom  are  living  to-day  to  testify  to  the  same. 

History  of  Fayette. — Fayette  is  located  at  the  terminus  of  the  Chicago  and 
Canada  Southern  Railroad,  and  is  built  upon  the  east  half  of  section  nineteen, 
and  the  west  half  of  section  twenty,  town  nine  south,  range  one  east,  and  was 
-dignified  with  the  name  as  early  as  1852,  but  was  not  incorporated  until  in 
the  year  1872.  Henry  Boyd,  of  Maumee  city,  opened  a  general  store  in  the 
year  1852,  the  first  in  Fayette,  which  has  changed  proprietors  several  times 
«ince.  Henry  Gamber,  Rensselaer  S.  Humphrey,  Daniel  Keifer  and  Dr.  Amos 
Kendall,  cleared  the  land  where  Fayette  is  located.  Humphrey,  in  1845, 
Keifer,  in  1846,  and  Gamber  and  Kendall  about  1848.  In  the  year  1856  Rens- 
selaer S.  Humphrey  and  Dr.  Joseph  O.  Allen  built  and  began  to  operate  a 
^team  grist-mill  and  saw-mill.  The  same  mill  is  in  operation  to-day,  having 
been  furnished  with  such  modern  improvements  as  the  times  demanded. 
Joseph  O.  Allen,  Arthur  Allen  and  Judson  T.  Trowbridge  are  the  present  pro- 
prietors. They  manufacture  flour  by  the  roller  process,  and  do  an  extensive 
business  in  merchant  lumbering. 

In  1 87 1  John  S.  Butler,  of  Chesterfield  township,  erected  a  planing-m  11. 
The  same  plant,  with  extensive  improvements,  is  now  owned  and  operated  by 
L.  H.  Vosburgh,  who  has  in  connection  with  it  a  saw-mill,  sash  and  blind 
factory,  and  heading  machinery ;  also  an  extensive  lumber  yard  with  a  good 
stock  of  shingles,  lath,  cedar  posts,  etc. 

Present  Mercantile  Business. — The  mercantile  business  of  Fayette  is  now 
represented  as  follows :  A.  P.  Greiser,  general  stock  of  dry  goods,  groceries, 
boots  and  shoes,  and  fancy  goods  ;  Howard  &  Co.,  the  same  ;  Huffman  &  Co., 
the  same;  John  F.  Shaw,  family  groceries;  F.  Vernier,  the  same;  L.  A.  Pur- 
cell,  clothing  and  gents'  furnishing  goods ;  Acker  &  Sons,  the  same ;  Perry  & 
Allen,  hardware,  stoves,  iron,  etc.;  Rorick  &  Cawley,  drugs,  medicines,  wall- 
paper, books,  and  stationery ;  Andrew  L.  Kendall,  the  same.  The  bank  of 
Fayette,  a  permanent  establishment,  commenced  business  in  1885.  The  busi- 
ness is  owned  by  Colonel  E.  L.  Barber  and  E.  S.  Callender,  of  Wauseon,  and 
Arthur  Allen,  Judson  T.  Trowbridge,  and  the  Hon.  Charles  L.  Allen,  of 
Fayette.  Charles  L.  Allen  is  the  cashier  and  general  manager.  This  institu- 
tion is  rapidly  gaining  the  confidence  of  the  community.  The  representatives 
of  wagon-making  and  blacksmithing  are   Garlick  &  Booth,  John  Vine,  Eli 


526  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


Foglesong.      Mrs.    N.  M.  Shaw  and   Mrs.   A.  M.  Empy,   represent,  each,  the 
millinery  business. 

Educational. — Fayette  is  a  special  school  district.  The  public  school  build- 
ing is  a  large  and  convenient  brick  structure,  with  four  departments,  and  has 
an  average  attendance  of  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  pupils. 

The  Fayette  Normal,  Music  and  Business  College  is  an  institution  of  which 
the  village  may  well  be  proud.  It  was  established  in  1881.  Its  growth  has 
been  of  that  steady,  permanent  nature,  that  insures  health  and  longevity.  It 
is  provided  with  ample  buildings  and  grounds,  and  through  an  able  and  effi- 
cient faculty  has  become  a  prominent  institution  in  the  northwest.  This  col- 
lege is  rapidly  gaining  public  favor,  and  is  destined  to  become  a  prominent 
feature  of  the  village. 

Religions  and  Churches. — The  first  established  church  denomination  was 
the  Methodist  Episcopal,  the  edifice  being  one  mile  east  of  Fayette,  and  stand- 
ing on  the  southeast  corner  of  Asa  Cottrell's  farm.  It  was  removed  to  Fayette 
at  a  later  day,  and  was  destroyed  in  the  first  great  fire  of  the  village.  This- 
organization  has  flourished  continuously  since  its  beginning  in  the  primeval 
forest,  about  the  time  of  the  first  advent  of  the  whites.  Their  present  house  of 
worship  is  a  substantial  brick  structure,  pleasantly  situated  on  Main  street.  Its- 
pastor  is  the  Rev.  Theodore  W.  Brake. 

The  Christian  Union  was  the  next  society  to  construct  a  church  edifice, 
located  on  Gorham  street,  near  the  public  school  building.  It  was  erected 
about  1874. 

In  the  year  1886  the  denomination  of  Disciples,  or  Church  of  Christ,  hav- 
ing become  quite  strong  in  numbers  by  the  growth  of  population,  and  feeling 
the  need  of  a  place  of  worship,  erected  a  fine  brick  edifice  on  Cemetery  street,, 
which  they  now  regularly  occupy. 

Commercial. — In  the  year  1872  the  Chicago  and  Canada  Southern  Railway 
Company  completed  the  construction  of  its  line  to  Fayette,  and  run  the  first 
cars  to  it  July  4,  since  which  date  Fayette  has  been  the  terminal  point.  It 
furnishes  a  good  outlet  for  the  produce  of  the  country  contiguous,  and  makes 
this  village  a  good  market  for  all  country  produce.  The  construction  of  the 
Wabash  line,  with  a  station  one  and  a  half  miles  directly  north  of  this  village,^ 
also  furnishes  large  shipping  facilities  with  a  good  healthy  competition  in  the 
township.  Its  station  is  called  North  Fayette,  just  over  the  northern  boundary 
ol  Gorham. 

Nezvspapers. — The  first  newspaper  published  in  Fayette  was  the  Fayette 
Journal,  by  Delos  Lyon,  and  its  first  issue  was  in  the  year  1 874.  Lewis  Hol- 
comb  purchased  the  plant  in  1876,  and  conducted  the  paper  until  February, 
1878,  when  the  present  proprietors,  M.  Lewis  and  George  W.  Griffin,  took  pos- 
session. The  paper  is  non-partisan  in  politics,  and  is  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  the  village  and  community,  and  now  is  called  the  Fayette  Record.  A  large 
amount  of  job  work  is  done  at  this  ofiice. 


-x\ 


E.    H.    RoRicK. 


Fulton  County. 


527 


The  Bar. — Fayette  has  never  for  any  length  of  time,  supported  a  member 
of  the  legal  fraternity.  There  have  been  made  several  spasmodic  efforts  by  gen- 
tlemen of  this  profession,  to  secure  a  competency  in  the  pursuit  of  that  honor- 
able vocation,  but  the  peaceable  and  law-abiding  character  of  its  citizens  has  so 
far  rendered  unfruitful  all  attempts  in  that  direction. 

//i?^^/.f.  — Fayette  has  one  hotel,  a  fine  brick  building,  pleasantly  located  on 
Main  street,  and  easy  of  access  by  the  traveling  public. 

Physicians.  —  Dr.  Joseph  O.  Allen  was  the  first  physician  in  Fayette.  He 
has  now  retired  from  practice.  Dr.  Van  Buskirk  was  the  next,  wh®  died  many 
years  ago.  Dr.  Turrell  and  Dr.  Amos  Kendall,  both  of  whom  have  died  or  left 
for  other  parts,  formerly  practiced  here.  The  present  corps  ©f  physicians  are 
Estelle  H.  Rorick,  H.  F.  Van  Buskirk,  C.  B.  Herrick,  Edson  Emerick,  all  able, 
energetic,  and  well  qualified  in  their  profession. 

Post-Office. — The  post-office  was  established  here^in  1854,  and  Dr.  Joseph 
O.  Allen  was  postmaster  for  a  number  of  years. 

Population.  —  In  1887  the  population  of  the  village  was  estimated  at  one 
thousand  persons,  and  has  shown  a  healthy  growth  for  a  number  of  years. 

Miscellaneous.  —  Dr.  Joseph  O.  Allen  came  in  the  spring  of  1851  ;  Charles 
L.  Allen  in  1859,  and  Arthur  Allen  about  the  same  time.  They  all  came  from 
Clarkson,  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  and  have  had  a  large  influence  in  moulding 
the  sentiment  of  the  village.  Hon.  Charles  L.  Allen  has  been  twice  elected  to 
the  Legislature  of  Ohio. 

Official  Roll  of  Honor.  —  This  township  has  furnished  one  representative  for 
two  terms,  Hon.  Charles  L.  Allen ;  three  commissioners  to-wit:  William  Sut- 
ton, four  years;  Heman  A.  Canfield,  six  years,  and  Charles  Van  Ostrand,  two 
years;  one  probate  judge,  Hon.  Oliver  B.  Verity,  twelve  years,  or  four  terms; 
one  associate  judge  under  the  old  constitution,  Hon.  Abram  M.  Flickinger,  two 
years ;  O.  B.  Verity,  county  school  examiner,  six  years,  making  a  record  of 
thirty-six  official  years  for  the  township  in  the  county  official  roll.  In  1852 
Oliver  B.  Verity  was  elected  as  land  assessor  in  the  district  composed  of  Gor- 
ham,  Chesterfield,  Royalton  and  Amboy,  and  in  1870  was  appointed  United 
States  Assistant  Marshal,  by  the  United  States  Marshal,  for  the  Northern 
District  of  Ohio,  to  take  the  census  in  the  townships  of  Dover,  Chesterfield, 
Royalton  and  Amboy.  In  1874  he  was  selected  as  superintendent  for  Fulton 
County  Infirmary,  and  held  the  position  six  years,  ending  March,  1 880. 

In  conclusion,  a  word  to  the  old  pioneers :  You  are  passing  away ;  the 
younger  people  are  fast  filling  your  places ;  they  must  increase,  and  you  must 
decrease.  If  you  have  rounded  out  your  lives  to  such  perfection  that  you  can 
contemplate  your  departure  from  the  scenes  of  pioneer  life  with  composure,  and 
peacefully  at  last  lie  down,  not  to  dreams,  but  to  enter  upon  the  pleasant  reali- 
ties of  an  eternal  hfe,  where  many  of  your  fellow  pioneers  before  you  have  gone 
from  these  earthly  labors  to  enter  upon  the  higher  and  nobler  activities  of  that 


528  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

<( 

better  land,  and  when  from  the  sublime  heights  of  the  grand  hereafter,  you 
shall  look  down  upon  these  scenes  of  your  earthly  pilgrimage,  and  see  how 
really  small  were  the  trials  which  vexed  you  here,  and  how  they  have,  if  rightly 
improved,  worked  out  for  you  a  greater  nobility  of  character,  how  will  the  soul 
swell  with  gratitude  to  Him  who  hath  led  you  through  all  these  years  of  toil 
to  work  up  and  round  out  a  life  for  which  your  children  shall  rise  up  and  call 
you  blessed. 


CHAPTER  L. 
HISTORY  OP  PIKE  TOWNSHIP. 

EARLY  MENTION.— At  the  date  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  whites  upon 
the  lands  of  the  present  limits  of  Pike  township  in  1833,  the  part  lying 
north  of  the  "Fulton  line"  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  territory  of  Michi- 
gan, county  of  Lenawee,  and  in  the  township  of  Fairfield,  and  its  surveys  were 
made  by  the  authorities  of  Michigan  as  early  as  18 19  and  1820.  Its  county 
seat  was  Adrian.  The  inhabitants  thereof  did  all  legal  business,  and  paid  their 
taxes  at  Adrian,  until  December,  1836,  when,  by  a  compromise  of  existing 
claims  between  the  territory  of  Michigan  and  the  State  of  Ohio,  by  and  in  the 
Congress  of  these  United  States,  it  became  the  property  of  Ohio.  Lucas 
county  then  being  the  adjoining  county  to  a  large  part  of  the  transfer,  was,  by 
an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  June  20,  1836,  given  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
same  on  her  entire  northern  limits,  of  which  she  immediately  assumed  munici- 
pal control,  and  organized  from  the  south  part  of  Fairfield  the  township  of 
Royalton  to  the  "  Fulton  line."  All  the  territory  south  of  the  "  Fulton  line," 
and  now  included  in  this  township,  was  of  the  Ohio  survey ;  said  survey  was 
done  and  completed  by  Judge  Ambrose  Rice  at  a  very  early  day,  and  for  a 
long  time  was  included  in  the  township  of  York,  which  had  its  organization 
when  it  was  a  part  and  parcel  of  the  county  of  Wood,  to  which  all  the  inhab- 
tants  of  this  strip,  south  of  said  line,  paid  tribute  and  voted  up  to  March  i, 
1841. 

Upon  examining  the  records  of  the  commissioners  o*"  Lucas  county,  it  is 
found  that,  at  a  regular  session  of  the  county  commissioners  of  said  county, 
held  at  the  city  of  Maumee,  March  i,  1841,  the  township  of  Pike  was  organ- 
ized by  taking  from  Royalton  all  of  town  10  south,  range  3  east,  of  the  Michi- 
gan survey,  and  all  of  fractional  town  8  north,  range  7  east,  and  one  tier  of 
sections  off  the  north  side  of  town  7  north,  range  7  east,  and  so  remained  until 
1846.    Again  at  a  commissioners'  meeting,  held  at  the  city  of  Maumee,  June  2, 


Fui.TON  County.  529 


1846,  an  addition  was  made  to  Pike  township  by  taking  from  Royalton  the 
south  tier  of  sections  of  town  9  south,  range  3  east,  and  Pike  assumed  juris- 
diction-over this  added  tract. 

Boundaries.  —  Pike  township  as  at  present  constituted,  contains  sections  36, 
35i  34>  33>  3^'  ^''^^  31  of  town  9  south,  range  3  east,  and  sections  i,  2,  3  4, 
5,  6,  and  fractional  sections  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  of  town  10  south,  range  3  east, 
north  of  the  Fulton  line  ;  and  of  the  Michigan  survey  south  of  the  Fulton  line 
in  the  Ohio  survey ;  all  of  fractional  town  8,  range  7  east,  to-wit :  fractional 
sections  30,  29,  28,  27  and  26,  and  sections  31,  32,  33,  34,  35,  36,  and  sections 
I,  2,  3,  4,  S  and  6,  off  the  north  side  of  town  7  north,  range  7  east.  At  pres- 
ent it  contains  about  twenty-eight  full  sections  of  land,  or  an  area  of  17,839 
acres,  valued  in  1886,  as  appears  upon  the  duplicate,  $291,670  personal  and 
real.  This  township  embraces  two  fractional  township  surveys  and  part  of  two 
other  township  surveys.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Royalton,  on  the  east 
by  Fulton,  on  the  south  by  York,  and  west  by  Dover  and  Chesterfield  town- 
ships, and  is  about  equally  divided  east  and  west  by  the  "  Fulton  line,"  once 
the  boundary  between  the  territory  of  Michigan,  and  the  State  of  Ohio.  Pike 
appears  as  the  eleventh  township  in  its  organization,  when  this  region  was  un- 
der the  municipal  control  of  Lucas  county  prior  to  1850,  the  year  of  the  organ- 
ization of  Fulton  county. 

Population. — The  first  white  man,  as  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  settled 
here  in  the  fall  of  1833.  The  population,  by  the  United  States  census  of  1880, 
shows  in  round  figures,  1,147.  It  was  a  fair  and  proportionate  increase,  ac- 
cording to  its  area,  with  other  townships  in  the  county.  It  has  no  populous 
commercial  center  or  village  within  its  boundaries. 

Soil,  etc. — The  soil  of  this  township  probably  is  varying  as  much  as  the 
township  of  Dover  on  its  western  boundary.  The  extreme  eastern  and  south- 
eastern part  is  referable  entirely  to  the  drift  deposits,  and  is  what  may  be 
denominated  clay  and  sand  mixed,  of  the  lacustrine  order,  largely  modified  at 
many  points  with  the  second  beach  sands,  which  lies  near  its  southeastern  cor- 
ner, traveling  in  an  angular  direction  northeast  across  the  township  of  Fulton 
-on  the  side  of  which  sand  spurs  put  out  and  are  prominent  for  one  and  two 
miles  at  different  points  upon  its  eastern  boundary.  The  center  of  this  town- 
ship is  largely  modified  from  the  western  part,  by  the  overlapping  of  the  finer 
sands  of  the  second  beach  formation  upon  its  western  boundary,  which  put  .out 
in  spurs  from  Dover  township.  The  whole  township  has  a  very  gentle  inch- 
nation  east,  and  with  these  sand  spurs  makes  the  surface  gently  undulating  at 
various  points. 

This  township  has  a  rich  soil,  susceptible  of  high  cultivation,  and  produc- 
tive of  all  the  cereals  of  agriculture,  and  less  subject  to  early  frosts  (except  a 
small  part  of  its  northwestern  corner)  than  its  neighbor  township,  Dover,  on 
the  west.     While  sand  and  muck  largely  prevails  in  all  the  frost  regions  of  this 

67 


530  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

and  other  townships,  wheat,  corn,  oats,  potatoes,  and  clover  and  timothy,  with 
everything  to  enhance  the  interest  of  agriculture,  can  be  as  successfully  pro- 
duced all  over  the  area  of  this  township,  and  is  capable  of  supporting  as  fine 
dairies  as  the  more  heavier  lands  of  the  county. 

The  raising  of  sheep  and  hogs  is  also  quite  a  prominent  industry  of  this 
township. 

The  lands  in  the  western  part  of  this  township,  and  angling  upon  its  north- 
ern line  to  the  northeast  are  denominated  "openings,"  embracing  half  of  the 
area  of  the  township,  and  are  considered  light  sand  lands,  often  subject  to  early 
frost,  which  in  some  seasons  are  serious  drawbacks  to  the  successful  raising  of 
corn  and  buck- wheat,  which  require  a  time  later  to  mature.  Wheat  is  success- 
fully raised  upon  this  land,  of  not  so  large  an  average,  but  more  uniform  in  a 
period  of  ten  years  than  clay  land,  the  quality  generally  good.  Large  prairie 
areas  are  prevalent  in  the  north  and  northwestern  part,  and  before  underdrain- 
ing  had  been  done  they  were  wet  and  covered  with  a  species  of  wild  grass, 
which  in  the  early  history  of  white  settlements,  was  cut  and  dried,  and  was  the- 
principal  cattle  food  for  winter ;  this  was  before  the  cultivation  of  domestic 
grasses.  There  is  not  a  foot  of  waste  land  in  Pike  township  at  present,  and 
largely  improved  by  the  great  amount  of  underdraining  now  being  done. 

Timber  Lands. — The  eastern  end  of  this  township  was  originally  covered 
with  a  heavy  growth  of  timber,  the  more  prominent  of  which  was  the  white 
and  burr  oaks,  elm,  hickory,  black  walnut,  cotton-wood,  and  some  white  ash, 
with  now  and  then  the  famous  whitewood.  The  buckeye  may  be  found  in 
small  quantities  along  the  valley  of  Bad  Creek.  The  forest  afforded  to  the 
settler  all  the  rail  timber  used  in  clearing  and  building  purposes  in  the  past, 
and  what  is  now  standing  is  fully  sufficient  for  the  use  of  the  farmers  for  gen- 
erations to  come. 

In  the  west  end,  and  over  the  balance  of  the  township  is  what  in  geology 
is  termed  the  "  second  beach,"  produced  by  the  receding  waters  of  the  glacial 
period,  is  of  sand  and  often  quite  heavy  ridges,  covered  with  oak.  Before  the 
white  man  began  to  settle  these  lands,  the  oak  was  very  dwarfish  and  scattering 
on  these  ridges,  while  the  level  plateaus  or  marshes  were  without  timber  ;^ 
but  since  the  fires  have  been  kept  away,  a  dense  forest  growth  of  oak  has 
made  its  appearance  all  over  these  sand  lands,  vigorous  and  noble  in  its  forest 
home,  and  since  commencing  drainage  the  low  lands  are  losing  their  wild 
grass,  and  its  place  filled  by  the  aspen  and  willow,  now  so  prevalent  here  in 
the  "  openings."  The  whortleberry,  like  the  wild  grass  of  the  prairie,  has 
almost  disappeared  from  the  soil.  It  was  said  by  the  more  fortunate  neighbors- 
of  surrounding  townships,  that  these  openings  were  good  for  nothing  but 
raising  frogs  and  whortleberries,  which  they  declared  were  the  "  chief  support  "^ 
of  the  pioneers,  and  yet  this  being  the  chief  support,  as  they  declared,  in  the 
berrying  season,  the  more  fortunate  neighbors  would,  with  their  wives  and 


Fulton  County.  531 


children,  for  a  dozen  or  more  miles,  fill  the  woods  and  purloin  from  Pike  town- 
ship '■  our  chief  support,"  as  they  frequently  declared,  but  to-day  the  residents 
do  not  more  often  hear  the  sound  of  the  frog  than  in  the  vicinity  of  "  our  more 
fortunate  neighbors,"  and  they  do  not  appear  as  of  yore  as  in  the  caravans  to 
the  "  mecca"  of  these  oak  openings. 

Water  Supply. — The  sand  openings  soil,  wherever  found  in  this  township, 
rests  entirely  upon  the  unmodified  Erie  clays  and  under  the  more  elevated 
ridges  underlaid  with  quick-sand,  and  forms  the  only  basis  of  water  supply 
afforded  by  falling  rains,  and  is  all  the  supply  above  the  clay  drift.  These  may 
become  exhausted  in  great  periods  of  drouth.  This  underlying  clay,  modified 
by  the  lacustrine  deposit,  is  found  in  many  places  throughout  the  openings 
near  the  surface,  and  wherever  it  projects  out  it  is  nearly  impervious  to  water- 
Aside  from  this  supply,  there  is  no  other  acquired  than  by  piercing  the  clay 
drift  to  the  bed  rock,  about  one  hundred  and  forty  feei,  where  there  may 
always  be  found  a  bountiful  supply.  In  these  modern  days  the  deep-well  sup- 
ply is  easily  utilized  by  the  wind-mill,  which  is  gaining  favor  among  farmers 
generally.  '^i 

Post- Offices. — This  township  has  but  one  post-office,  established  in  1848 
or  1849  ^i^'i  called  "Winameg,"  situated  upon  what  is  familiarly  known  as 
"  iEtna,"  near  the  center  of  the  township.  It  was  so  named  by  the  Hon.  D. 
W.  H.  Howard,  in  memory  of  a  noted  chief  of  the  Ottawa  tribe,  who  formerly 
roamed  over  the  forest  of  this  county.  The  first  post-office  established  in  the 
township  was  at  the  house  of  Lyman  Parcher,  called  "  Parcher's  Corners,"  but 
was  soon  after  removed  to  Alfred  R.  Shutes's,  and  then  abandoned.  Another 
post-office  existed  some  years  at  the  residence  of  Robert  A.  Howard,  called 
"  Essex,"  and  when  the  county  seat  was  estabHshed  at  Ottokee,  this  office  was 
abandoned. 

Water  Drainage. — The  drainage  of  the  township  is  chiefly  to  Bad  Creek, 
the  northern  branch  of  which  has  its  rise  in  the  prairies  of  the  northwest  part 
of  the  township,  and  running  a  southeasterly  course  to  about  the  center  of  the 
township  ;  thence  south  until  it  meets  the  south  branch  near,  and  a  trifle  south- 
east of  the  Salsbury  cemetery,  near  the  farm  of  the  late  Joseph  Salsbury. 
Here  it  receives  the  waters  of  the  south  branch,  which  has  its  rise  in  the  prairie 
lands  of  Dover  township,  near  its  center,  and  enters  this  township  on  the  west, 
near  the  Fulton  line,  and  thence,  with  its  numerous  tributary  streams  upon 
either  side,  made  more  rapid  by  surface  and  underdrainage,  crossing  to  the 
north  side  of  the  Fulton  line,  and  so  continuing  an  east  course  until  it  unites 
with  the  north  branch  south  of  the  Fulton  line,  on  lands  owned  by  Henry  S. 
Isabell.  And  still  there  is  a  more  southerly  branch  of  the  same  creek,  or  range 
of  waters,  with  its  lesser  streams,  having  its  rise  in  and  about  Ottokee,  and 
running  east  and  northeast  until  it  unites  with  the  north  and  middle  branches 
of  this  whole  western    drainage,  at  or  near  said  Salsbury  cemetery.      The 


532  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

streamlets  of  this  township  have  a  gentle  inclination  east  and  southeast,  and 
run  obliquely  across  the  geological  determination  of  the  beaches  until  they 
empty  into  the  Maumee  River,  at  Texas,  in  Henry  county.  This  township  has 
an  elevation  of  about  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  above  the  water  level  of  Lakt 
Erie,  with  an  inclinationof  about  fifteen  feet  across  the  township,  south,  to  the 
Maumee  valley. 

Rebellion  Record. — This  township  answered  well  every  call  of  the  chief 
executive  of  the  nation  for  soldiers,  to  put  down  the  rebellion,  and  promptly 
filled  their  quotas  without  a  resort  to  the  draft ;  and  to-day  it  proudly  points  to- 
her  loyalty  to  the  flag,  in  common  with  her  sister  townships  of  the  county. 
She  had  her  soldiers  in  every  part  of  the  volunteer  service  of  that  period,  irre- 
spective of  party,  or  party  affiliations.  The  boys  in  blue  rallied  at  the  call,  sat- 
isfied that  loyalty  to  the  stars  and  stripes  was  the  duty  of  every   good  citizen. 

Fruit. — This  township,  since  its  earliest  period  of  white  settlement,  has  led 
the  van  in  fruit  culture,  with  a  soil  and  climate  well  adapted  therefor.  She 
has  been  enabled  to  produce  as  fine  fruit,  and  at  as  early  a  date,  as  any  other 
township. 

Indians  ;  their  Camping  Grounds. — Upon  the  banks  of  what  is  known  as 
Bad  Creek,  near  ^tna,  upon  fractional  section  9,  town  10  south,  range  3  east, 
north  of  the  Fulton  line,  appear  reminders  of  one  of  the  most  desirable  camp- 
ing grounds  of  the  children  of  the  forest.  Its  fine  springs  furnish  what,  to  the 
Indian,  was  second  only  to  his  beloved  fire-water.  Its  soft,  pliable  soil, 
on  either  side,  for  garden  purposes,  rendered  it  a  desirable  resting  place  for 
this  nomadic  race;  and  the  numerous  circle  of  mounds  upon  the  north  bank, 
covering  an  area  of  three  acres  at  least,  are  plainly  visible  to-day,  although 
much  lowered  by  the  plow  of  tl\e  white  man. 

The  Hon.  D.  W.  H-  Howard,  in  removing  one  of  these  mounds,  upon  the 
south  side  of  the  arc,  to  make  a  foundation  for  building,  unearthed  bones  and 
relics  of  the  Indian  race.  The  bones  he  carefully  collected  and  deposited  in 
another  mound,  of  which  there  are  several  in  the  circle  and  others  outside  of 
the  circle,  scattered  around  in  an  outer  circle,  apparently.  The  Indians  said  to 
Mr.  Howard,  that  they  had  no  knowledge  of  the  time  of  its  use  or  construc- 
tion, but  the  tradition  of  the  Indian  race,  latterly  the  soil,  points  back  to  the 
time  when  a  great  battle  was  fought  here  between  the  Indians  of  the  West  and 
the  East,  wherein  a  mighty  slaughter  was  the  result,  and  the  killed  were  bur- 
ied here. 

However  true  this  may  be,  one  thing  is  certain,  from  all  the  facts  gathered, 
no  Indians  of  that  age,  and  prior  for  a  long  time,  had  used  the  ground  for  bur- 
ial purposes,  but  tradition  to  this  primitive  race  is  often  more  correct  than  the 
pen  of  the  historian, 'to  the  foundations  of  fact.  Drake,  in  his  "  Indians  of 
North^America,"  page  55,  quotes  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  says,  as  to  mounds  of  this 
class,  "gthat  they  were  the  repositories,  has  been  obvious  to  all ;    but  on  what 


Fulton  County.  535 


particular  occasion  constructed,  was  a  matter  of  doubt.  Some  have  thought 
they  covered  the  bones  of  those  who  had  fallen  in  battles  fought  on  the  spot  of 
interment.  Some  ascribe  them  to  the  custom,  said  to  prevail  among  the  In- 
dians, of  collecting,  at  certain  periods,  the  bones  of  their  dead,  wheresoever  de- 
posited at  the  time  of  their  death.  Others  suppose  them  the  general  sepul- 
chres for  towns,  conjectured  to  have  been  on  or  near  these  grounds,  and  this 
opinion  was  supported  by  the  quality  of  lands  in  which  they  were  found,  and 
by  a  tradition,  said  to  be  handed  down  from  the  aboriginal  Indians,  that  when 
they  settled  in  a  town,  the  first  person  who  died  was  placed  erect,  and  earth, 
put  about  him,  so  as  to  cover  and  support  him,  and  that  when  another  died  a 
narrow  passage  was  dug  to  the  first,  the  second  reclining  against  him,  and  the 
cover  of  earth  replaced."  If  speculation  on  the  origin  of  these  mounds  is  all 
that  can  be  presumed  upon,  most  people  are  satisfied  that  the  foregoing  opin- 
ion is  as  near  correct  as  any  presented. 

Early  Settlers. — This  township  presents  a  fine  record  of  the  pioneer's  per- 
severance against  obstacles  almost  insurmountable,  and  finally,  their  thrift  by 
the  indomitable  use  of  the  ax  and  hand-spike,  in  clearing  away  an  interminable 
forest.  The  first  settler  upon  its  soil  was  Valentine  Winslow,  who  first  located 
on  what  was  afterwards  the  Chet  Herrick  farm,  on  section  3,  town  10  south, 
range  3  east,  in  the  fall  of  1833,  and  there  resided  about  two  years.  In  1835 
he  located  east  about  one  mile  on  the  east  side  of  the  same  section,  where  he 
died  about  1858.  The  circumstances  of  his  death  led  some  people  to  believe 
that  it  came  by  foul  play.  A  coroner's  examination  resulted  in  but  little  in- 
formati£)n  of  how  he  came  to  his  death. .  He  was  buried  in  ^tna  cemetery. 
David  Robert  is  said  to  have  been  the  next  settler  upon  the  soil  of  this  town- 
ship. He  came,  himself  and  family,near  the  end  of  the  year  1833  or  the  very 
beginning  of  1834.      He  died  in  1841  and  lies  in  the  Salsbury  Cemetery. 

In  1834,  there  was  a  large  immigration  to  this  township,  of  families,  to  wit: 
Arvetas  Knight,  Nathan  Wilson,  Daniel  Knowles,  John  Sindel,  George  Wiers, 
and  Whitfield  Tappen  then  a  young  man,  and  a  few  others  whose  time  of  set- 
tlement is  uncertain.  In  1835  ^  larger  accession  of  colonists  was  added  than 
in  the  two  former  years,  to  wit :  Peter  Lott,  William  Griffin,  Sewell  Gunn.  Pe- 
ter Lott  however,  left  the  township  in  June,  1836,  and  settled  it  Dover  town- 
ship, near  Springhill.  Thomas  Silsby  located  on  section  33,  town  7  north, 
range  7  east ;  Robert  A.  Howard,  Jack  Hobart. 

In  1836  Peter  Salsbury  located  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  southeast  part 
of  the  township,  where  a  large  number  of  his  relatives  reside  to-day.  He  came 
from  Harrison  county,  O.,  with  his  patent  deed  signed  by  Andrew  Jackson, 
president  of  the  United  States,  later,  in  1836  ;  many  others  came  that  year,  but 
again  find  dates  too  unsatisfactory.  Peter  Salsbury  was  a  quiet  man,  unob- 
trusive, industrious  and  unostentatious,  yet  courteous  and  friendly.  His  friend- 
ship was  ardent  and  he  was  greatly  attached  to  his  family.     This  township  was 


534  History  of  Henry  and  FOlton  Counties. 

seen  by  him  in  its  native  wilderness,  and  he  has  done  as  much  as  any  other 
to  rescue  it  from  that  state  by  colonizing  it  with  his  kindred,  who  to-day  exhibit 
thrift  second  to  no  other  settlers  of  that  period. 

The  year  1837  was  eventful  to  the  earlier  settlers  by  a  larger  immigration 
than  usual  to  the  township,  and  soon  brought  a  change  ;  instead  of  poverty 
and  hard  times,  comfort  and  plenty  came  ;  they  were  Alva  Wilson,  Henry  Slai- 
gle,  Joseph  Walters,  John  Walters,  Emery  Wilson,  Martin  Wilson,  Peola  All- 
wood,  Ephraim  K.  and  Joseph  Allwood,  Thomas  Cole,  George  Megarah,  An- 
drew Falor,  George  McQuilling,  Jacob  McQuilling,  David  Salsbury,  Joseph 
Salsbury,  James  Viers,  Adam  Kline,  Wilham  Cox,  Samuel  Allen,  one  Graham 
and  Thompson  with  families  and  some  quite  large.  This  large  addition  of  set- 
tlers to  the  little  band  here  before  them,  began  to  take  an  interest  in  the  well- 
fare  of  the  township  and  soon  became  active  in  laying  out  roads,  opening  and 
repairing  the  same,  establishing  regularly  organized  schools  and  creating  a  so- 
ciety which  has  been  largely  beneficial  to  the  mental  and  social  world  therein. 

From  1837  to  1840  came  still  greater  acquisitions  to  the  prospering  colon- 
ists, which  required  more  room  and  they  stepped  further  into  the  wilderness 
parts.  There  had  not  been  more  than  grain  enough  raised  to  supply  the  wants 
of  the  settlers,  with  but  little  to  spare  to  the  rapid  influx  by  immigration,  and 
soon  exhausted  the  accumulated  surplus.  Among  the  families  that  came  to 
the  township  about  this  time  were  David  McQuilling,  George  Galligher,  David 
Zimmerman,  John  W.  Millers,  Chester  Herrick,  William  Fewlas,  Thomas  Hoxie, 
David  Pelton,  Boyd  Dunbar,  Robert  Dunbar,  Michael  Handy  and  family  in 
January,  1840.  Mr.  Handy  came  here  from  the  north  part  of  Michigan  ;  Mo- 
ses Tappan,  Andrew  and  Samuel  Dennis  and  others,  principally  drifting  in  and 
changing  from  other  localities  of  the  townships  in  the  county.  In  1843  Dr. 
William  Holland  settled  here  ;  he  came  from  New  Hampshire,  a  physician  with 
age  and  experience,  who  soon  gained  a  prominent  position  in  the  county.  Al- 
fred R.  Shute  and  his  wife,  daughter  of  Dr.  Holland,  came  at  the  same  date 
and  settled  on  section  2,  town  10  south,  range  3  east;  Mrs.  Shute  is  the  only 
survivor  of  the  lineage,  a  hale,  hearty  woman  seventy-six  years  of  age.  Si- 
mon Elliott,  a  Protestant  Methodist  minister,  William  MuUin,  James  Dicka- 
son,  Orrin  Taylor  and  family,  Joshua  Shaffer,  John  Whitaker,  Sherman,  Mar- 
shall and  David  Fairchilds  with  families.  These  make  up  the  principal  part  of 
the  early  pioneers  of  Pike,  who  braved  the  dangers  and  hardships  incident  to 
the  settlement  of  a  wilderness,  and  carved  out  of  it  for  themselves  and  their 
growing  families  a  home,  a  comfortable  home  which  they  have  left  as  legacies 
to  those  who,  it  is  hoped  will  ever  honor  and  revere  the  life  and  works  of  these 
pioneers.  We  of  to-day  have  but  an  imperfect  idea  of  the  hardships  and  pri- 
vations endured  by  the  pioneers  ;  without  roads  to  travel  upon  or  bridges  to 
cross  the  streams  ;  at  a  great  distance  from  all  the  privileges  that  now  extend 
over  Fulton  county ;  and  when  comparing  those   days  with  the  present  the 


Fulton  County.  535 


thought  is  well  expressed*  in  the  words  of  another :  "  But  the  man  has  changed^ 
his  shelter  is  better  than  that  of  his  father,  but  the  son  is  a  more  tender  plant. 
The  sewing  machine  girl  works  as  hard  and  long  as  Hood's  sewing  girl,  and  is 
as  likely  to  stitch  a  shroud  as  a  shirt."  With  new  inventions  new  wants  are  in- 
vented, and  it  now  requires  all  the  things,  and  the  latest  things,  to  make  man 
comfortable ;  he  grumbles  as  much  behind  a  locomotive  now  as  his  fathers  did 
behind  oxen  fifty  years  ago. 

Reminiscences  of  Early  Days. — Robert  A.  Howard  settled  on  section  33, 
town  eight  north,  range  seven  east,  and  a  part  of  section  4,  town  seven  north, 
range  seven  east,  in  the  fall  of  1835,  ^.nd  erected  suitable  buildings,  and  kept 
the  first  hotel  on  the  Maumee  and  Angola  road,  direct  from  Maumee  City  to 
Angola  in  Indiana,  and  also  one  Jennings  kept  in|  the  same  building  a  small 
store.  Jack  Hobart,  a  son  of  David  Hobart  bought  out  at  a  very  early  day 
the  goods  and  interest  of  Jennings,  and  in  1840  built  an  ashery  near  by,  just 
east  a  few  rods,  and  in  connection  therewith  the  store ;  how  long  he  run  the 
ashery  is  not  easily  obtained.  He  soon  after  built  a  house  across  the  way  and 
sold  goods  thereafter  from  this  new  building,  which  is  there  to-day.  In  1835 
Howard  was  first  elected  justice  of  the  peace  of  York  township,  which  he  held 
for  fifteen  years.  In  1850  the  county  of  Fulton  was  organized  and  a  tem- 
porary seat  of  justice  was  fixed  at  the  house  of  R.  A.  Howard  by  the  com- 
missioners elected  at  the  April  election  of  that  year,  and  the  new  officials  com- 
menced there  to  legally  administer  the  affairs  of  said  new  county  until  a  per- 
manent seat  of  justice  could  be  established,  and  remained  there  until  the  fall 
of  1 85 1  when  the  business  had  been  provided  for  under  the  new  location  at 
Ottokee  and  ceased  further  from  that  time  to  run  a  hotel.  Howard  was  also 
postmaster ;  office  Essex,  and  maintained  for  a  number  of  years,  when  the 
office  was  abandoned  and  established  west  three  miles  at  the  new  county  seat, 
and  called  Ottokee  post-office. 

David  Salsbury,  at  his  residence  upon  the  the  south  side  of  the  township 
in  his  first  settlement,  ran  a  feed  mill  for  grinding  corn,  and  was  built  by  dish- 
ing out  a  large  black  walnut  stump  as  a  mortar,  and  preparing  a  large  heavy 
stone  corrugated  with  the  chisel  and  pick  and  hung  in  a  frame  work  fixed  so 
as  it  could  be  raised  from  the  depression  in  the  stump  and  then  attached  to  a 
sweep  drawn  round  and  round  by  oxen,  the  first  power ;  and  for  a  time  made 
for  the  inhabitants  a  good  corn-meal,  which  saved  much  valuable  time  of  the 
settlers  in  running  to   Maumee  through  the  country  without  roads  or  bridges. 

It  was  after  changed  to  one  of  more  modern  date  as  soon  as  means  could 
be  obtained  to  buy  one  and  served  the  inhabitants  for  a  number  of  years  ;  the 
frame  work  and  the  old  stump  were  visible  up  to  1850  or  later. 

In  183s  Peter  Salsbury,  father  of  David  and  Joseph,  built  a  saw-mill, 
water  power,  upon  a  stream  entering  Bad  Creek  farther  east,  located  upon 
section  4,  town  seven  north,  range  seven  east,  constructed  by  Henry  Slagle,  a 


536  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

carpenter,  which  was  run  by  Salsbury,  and  furnished  lumber  for  the  early  set- 
tler for  miles  away.  It  was  afterwards  owned  and  run  by  James  Viers  suc- 
cessfully for  a  number  of  years,  as  long  as  it  could  be  furnished  with  water- 
power.  It  was  abandoned  thirty  years  ago  ;  fragments  of  it  may  be  seen  to- 
day where  it  stood.  Orrin  Taylor  built  and  ran  a  steam  saw-mill  for  three  or 
four  years  about  1876,  and  connected  with  it  was  a  cider  press  ;  in  this  mill 
he  lost  his  life ;  the  mill  was  soon  after  abandoned  and  moved  to  the  south- 
east corner  of  Chesterfield  and  run  by  Peter  Stukey. 

Henry  Miles  has  a  steam  saw-mill  now  working,  located  upon  the  Fulton 
line  south  of  ^tna. 

Peola  AUwood  built  a  steam  saw-mill  in  1880,  before  the  one  built  by 
Miles,  located  upon  the  Fulton  line  just  across  the  middle  branch  of  Bad  Creek, 
and  was  run  but  a  few  years  and  abandoned  and  machinery  taken  away. 

Houses  Built. — The  first  frame  dwelling  was  erected  upon  the  farm  owned 
by  Alfred  R.  Shute. 

The  second  was  the  farm  house  of  John  Scindell.  The  third  was  the  pres- 
ent residence  of  D.  W.  H.  Howard,  built  about  1840  by  his  father,  Edward 
Howard,  and  Jacob  McQuillan  first  occupant.  The  house  of  William  Cox 
now  owned  by  Henry  S.  Isabel  was  said  to  be  built  in  1840. 

James  Viers  was  the  first  and  only  cabinet  maker  iri  the  township,  and  for 
a  long  period  of  time  made  the  coffins  of  the  deceased  settlers  of  the  township 
far  and  near. 

First  Blacksmith. — Thomas  Silsby  put  up  and  opened  the  first  shop  for 
blacksmithing,  which  was  all  the  township  supported  for  a  good  many  years. 
Alfred  A.  Chatfield,  a  grandson  of  Lucien  N.  Chatfield,  so  well  known  to  the 
settler  of  early  days,  has  opened  up  and  now  runs  a  blacksmith  shop  just  north 
of  the  one  run  by  Thomas  Silsby. 

Stores  or  Trading-posts.  —  In  1833  Edward  Howard,  then  living  at  the 
rapids  on  the  Maumee,  entered  at  the  land  office  at  Monroe,  Mich.,  the  lands 
at  .^tna  (now  Winameg)  and  immediately  after  built  the  old  .(Etna  "  Block 
House,"  and  there  established  an  Indian  trading  post  for  the  Indian  trade. 
Merrill  Wilkinson  and  D.  W.  H.  Howard,  then  a  boy,  were  the  traders  of  this 
establishment,  until  the  death  of  Wilkinson,  when  the  goods  and  trade  were 
sold  to  other  parties.  The  Indian  trade  was  soon  after  destroyed  by  the  re- 
moval of  the  Indians,  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States  government,  to 
their  lands  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  in  1832  and  1838.  Howard  followed 
them  and  entered  in  the  fur  trade  with  them  in  the  west.  Washington  and 
William  Ewing,  fur  traders  at  Fort  Wayne  in  1838,  sent  D.  W.  H.  Howard, 
then  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  with  $40,000  worth  of  goods  to  Council  Bluffs 
for  the  Indian  fur  trade.  The  goods  were  conveyed  on  pack  horses.  A  few 
years  after  his  return  to  the  Maumee  Valley  he  came  to  his  farm  at  .^tna, 
where  he  still  resides,  and  his  Indian  customers  have  long  since  passed  to  their 


Fulton  County.  537- 


happy  hunting  grounds.     This  Block   House  stood  to  about  1878  when  it  was 
burned. 

A  atore  was  kept  at  the  house  of  Robert  Howard  by  one  Jennings  in  1835 
and  afterwards  sold  to  Jack  Hobart,  who  sold  goods  in  connection  with  aui 
ashery  established  by  him,  and  was  abandoned  in  1850. 

Daniel  Knowles  sold  goods  and  ran  an  ashery  at  a  very  early  date  up  to 
about  1850.  A  store  was  for  a  short  time  at  ^tna  run  by  one  HoUingshead 
at  the  Block  House.  Edward  C.  Sindel  has  run  one  from  1861  to  1886,  and 
goods  are  now  sold  from  the  same  store  by  Hinkle  &  Downer,  of  Lyons. 

Post-0 ffices. — The  second  post-office  established  was  at  the  place  of  Robert 
A.  Howard,  in  1836,  and  called  Essex,  and  abandoned  in  185 1. 

The  first  office  was  established  at  Lyman  Parcher's  and  called  "  Parcher's 
Corners,"  and  moved  to  the  residence  of  A.  R.  Shute  ;  then  later  moved  and 
called  Winameg  about  1850,  where  it  remains  to  this  day,  and  is  the  only  post- 
office  in  the  township ;  mail  daily  from  Wauseon  to  Lyons. 

First  born  was  male,  W.  D.  Scindel,  in  October,  1834;  female  was  Eliza- 
beth Hobart,  daughter  of  David  Hobart,  was  born  in  1833. 

First  marriage,  a  nephew  of  Lyman  Parcher  with  a  daughter  of  Aretas- 
Knight,  were  married  by  Daniel  Knowles,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  at  an  early 

day;  Joseph  Salsbury,  with  Maggie ,  were  married   as  early  as  1836  \. 

Whitfield  Tappan,  with  a  Miss  Amanda  Woodford,  of  Royalton  township,  im 
1835  ;  said  Tappan  is  supposed  to  be  the  first  marriage. 

Cemeteries. — The  Salsbury  Cemetery  was  first  located  in  1837,  '^"^  ^ 
daughter  of  Joseph  Salsbury,  Mary  Ann  Salsbury,  was  there  buried  November 
16,  1837.  It  now  covers  at  least  two  acres  of  ground,  well  arranged,  neat, 
and  clean,  and  well  set  with  evergreens. 

The  .iEtna  Cemetery  was  first  dedicated  for  burial  purposes  by  the  burial 
of  Catharine  Wilson,  sister  of  Emery  and  Martin  Wilson,  original  settlers  in 
Pike,  about  the  last  of  the  year  1837.  It  is  now  a  fine  resting-place  for  the 
dead,  and  well  kept  in  repairs. 

Churches. — The  first  church  built  was  on  the  farm  of  William  Mullin,  in 
1846,  dedicated  by  the  Presbyterians;  was  burned  about  1868  or  1869  and 
never  rebuilt. 

The  Poplar  Grove  Church  was  built  about  1848,  and  dedicated  to  the  United 
Brethren. 

Bueler  Church,  of  the  United  Brethren  faith,  was  built  in  1881,  under  the 
labors  of  Henry  Barclay. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  of  the  Evangelical  faith,  was  built  in  1881. 

A  Church  of  the  Disciples  was  rigged  up  for  worship  in  1881,  located  in 
school  district  number  five,  called  the  Trowbridge  district. 

A  church  of  the  Seventh  Day  Advents  was  built  in  1881,  upon  lands  in 
district'  number  three,  called  the  Whitcomb  district,  under  the  labors  of  A. 
Bigelow.  ®^ 


538  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Schools. — The  first  school  taught  in  the  township  was  in  1835,  in  an  old  log 
hut  standing  at  a  very  early  day  upon  the  knob  where  the  Salsbury  Cemetery 
is  now  located.  It  was  afterwards  removed  to  Thomas  Silsby's  corner,  and 
Michael  Handy  taught  there  the  first  winter  he  came,  in  1840.  Caroline 
Trowbridge  taught  the  first  school.  Afterward  she  became  the  wife  of  William 
Fewlas.  The  township  now  contains  six  school  districts,  supported  by  good 
frame  buildings,  once  built  of  brick  but  now  torn  down.  A  leading  step  in 
education  is  being  taken  in  this  township,  which  may  be  seen  in  the  school- 
houses  and  school -room.     She  is  not  backward  in  social  reform  and  religion. 

Roads. — The  Maumee  and  Angola  Road  is  the  oldest  road  in  the  town- 
•ship  ;  was  laid  out  prior  to  its  first  settlement  at  a  very  early  date  and  runs 
through  Ottokee,  Spring  Hill,  to  Angola,  in  Indiana,  and  was  the  chief  emigrant 
road  west  from  the  Maumee  Valley. 

The  Toledo  and  Angola  was  laid  in  1840,  and  run  from  Toledo  to  Angola, 
in  Indiana,  and  runs  through  jEtna,  on  the  north  part  of  the  township. 

Physicians. — Doctor  William  Holland  was  the  first  physician  and  a  good 
one,  educated  in  private  schools. 

Robert  A.  Moore  was  the  next,  a  very  eccentric  man  in  all  his  ways. 

The  next  was  Dr.  James  S.  Richards,  called  the  "  Indian  doctor,"  was  from 
Pennsylvania.  And  lastly  Samuel  B.  Finney,  whose  practice  is  world-wide  in 
late  years,  and  from  poverty  and  obscurity  he  has  arisen  to  wealth  and  fame, 
a  mystery  to  all  who  visit  him,  and  a  severe  thorn  to  the  medical  fraternity 
surrounding.     He  is  located  and  in  practice  one- half  mile  west  of  ^Etna. 

Industries. — Tile  and  brick  were  first  made  in  this  township  by  E.  M. 
Strong  for  a  number  of  years,  but  abandoned  one  year  ago. 

Factory. — A  cheese  factory  was  established  a  few  years  ago  and  run  suc- 
cessfully, located  about  one  mile  east  of  .(Etna.  It  is  at  this  time  doing  a  fine 
business,  a  good  industry  for  the  farmers  within  reasonable  distance. 

Shoe-Shop. — Michael  Handy  did  the  first  shoe-making  and  mending  as 
early  as  1840,  which  he  followed  up  to  1850,  when  he  was  shortly  after  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  of  Fulton  county  and  successfully  held  a  first  position  as  a 
lawyer  at  said  bar  until  his  death,  April,  1886. 

Hotels. — Robert  A.  Howard  opened  the  first  hotel,  and  was  the  only  one 
iin  the  county  for  a  great  while.  Next  followed  George  Wiers,  two  miles 
west;  then  Michael  Handy,  in  1840,  where  the  thirsty  and  hungry  were  sup- 
plied, and  kept  open  the  same  until  1851.  After  the  Block  House  at  .(Etna 
was  abandoned  as  a  trading  post,  William  Mullin  opened  it  up  as  a  hotel, 
After  a  few  years  the  business  was  transferred  to  Laban  Radway  and  William 
Culbertson,  afterward  an  Indian  doctor,  who  held  it  open  until  185 1,  after 
•which  all  hotel  accommodations  have  been  abandoned. 

Official  Roster. — This  township  has  furnished  the  following  officers  for  Ful- 
ton  county,  as  follows :    Michael   Handy,   prosecuting   attorney ;  Robert  A. 


Fulton  County.  539 


Howard,  recorder ;  Albert  B.  Canfield,  treasurer ;  Osceola  E.  M.  Howard, 
county  surveyor ;  Harvey  L.  Aldrich,  sheriff;  James  W.  Howard,  treasurer ;. 
lastly,  D.  W.  H.  Howard,  senator  to  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  and  also  presi- 
dential elector  in  i860;  Michael  Handy,  county  school  examiner;  William  P. 
Cowan,  infirmary  director. 

This  township  furnished  Lyman  Parcher  as  a  representative  to  the  Ohio 
Legislature  then  in  Lucas  county.  She  has  the  honor  of  furnishing  two  com- 
mon pleas  judges — Reuben  Lemon,  of  Lucas  county,  and  William  H.  Handy, 
for  Fulton  county,  now  presiding. 

Dr.  William  Holland,  the  first  physician,  was  born  at  Oakham,  Mass.,  1766, 
and  came  to  this  county  in  1843,  and  soon  identified  himself  with  all  the  set- 
tlers of  the  township,  and  died  at  his  home  September  17,  1857,  ^t  the  age  of 
ninety-one  years,  and  was  laid  at  rest  in  the  ^tna  Cemetery.  He  was  a  Pres- 
byterian in  faith,  and  while  living  in  the  county  the  Rev.  George  Johnson  was 
his  pastor  and  preached  at  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  ^Etna.  Dr.  William 
Holland's  wife,  Bethsina,  died  August  28,  1875,  aged  eighty- nine  years,  and 
together  they  rest  from  their  labors  side  by  side  in  the  cemetery  at  ^tna. 
When  at  the  age  of  ninety  years,  he  was  solicited  by  James  Herrick  (son  of 
Elijah  Herrick,  living),  to  be  ready  to  attend  his  wife's  accouchment,  and  in  a 
short  time  after  the  consent  to  attend,  a  team  came  for  the  doctor  as  he  was 
preparing  for  bed,  and  with  the  assistance  of  his  daughter  and  her  husband 
(Louisa  Shute  and  Alfred  R.),  the  old  man  was  prepared  with  wraps  and  furs 
(it  being  in  the  winter  and  snow  on  the  ground),  and  by  those  present  taken 
up  and  carried  to  the  sleigh,  and  made  the  trip  and  discharged  his  duty,  and 
returned  next  day  without  being  any  the  worse  for  wear.  It  is  thought  this 
township  has  the  honor  of  the  resting  place  of  the  only  man  of  ten  years  be- 
yond the  Revolution. 

Dr.  Holland  had  no  common  school  education,  only  as  obtained  in  the 
private  schools.     At  the  age  of  twenty- one  years   he  chose  the  profession  of 

medicine,  and  secured  his  knowledge  of  Latin  at  the  studio  of  Rev. Bas- 

com,  at  Oakham,  Mass.     He  studied   medicine  with  approved  scholars  of  the 
medical  schools,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years  commenced  practice. 

His  daughter,  Louisa  (Holland)  Shute,  was  a  school-mate  of  the  celebrated 
writer,  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe.  Alfred  R.  Shute  in  183 1  left  the  east  and 
went  west  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  spent  eleven  years  of  his  youthful 
career  in  the  mountains  and  plains  of  the  west.  He  was  often  with  "  Kit  Car- 
son "  in  his  journeyings  on  the  frontier,  and  returned  to  his  native  heath  in 
1843,  and  in  the  same  fall  came  to  Pike  with  his  young  wife,  Louisa.  He  died 
at  his  home  in  Pike  township  May  17,  1879.  He  was  the  ninth  generation 
from  the  martyr,  Rogers,  burnt  at  the  stake  in  England.  "  It  is  nevertheless 
enjoyable  to  look  back  upon  the  likeness  of  what  has  been  before  our  own 
times,  and  to  dwell  upon  the  remembrance  of  these  early  pioneers  who  strug- 


540  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

gled  long  and  manfully  with  famine,  and  poverty,  and  the  red  man,  to  provide 
a  home  for  themselves  and  children.  And  shall  not  these  remembrances  be 
preserved  ?" 


CHAPTER  LI. 

HISTORY  OF  ROYALTON  TOWNSHIP. 

AT  the  date  of  the  advent  of  the  first  white  settlers  upon  the  soil  of  Royal- 
ton  township,  June  lo,  1833,  the  territory  being  situated  north  of  the  "Ful- 
ton line,"  was,  like  the  rest  of  the  northern  tier  of  townships,  included  in  the 
territory  of  Michigan,  the  county  being  Lenawee,  and  the  county  seat  Adrian. 
The  inhabitants  therein  did  all  their  legal  business,  and  paid  their  taxes  at 
Adrian,  and  continued  to  do  so  until  December,  1836,  when  this  territory 
with  all  the  rest  of  the  region,  was  turned  over  and  yielded  to  Lucas  county, 
which  was  some  two  years  before  organized  from  and  out  of  the  counties  of 
Wood  and  Sandusky.  For  this  survey  the  entry  and  sale  of  lands  was  made 
at  the  city  of  Monroe,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Erie.  In  the  winter  of  1824  the 
territorial  Legislature  of  Michigan  subdivided  the  township  of  Logan,  being  the 
township  upon  the  south  half  of  Lenawee  county,  and  organized  it  in  1826,  the 
same  time  as  the  organization  of  the  county  of  Lenawee,  into  three  subdivis- 
ions :  Fairfield  in  the  east,  Seneca  in  the  middle,  and  Medina  on  the  west,  and 
extended  their  jurisdiction  respectively  to  the  Fulton  line.  Prior  to  this  trans- 
fer to  Ohio,  the  inhabitants  thereof  were  residents  of  the  township  of  Fairfield, 
Lenawee  county,  and  territory  of  Michigan. 

Wood  county,  at  a  very  early  period,  much  earlier  than  1835,  attempted  to 
extend  the  law  of  Ohio  over  this  strip  to  tfte  county  of  Williams,  and  claimed  it 
to  be  in  that  county.  They  levied  taxes  (there  then  being  some  settlers  in  the 
east  part  near  Toledo),  but  the  people  did  not  recognize  the  act  and  authority 
of  Wood  county,  and  refused  to  pay  the  taxes.  It  was  in  this  township  that 
some  of  the  scenes  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Michigan  war  were  enacted.  When, 
in  the  beginning  of  1835,  Ohio  undertook  to  enforce  jurisdiction  over  this  ter- 
ritory along  the  whole  northern  border  of  Ohio,  to  the  Harris  line,  which  terri- 
tory had  been  and  was  considered  a  portion  of  Michigan,  and  claimed  as  such, 
and  so  previously  recognized  by  the  surveys  of  Ohio  and  Michigan. 

The  legislative  council  of  Michigan  on  February  12,  1835,  passed  an  act 
"  to  prevent  the  exercise  of  foreign  jurisdiction  within  the  territory  of  Michi- 
gan," making  it  a  penal  offense  for  any  one  to  accept  or  exercise  any  public  office 
in  any  part  of  the  territory,  except  by  commission  from  the  United  States  or 


Fulton  County.  541 


Michigan.  On  the  19th  of  the  same  month,  acting  Governor  Mason  ordered 
'General  Joseph  W.  Brown,  then  commanding  a  division  of  the  Michigan  mi- 
litia, saying,  "under  existing  circumstances  but  one  of  two  things  is  left  for 
Michigan  to  pursue  —  if  Ohio  continues  to  persevere  in  the  attempt  to  wrest 
from  us  our  territory,  as  she  now  meditates,  involuntary  submission  to  en- 
croachments upon  our  rights,  or  firm  and  determined  opposition  to  her;  the 
latter  though  painful  to  us,  is  preferable  to  the  former,  and  must  be  decided 
upon." 

Major-General  Joseph  W.  Brown  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  mili- 
tary force  of  Michigan,  with  "  the  control  of  the  measures  to  be  adopted  to 
repel  the  Ohio  idea."  On  the  23d  of  that  month,  the  Ohio  Legislature  asserted 
the  right  of  that  State,  and  also  declared  that  measures  should  be  taken  to 
establish  it.  Therefore,  Governor  Lucas  placed  a  major-general  in  command, 
and  ordered  him  to  enroll  the  militia  of  the  district  in  dispute  for  protection 
while  running  a  boundary  line,  which  Ohio  insisted  upon,  being  the  original 
Harris  line.  On  the  19th  day  of  February,  1835,  General  Brown  assumed  com- 
mand, marched  to  the  scene  of  action  and  halted  near  Toledo,  of  which  action 
Governor  Lucas  was  duly  advised.  General  John  Bell  was  assigned  to  the 
-command  of  the  Ohio  army,  to  be  enrolled  of  the  militia  on  this  disputed  strip. 
General  Brown  interposed  an  army  of  Wolverines  in  position  to  prevent  enroll- 
ment of  the  Ohio  militia,  and  Governor  Lucas  had  to  seek  elsewhere  for  troops, 
and  obtained  about  three  hundred  from  Wood  county  that  felt  willing  to  try  a 
hand  with  General  Brown's  militia,  and  furthermore,  was  obliged  to  call  upon 
Sandusky,  Hancock  and  Seneca  counties,  which  furnished  three  hundred  men, 
making  six  hundred  in  all  of  Ohio  forces  to  push  the  Ohio  idea  into  the  terri- 
tory in  dispute,  and  run  the  Harris  line.  The  troops  went  into  camp  at  old 
Fort  Miami,  about  eight  miles  above  Toledo,  to  await  the  orders  of  Governor 
Lucas.  "These  proceedings  on  the  part  of  Ohio  exasperated  the  authorities 
of  Michigan."  They  "dared"  the  Ohio  mihtia  to  enter  the  disputed  ground 
-and  "  welcomed  them  to  hospitable  graves."  At  this  juncture  there  appeared 
to  be  no  escape  from  battle,  both  armies  laying  in  camp  on  each  side  of  the 
■disputed  strip.  Just  at  this  time,  while  Governor  Lucas  was  giving  thought  to 
the  whole  situation,  he  discovered  that  Governor  Mason  was  but  an  appointed 
subaltern  of  President  Jackson  ;  that  the  Michigan  territory  was  under  the  pa- 
ternal care  of  the  government  at  Washington,  and  that  Congress  had  exclusive 
control  of  the  boundaries  of  the  territory.  The  "  Ohio  idea"  being  weakened 
by  the  fates  of  war,  and  twelve  hundred  militia  to  oppose  six  hundred,  it  be- 
came clear  to  the  governor  at  once,  that  the  objective  point  of  his  campaign 
-should  be  in  Washington,  and  not  at  Toledo,  and  so  he  backed  out  and  dis- 
banded his  army,  who  returned  to  their  several  homesy  He  then  called  an 
■extra  session  of  the  Legislature  on  the  8th  of  June,  1835.  This  Legislature 
ipassed  an  act  "to  prevent  the  forcible  abduction  of  the  citizens  of  Ohio,"  and 


542  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

created  the  new  county  of  Lucas  out  of  part  of  Wood  county  and  this  disputed 
strip ;  made  Toledo  the  seat  of  justice,  and  directed  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  to  be  held  on  the  first  Monday  in  September,  1835,  at  any  convenient 
house. 

Early  in  April  Governor  Lucas  sent  a  surveying  party  to  run  the  Harris 
line.  The  commissioners  had  commenced  their  work  at  the  northwest  corner 
of  the  State.  General  Brown  had  sent  scouts  to  watch  their  operations,  and 
when  running  the  line,  to  report  immediately  when  the  surveying  party  had 
reached  the  county  of  Lenawee.  The  under  sheriff  of  that  county,  with  a 
warrant  and  posse,  made  his  appearance  to  arrest  them.  About  ten  miles 
east  of  Morenci,  along  the  line,  in  Royalton  township,  he  came  upon  the  trail 
of  the  commissioners  sent  out  by  Governor  Lucas,  and  arrested  nine  of  the 
party,  but  the  commissioners  and  Surveyor  Dodge  made  a  timely  escape,  and 
ran  with  all  their  might  until  they  got  off  the  disputed  territory,  reaching 
Perrysburgh  next  day,  and  they  no  doubt  ran  a  much  more  direct  line  for 
Perrysburgh  than  that  which  they  surveyed  into  Lenawee  county.  The  Hne 
was  not  marked,  and  it  is  therefore  lost  to  political  geography.  Those  of  the 
party  arrested  were  held  for  a  few  days,  and  then  discharged,  some  on  parole, 
and  others  on  bail,  to  answer  in  the  district  court. 

On  April  8,  N.  Goodsell  was  arrested  for  serving  as  judge  of  election,  and 
sent  to  Monroe  jail,  but  after  a  time  was  admitted  to  bail.  Others  were 
arrested  and  placed  behind  the  bars  —  the  Andersonville  of  that  bloodless  war. 
The  diplomacy  of  Governor  Lucas  with  the  Washington  authorities,  however, 
in  the  end  succeeded,  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  on  the  15th  day 
of  June,  1836,  admitted  Michigan  into  the  Union,  with  the  Harris  line  for  her 
southern  boundary,  and  peace  was  fully  restored.  On  the  25th  day  of  June 
the  settlement  of  this  boundary  question  was  celebrated  in  Toledo,  and  the  day 
was  ushered  in  by  the  firing  of  cannon.  Emery  D.  Potter  was  the  orator  of 
the  day.  It  was  during  this  strife  that  Lucas  county  came  into  being,  accord- 
ing to  an  act  passed  February  23,  1835,  and  a  further  act  passed  June  20, 
1835,  taking  in  the  disputed  strip,  and  fixing  Toledo  as  the  seat  of  justice. 

Organization  of  the  Township. — At  a  session  of  the  board  of  commissioners 
held  in  the  city  of  Toledo  June  4,  1837,  the  township  of  Royalton  was  organ- 
ized by  taking  all  of  town  nine  south,  range  three  east,  south  of  the  Harris 
line,  and  all  of  town  ten  south,  range  three  east,  extending  to  the  Fulton  line 
south.  The  first  election  under  this  organization  was  held  at  Phillips  Corners. 
The  ofiScers  then  chosen  assumed  jurisdiction  and  so  held  the  same  to  March 
I,  1 841,  when  the  south  tier  of  sections  of  town  nine  south,  range  three  east^ 
and  all  of  town  ten  south,  range  three  east,  were  cut  off  and  erected  into  the 
township  of  Pike. 

The  township  of  Royalton,  as  her  boundaries  mark  at  this  day,  contains 
about  twenty- five  sections  of  land,  or  an  area  of  15,773  acres,  valued,  personal 


Fulton  County.  543 


and  real,  upon  the  present  duplicate  of  the  county  at  $301,870.  This  town- 
ship, with  all  its  alteration,  was  made  when  this  county  was  a  part  and  parcel 
of  Lucas  county,  several  years  prior  to  1850,  the  date  of  the  organization  of 
Fulton  county. 

Boundaries. — This  township  is  the  second  west  of  the  northeast  portion  of 
the  county,  and  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  Amboy  township  ;  on  the  south  by 
Pike;  on  the  west  by  Chesterfield,  and  on  the  north  by  Fairfield  township, 
Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  and  lies  wholly  upon  the  disputed  territory  as  settled 
by  the  Congress  in  December,  1 836,  and  given  to  Ohio.  It  was  the  fourth 
township  in  its  organization  in  this  county.  It  is  about  fifteen  miles  north  of 
Wauseon,  the  county  seat,  and  contains  one  quite  smart  growing  village,  called 
Lyons.     It  has  but  one  post-office  named  Lyons,  also. 

The  first  settlement  in  Royalton  was  made  in  the  month  of  June,  1833,  by 
Eli  Phillips,  his  wife  and  children.  It  was  the  first  section  settled  in  the  county, 
and  from  the  date  of  Mr.  Phillips's  arrival  to  the  present  time  it  has  grown  in 
population,  so  that  it  now  holds  a  population  of  over  eleven  hundred  persons. 
Soils,  etc. — The  soil  of  this  township,  like  Amboy,  is  referable  to  the  drift 
deposits,  and  would,  in  the  north  and  east  parts,  be  classified  as  drift  clays. 
The  southwestern  portion  and  south  side  are  considered  as  openings,  compris- 
ing nearly  one-third  of  the  area  of  the  township,  and  is  made  up  of  sand  and 
many  sand  dunes. 

The  surface  geology  in  this,  as  in  adjoining  townships,  is  independent  of 
the  underlying  rock;  the  northern  and  eastern  portions,  or  about  two-thirds  of 
the  area  of  the  township,  consists  of  unmodified  Erie  clay,  and  the  soil  with  its 
heterogeneous  deposit  is  rich,  and  has  a  very  level  surface.  This  clay  is  also 
rich  in  all  the  elements  of  vegetable  growth.  No  bank  gravel  is  found  in  this 
township,  and  there  are  but  very  few  large  bowlders  to  be  found.  The  other 
one-third  referred  to  is  sandy  in  places,  and,  on  the  ridges,  is  objectionably 
light.  The  eastern  and  northern  slope  affords  everywhere  a  rich  and  highly 
prized  sandy-loam,  which  changes  gradually  into  the  clay- loam  of  the  lower 
lands.  It  is  easy  of  drainage  and  tillage,  and  now  bears  visibly  the  marks  of 
prosperity  in  the  whole  of  its  domain,  and  under  good  management  will  be 
rich  in  agricultural  possibilities,  and  will,  at  no  far  distant  day,  be  the  garden  of 
the  county.  It  may  be  said  here  that  the  Erie  clay  underlies  the  whole  surface 
of  the  township,  but  where  not  covered  with  sand  is  largely  modified  by  the 
lacustrine  deposits.  This  Erie  clay  is  very  thick,  reaching  to  the  rock  under- 
neath, and  is  supposed  to  be  near  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  depth.  The 
summit  of  this  township  is  at  least  one  hundred|  and  fifty  feet  above  the 
waters  of  Lake  Erie. 

Timber. — The  clays  of  this  township  support  a  heavy  forest  growth  of  tim- 
ber, white  and  burr  oak  predominating,  with,  in  some  parts,  sugar  maple, 
white  elm,  white  ash,  basswood,  whitewood  and  black  walnut,  with  a  shght 


544  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

sprinkling  of  Cottonwood.  Much  the  same  growth  is  found  on  the  sand  slope, 
but  the  higher  sand  land  was  originally  covered,  though  sparsely,  with  dwarfed 
oaks  of  the  white,  yellow  and  burr  oak  species.  But  since  the  settlements  have 
begun  it  is  found  covered  with  a  dense  undergrowth  of  the  oak  varieties,  and 
now  has  the  appearance  of  forming  a  good  forest  for  the  future,  sufficient  to 
supply  the  building  purposes  of  the  township  for  generations  to  come,  if  cared 
for  as  every  prudent  husbandman  cares  for  the  prosperity  of  his  farm. 

Water  Supply  and  Course  of  Streams.. — The  main  water  courses  run  through 
the  center  of  the  township,  a  northeasterly  course,  and  are  but  a  continuation 
of  the  waters  of  Ten  Mile  Creek,  referred  to  in  the  history  of  Amboy  town- 
ship. This  stream  has  its  rise  in  the  adjoining  township  of  Chesterfield,  on  the 
west.  Another  prominent  water  course  comes  from  out  of  Michigan  and  runs 
south,  just  west  of  the  village  of  Lyons,  and  empties  into  Ten  Mile  Creek.  The 
waters  of  the  greater  part  of  this  township  empty  into  Ten  Mile  Creek,  and 
flow  with  a  gentle  slope  in  their  long  run  for  an  outlet.  The  streams  upon  the 
southern  side  find  their  way  south  to  Swan  Creek  and  Bad  Creek,  coursing 
their  way  to  the  Maumee  River,  and  emptying  therein,  by  two  different  outlets, 
into  Maumee  Bay. 

The  water  supply  of  Royalton  is  wholly  unsatisfactory,  as  the  first  is  only 
obtained  by  surface  drainage,  and  is  wholly  dependent  upon  the  rains  ;  while 
the  next  and  better  supply  can  only  be  obtained  by  the  auger,  in  the  clay  de- 
posits, and  raised  by  the  wind-mill.  The  sand  lands,  however,  are  much  bet- 
ter, holding  water  in  the  basins  of  quicksand,  supported  by  the  Erie  clay ;  a 
more  bountiful  supply,  yet  may  be  considered  exhaustible  in  extreme  drouths. 
Topography. — ^This  township  has  a  very  gentle  inclination  towards  Lake 
Erie,  and  is  supposed  to  be  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  watef 
level  of  the  lake.  There  is  about  fifteen  feet  of  inclination  to  the  east,  across 
the  township,  with  a  slight  dip  southward.  There  are  no  out-croppings  of  rock, 
and  but  few  glacial  bowlders  in  the  soil.  The  overlying  rock,  under  the  drift, 
is  first,  the  Huron  shale,  then  the  Hamilton  group,  next  the  corniferous  lime- 
stone. 

Early  History. — From  1824  to  1832,  the  influx  of  population  was  very 
rapid  in  and  around  Adrian,  and,  as  early  as  1830,  was  moving  south  toward 
the  State  line,  which  then,  and  a  few  years  later,  was  being  run  over  by  the 
emigrant,  in  search  of  a  home.  Scarcely  beyond  this  line,  south,  had  the  emi- 
grant chosen  to  wander,  possibly  for  this  reason,  if  no  other,  that  this  northern 
land  was  in  the  Michigan  survey,  and  the  land  office  for  the  same  was  then  lo- 
cated at  the  city  of  Monroe,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Erie. 

Coming  into  the  territory,  as  these  early  settlers  did,  from  the  East,  by  the 
lake,  or  the  so-called  "  white  prairie  schooner,"  upon  its  southern  shore, 
through  Ohio,  or  from  the  North,  through  Canada,  via  Detroit,  it  was  quite 
natural  that  these  explorations  should  be  solely  confined  to  this  territory.  Not 


Fulton  County.  545 


until  1832,  did  entries  begin  to  be  made.  In  this  year  Eli  Phillips  entered  his 
land,  and  his  charter  right  to  it  (a  deed  and  seal),  was  signed  by  Andrew  Jack- 
son, president  of  the  United  States.  Early  in  the  season  of  the  following  year 
Eli  Phillips,  with  his  young  wife,  started  from  the  vicinity  of  Adrian  for  this 
disputed  strip,  and  located  where  he  had  purchased  the  year  before,  upon  sec- 
tions 10  and  II,  town  9  south,  range  3  east,  now  in  the  township  of  Royaltoh, 
which  was  then  an  unbroken  wilderness  for  at  least  seventy  miles  due  west, 
and  none  nearer  on  the  south  than  the  Maumee  River.  Who,  of  to-day,  would 
be  willing  to  take  such  a  step  for  a  home,  then  of  so  little  money  value,  and 
face  the  difficulties  apparently  insurmountable,  to  make  one  of  greater  value  ? 
Accustomed,  as  he  was,  to  the  Berkshire  hills  of  old  Massachusetts,  where  he 
was  born,  in  the  land  of  the  Puritans  and  of  learning,  with  his  young  wife, 
Vesta  (Arnold)  Phillips,  and  children,  we  must  realize  that  in  that  time  the 
trial  was  a  severe  one ;  but  through  all  these  difficulties  there  was  no  repining. 
Mr.  Phillips  has  kept  that  land,  and  he  lives  upon  it  to-day.  It  was  fifty- four 
years  ago  that  he  erected  the  log  cabin,  the  first  of  this  township,  and  also  the 
first  upon  the  soil  of  Fulton  county.  Very  soon  after  Eli  Phillips  settled  in 
this  township,  others  followed,  and  came  to  stay.  Butler  Richardson,  it  is  said, 
was  the  next  to  follow  Eli  Phillips.  He  came  in  May,  1834,  from  Niagara 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  settled  upon  section  15.  He  was  born  in  Ontario  county, 
N.  Y.,  June  30,  1806.  In  later  years  he  returned  to  Niagara  county,  where 
he  was  married  to  Elizabeth  McCumber,  on  October  i,  1829,  and  came  from 
there  to  F"ulton  county,  and  became  one  of  the  successful  farmers  of  Royalton 
township.  He  had  a  family  of  three  children.  On  the  first  of  February,  1866, 
his  son,  Chapman,  was  supposed  to  have  been  murdered,  while  he  was  caring 
for  the  stock.  On  that  fatal  morning  the  barn  was  set  on  fire  and  consumed. 
His  bones  were  found  among  the  ruins,  together  with  the  remains  of  nineteen 
head  of  cattle.  Prosecutions  were  made,  but  no  convictions  obtained.  At  the 
same  time  Mr.  Richardson  lost  a  large  amount  of  hay  and  farm  utensils. 

George  W.  Welsh,  another  of  the  pioneers,  was  born  in  Montgomery 
county,  N.  Y.,  October  13,  1804.  He  was  married  in  Niagara  county  to  Mary 
Whitney.  They  had  eleven  children.  The  family'came  from  Niagara  county 
to  Royalton  in  1834,  and  settled  upon  section  15,  where  they  lived  and  where 
the  pioneer  raised  his  entire  family. 

Barney  M.  Robinson  was  another  old  pioneer  ot  the  township.  He  was 
born  in  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y.,  March  5,  1812.  He  was  married  to  SallieE. 
Cole,  of  New  York,  in  1834.  He,  with  his  wife,  came  to  this  county  in  1839. 
He  was,  at  an  eariier  date,  upon  the  border,  for  we  find  him  in  the  Toledo  war 
under  the  order  of  General  Brown. 

Charles  D.  Smith,  who  came  to  this  territory  during  the  stormy  contest  for 
ownership  of  this  disputed  strip,  was  born  in  Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  July  26, 
1813,  and  was  married  to  Jane  B.  Helms  October  17,  1834.     They  came  to  Ful- 


546  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ton  county  in  1835  ^i^d  they  settled  upon  section  7.  Mrs.  Smith  was  born  in 
Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  July  24,  1811.  Mr.  Smith  died  at  his  home  in  Royal- 
ton  October  21,  1858,  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood.  He  was  a  respected  and 
highly  honored  citizen.  He  was  thrice  honored  by  the  people  of  his  county 
for  the  sheriff's  office,  which  he  filled  with  credit  to  himself  and  honor  to  the 
whole  people  of  the  county.  He  was  always  an  unflinching  Democrat.  Two 
of  his  sons,  Martin  V.  and  Laton,  served  the  Union  cause  in  the  late  war.  The 
father  while  living  was  always  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the  poor  strug- 
gling pioneer  of  the  early  days,  and  was  a  very  important  actor  in  all  the 
business  relations  of  his  day  that  looked  to  the  advancement  of  his  people. 

Amos  Rathbun  came  to  Fulton  county  in  1837.  ^^  ^^^  among  the  men  of 
that  time  that  came  to  make  a  home  and  was  ever  willing  to  endure  the  hard- 
ships incident  to  a  pioneer  life.  He  was  born  at  Salem,  Conn.,  January  20, 
1812.  He  grew  to  manhood  among  the  thrifty  New  Englanders  and  was  pre- 
pared when  he  came  to  Fulton  county  as  a  man,  to  meet  the  Indian  on  equal 
ground,  and  subdue  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness.  To-day  only  a  few,  very 
few  of  those  old  settlers  are  left  to  tell  the  story  of  that  life  in  the  cabin  built 
of  logs,  where  the  deer  bounded  past  the  door,  and  the  sweet  sleep  upon  a 
couch  of  straw  came  after  a  hard  day's  work,  and'  that  to  be  often  broken  by 
the  howling  wolf  Mr.  Rathbun  built  the  first  school-house  of  his  neighbor- 
hood of  logs,  with  a  floor  of  split  puncheons,  hewed  upon  the  face ;  the  seats 
and  desks  were  of  the  same  material.  It  was  built  upon  the  corner  of  his  farm, 
one  mile  south  of  Lyons.  In  later  years  he  left  the  county  and  settled  near 
Weston,  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  and  there  died  August  18,  1887. 

Jenks  Morey  came  to  this  county  in  1838,  from  Mentor,  Lake  county,  0., 
and  settled  upon  section  9,  where  a  large  part  of  the  village  of  Lyons  is  now 
built.  He  kept  the  first  hotel  in  the  township  in  1850  in  a  fine  wooden  struct- 
ure, and  in  which  hotel  accommodations  are  had  to  the  present  date.  He  died 
after  many  years  of  toil  in  the  wilderness,  November  15,  1871.  Warren  J. 
and  George  Morey  are  the  only  one  of  his  children  now  living. 

Elias  Richardson  and  Lucinda  (Dowd)  Richardson  came  to  Fulton  county 
May  14,  1836,  and  settled  upon  section  9,  first  and  afterwards  bought  an 
eighty  acres  adjoining,  on  section  10,  upon  which  he  built  a  frame  house  in 
which  he  resides  up  to  date.  Elias  Richardson  has  made  life  a  success,  and 
he  and  his  wife  are  now  advanced  to  a  ripe  old  age.  He  was  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  plank  road  which  was  built  in  1 850,  from  Toledo  to  Morenci^ 
Mich.  He  built  eleven  miles  of  this  road.  Thomas  Richardson  came  at  the 
same  time  of  his  brother  jElias.  Hiram  Richardson  came  in  1837,  a  year 
later.  They  were  all  from  Niagara  county,  N.  Y.  All  are  still  living  and 
highly  respected.  Elias  Richardson  was  twice  honored  by  the  people  of  the 
county  with  the  ofSce  of  county  commissioner,  and  served  six  years.  He  is 
now  seventy-five  years  old  and  has  a  bright  memory. 


Fulton  County.  547 


John  Sturtevant  came  in  1835,  Joseph  H.  Applegate  in  1834,  and  Witt  L. 
"Windship  in  1835. 

Benjamin  Davis  and  wife  came  here  in  1838  from  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y., 
and  has  been  very  successful  as  a  farmer  and  business  man  of  the  county. 

Ansel  M,  Henderson  came  in  1836.  George  B.  Brown  came  in  1836.  He 
was  the  first  sheriff  of  Fulton  county,  and  is  still  living  at  an  advanced  age. 
Ansel  H.  Henderson  was  married  to  Ruth  A.  Richardson  in  Niagara  county 
July  6,  1836,  and  came  directly  to  this  county.  He  has  had  four  children. 
He  lost  his  first  wife,  and  on  January  30,  185 1,  he  was  married  again  to  Eliz- 
abeth A.  Hawley,  daughter  of  Manly  Hawley,  of  Chesterfield  township,  with 
whom  he  is  still  living. 

In  1836  there  came  to  this  township  many  families  who  have  been  honored 
■citizens.  Amos  H.  Jordan  and  Henry  Jordan  came  from  Vermont ;  A.  C. 
Osborn,  who  settled  on  section  15,  came  from  Montgomery  county,  N.  Y.; 
Jared  Hoadley,  Daniel  Bueler,  Ebenezer  S.  Carpenter,  Mordecai  Carpenter, 
Willey  Carpenter,  John  T.  Carpenter  and  Snow  Carpenter. 

"Uncle"  Billy  Smith  came  to  this  county  in  1833,  with,  or  soon  after  Eli 
Phillips.     Smith  was  a  bachelor. 

Warren  Dodge  and  his  wife  Permelia  (Church)  Dodge  settled  in  this  town- 
ship in  1834.     They  had  eleven  children. 

Joshua  and  Mary  Youngs  settled  here  in  1835.  Dr.  Youngs  was  the  first 
and  only  physician  in  this  locality  for  many  years.  At  one  time  his  practice 
was  extensive.  He  settled  upon  section  26.  He  died  in  1873,  having  pre- 
viously retired  from  practice. 

In  183s  David  Wood  settled  on  section  9.  Frasier  Smalley  came  in  1834. 
In  1835  came  William  and  Charles  Blain,  brothers,  and  settled  in  the  East,  on 
the  line  of  Amboy  and  Royalton  townships. 

Alpheus  Fenner  was  born  in  Berkshire  county,  Mass.,  July  29,  18 13,  and 
settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1838,  on  section  10. 

Enos  C.  Daniels  and  Mary  A.  (Carroll)  Daniels  were  married  at  Mentor, 
Lake  county,  O.,  May  4,  1837.  He  was  born  in  Madison  county,  N.  Y., 
December  22,  1814.  He  settled  in  Fulton  county,  this  township,  in  March, 
1840.  He  became  an  important  acquisition  to  the  people  and  a  leader  in 
agricultural  and  other  industries.  He  built  the  first  frame  hotel  which  was 
occupied  by  Jenks  Morey,  also  built  the  first  brick  church  of  the  township, 
occupied  by  the  Disciples  in  Christ ;  also  the  first  frame  house  in  the  town- 
ship, and  the  first  block  in  the  village  of  Lyons.  His  son,  Albert  C.  went  into 
the  service  and  served  in  the  Sixty-seventh  Regiment  three  years,  and  was 
promoted  to  sergeant. 

Samuel  Carpenter  came  to  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1828,  and  from  there 
to  Fulton  county  in  1843,  consequently  he  has  more  experience  in  pioneering 
than  most  of  the  persons  named.     He  settled  on  sections  21  and  22,  just  six- 


548  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

teen  miles  south  from  Adrian,  Mich.  At  or  near  the  hamlet  called  Logan 
(now  Adrian)  Mr.  Carpenter  spent  most  of  his  boyhood  days,  and  his  recol- 
lection of  the  incidents  connected  with  that  period  are  clear.  He  married 
Susan  Welsh,  November  2,  1844.  Mr.  Carpenter  has  been  a  follower  of  the 
Jeffersonian  school  of  politics  since  he  was  of  age,  and  it  may  be  said  of  him 
there  has  been  no  break  in  his  political  faith.      He  feels  proud  of  it  to-day. 

Michael  Forester  and  Patrick  Burroughs  came  to  this  county  in  1840. 
Michael  Forester  lived  to  be  over  one  hundred  years  old.  David  Potes  came  in 
1840.  John  Hinkle  came  in  1838.  Nathaniel  S.  Ketchum  and  his  wife  Eme- 
line  (Smith)  Ketchum,  came  to  this  county  in  1835.  They  were  from  Orange 
county,  N.  Y.  John,  Erastus  and  James  Welsh  came  in  1838,  from  Niagara 
county,  N.  Y.  Many  others  came  during  the  same  period  whose  names  have 
been  lost  or  cannot  be  definitely  ascertained. 

Miscellaneous. — Emeline  Welsh  was  the  first  white  female  child  born  in  the 
township,  the  event  occurring  November  i,  1834.  William  Smalley  was  the 
first  male  child  born. 

Whitfield  Tappan  and  Amanda  Woodford  were  the  first  parties  married. 
Ebenezer  Carpenter,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  performed  the  ceremony.  The 
bride  only  lived  in  this  township,  and  the  bridegroom  in  Pike. 

Jonas  Dodge  and  Olive  Green  were  the  first  residents  married  in  the  town- 
ship. 

Mrs.  Brown,  mother  of  the  wife  of  Henry  Jordan,  was  the  first  person  buried 
in  the  Jordan  cemetery,  and  Cintha  Cadwell,  a  sister  of  Alanson  Briggs,  of 
Chesterfield,  was  the  first  buried  in  Lyons  cemetery,  west  of  the  village.  Joshua 
Youngs  was  the  first  physician  of  the  township.  Elder  Hodge  was  the  first 
preacher ;  he  was  a  Baptist.  Colonel  Lathrop,  of  Lucas  county,  preached  in 
the  very  early  days  to  those  of  the  Universalist  faith. 

The  first  school-house  built  was  on  section  fifteen,  in  1837,  ^'i'^  the  first 
teacher  was  Olive  Green.  The  second  school-house  was  on  the  farm  of  Amos 
Rathbun,  who  built  the  same. 

The  first  goods  sold  in  the  township  was  at  Phillips  Corners,  by  Allen  Wil- 
cox and  Sanford  L.  Collins. 

The  first  church  built  was  the  Universalist  at  Lyons,  in  1862.  There  are 
now  four  churches  in  the  township,  one  Universalist,  one  Disciples  in  Christ, 
(both  of  these  are',in  the  village  of  Lyons),  one  Free  Methodist  and  one  Metho- 
dist Episcopal ;  the  last  two  are  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  township.  In 
1858  Warren  J.  Hendrix  built  and  taught  for  a  number  of  years  thereafter,  a 
high  school  at  Lyons. 

Royal  ton  has  now  six  sub- district  schools  and  one  special  school. 

Jenks  Morey  run  the  first  hotel,  and  Eli  Phillips  the  second  in  the  very 
early  days  of  the  township. 

The  first  saw-mill  was   built  in    1850   by  the  Plank   Road   Company,  and 


Fulton  County.  549 


stood  west  side  of  Lyons  cemetery.  James  Baker,  of  Gorham,  was  the  man- 
ager of  the  mill,  which  was  used  exclusively  for  sawing  plank  for  the  road.  The 
mill,  in  later  years,  was  moved  to  Gorham  where  it  is  now  owned  and  run  by 
Thomas  F.  Baker. 

The  Eagle  Cheese  factory  of  this  township  was  the  first  one  erected  in  the 
county.  It  is  now  owned  by  Albert  C.  Daniels  and  is  a  very  flourishing  in- 
dustry as  well  as  profitable  to  the  farming  community.  Another  cheese  fac- 
tory in  Amboy  township  just  east  of  the  Royalton  line,  called  the  Ben  Davis 
factory,  is,  in  at  least  fifty  per  cent,  of  its  product,  supported  by  the  farmers  of 
Royalton  township. 

'  Royalton  has  but  one  post-office,  called  Lyons,  located  at  Lyons  on  a  mail 
route  extending  from  Adrian,  Mich.,  to  Wauseon,  the  county  seat  of  Fulton 
county,  and  has  had  for  many  years  a  daily  mail. 

The  Village  of  Lyons. — Lyons,  formerly  called  Morey's  Corners,  did  not 
commence  its  history  until  the  building  of  the  plank  road  in  1850.  Since  that 
time  it  has  developed  a  steady  growth  to  the  present  day.  Jenks  Morey  was 
its  original  projector.  It  now  supports  one  dry  goods  and  general  merchan- 
dise store,  kept  by  Hinkle  &  Downer ;  one  drug  store  by  Nelson  F.  Carmon  ; 
one  undertaker  .shop  and  art  gallery  by  Richardson  &  Ladd  ;  one  hotel  by  Mr. 
Baker;  three  blacksmith  shops,  one  cheese  factory,  one  brick  and  tile  factory 
by  James  Briggs ;  one  grist  and  saw- mill,  with  attachments  for  making  shingles, 
also  a  planing  machine,  owned  by  A.  C.  Daniels  and  Walter  Meeker  ;  one 
millinery  shop,  one  hardware  and  tin  shop  by  R.  W.  Ladd ;  one  harness  and 
carriage  trimming  shop  by  F.  A.  Slater ;  two  churches,  the  Universalist,  built 
in  1862,  and  one  Disciples,  built  in  1877. 

Lyons  has  a  lodge  of  F.  &  A.  M.,  numbering  four  hundred  and  thirty-four 
members,  and  organized  in  1862.  It  has  a  lodge  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  organzied 
at  the  same  time.     It  has  two  physicians,  Ezra  B.  Mann  and  H.  H.  Brown. 

Phillips  Corners. — This  hamlet  contains  one  dry  goods  store,  run  by  Davis- 
B.  Brown ;  one  blacksmith  shop,  one  physician,  Dr.  Cunningham,  and  one 
wagon  and  repair  shop. 

Official  Roll— George  B.  Brown  was  the  first  sheriff  of  the  county,  elected 
in  April,  1850.  He  served  nearly  one  year.  Charles  D.  Smith  was  elected 
in  the  fall  of  1850  and  served  six  years;  Henry  Jordan  was  commissioner  for 
three  years;  Elias  Richardson  two  terms,  six  years  of  service;  Hon.  Ezra  B. 
Mann,  two  terms  as  representative  in  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  four  years  ;  Rich- 
ard Scott  two  terms  as  commissioner.  In  all  this  shows  a  term  of  twenty-six 
years  of  official  service  in  the  county  for  Royalton  township. 

Agricultural  and  Other  Industries. — The  agricultural  and  industrial  power 
of  this  township  in  1886,  as  represented  by  the  returns  of  township  assessor  to 
the  auditor  of  Fulton  county,  are  carefully  compiled  and  shown  thus :  Num- 
ber of  acres  of  wheat  sown,  1,086;  bushels  harvested,  10,591;  rye,  130  acres. 


55°  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

bushels  harvested,  1,950;  buckwheat,  30  acres  sown,  bushels  harvested,  480; 
oats,  609  acres  sown,  bushels  harvested,  26,845  >  corn,  1,328  acres  planted, 
bushels  harvested,  42,952;  meadow  1,528  acres,  cut  and  harvested  1,567  tons 
of  hay ;  clover,  57  acres,  cut  and  harvested  87  tons  of  clover  hay  and  72  bush- 
els of  clover  seed  ;  potatoes,  64  acres,  number  of  bushels  raised,  5,801  ;  butter 
made,  25,220  pounds. ;  cheese  manufactured  at  home  24,000  pounds. 

In  factories  supported  by  milk  from  the  resident  farmers,  150,000  pounds; 
sorghum  in  syrup,  313  gallons  ;  eggs,  19,551  dozen ;  apple  orchards,  273  acres, 
bushels  of  apples  raised,  23,165  ;  number  of  pounds  of  wool,  29,071  ;  number 
of  cows  milked,  736  ;  bushels  of  other  fruits  :  peaches  140;  pears,  160;  cher- 
ries, 41  ;  plums,  9.  Now,  while  the  area  of  this  township  represents  15,773 
acres  of  land,  it  is  also  found  that  there  are  nearly  4000  acres  yet  in  a  forest 
and  uncleared,  and  1581  acres  of  partially  waste  land. 

Present  Occupants. — So  much  attention  has  been  given  to  the  early  pioneers 
it  would  be  a  matter  of  justice  to  name  the  present  occupants  of  the  soil,  of 
whom  some  may  be  the  descendants  of  early  pioneers,  and  others  have  come 
at  later  periods,  and  in  some  measure  have  aided  in  giving  a  finishing  touch  to 
what  was  so  early  begun.  They  will  be  named  in  succession  by  sections  upon 
which  they  reside  ;  section  one,  south  of  Harris  line,  A.  Patterson,  H.  B.  Whet- 
ter  and  George  Hoadly  ;  section  two,  Thomas  Richardson,  R.  Dewey,  John 
Sturtevant  and  O.  S.  Sturtevant ;  section  3,  A.  Chandler,  S.  Green  and  N. 
Fay  ;  section  four,  G.  A.  Potes  and  J.  B.  Woods  ;  section  five,  Moses  Jay,  Enos 
C.  Daniels,  A.  C.  Daniels;  section  seven,  including  Otis  and  Walter  Smith, 
James  Smith,  Jane  B.  Smith,  Aaron  Deyo,  S.  Onweller;  section  eight,  S.  D. 
Carrol,  William  Smith,  Richard  Scott,  John  Roberts,  Dwight  Noble,  Thomas 
G.  Richardson  ;  section  nine,  Ezra  B.  Mann,  D.  N.  Fenner,  William  Smalley, 
Elias  Richardson,  B.  L.  Barden ;  section  ten,  A.  Hindee,  J.  Cottrell,  G. 
W.  Hoadly,  Eli  Phillips,  Alpheus  Fenner  and  T.  Welsh ;  section  eleven, 
A.  Cottrell,  George  B.  Brown,  Ansel  H.  Henderson  J.  Budlong,  and  J. 
Henderson ;  section  twelve,  Benjamin  Davis,  G.  T.  Knight  and  H.  Robb ; 
section  thirteen,  W.  W.  Driscoll,  Alvah  Steadman,  J.  R.  Dodge,  J.  P.  Hol- 
land, C.  and  S.  Buck  and  J.  L.  Barden ;  section  fourteen,  G.  R.  Morey, 
William  Rynd,  Wm.  Davis  and  heirs  of  Ira  Hinkle ;  section  fifteen,  V.  R. 
J.  Osborn,  J.  O.  Meeker,  George  W.  Welsh,  EmeHne  Ketchum  and  But- 
ler Richardson ;  section  sixteen,  William  Potes,  J.  C.  Fuller,  S.  H.  Camron 
and  heirs  of  Ephraim  Hinkle;  section  seventeen,  James  Briggs,  Warren  P. 
Bebee,  C.  Hilton,  Mary  Mudge.  M.  Mann  and  Jas.  B.  Carpenter;  section 
eighteen,  A.  C.  Egnew,  Clark  Standish  and  R.  Fuller  ;  section  nineteen,  E. 
Mead,  P.  E.  Curtis,  Anthony  Leonard  and  F.  W.  Richardson ;  section  twenty, 
Oliver  Gilmore,  Fred  Holt  and  A.  Disbrow  ;  section  twenty-one,  Samuel  Car- 
penter, Barney  M.  Robinson  and  J.  C.  Carpenter;  section  twenty-two,  R.  Hin- 
kle, W.  S.   Edgar,   Daniel   Wilson,   A.   Threedouble   and  Patrick  Burroughs  ; 


Fulton  County.  551 


section  twenty-three,  C.  Thornton,  N.  J.  Rynd,  R.  Lawler  and  H.  Heffron; 
section  twenty-four,  R.  Sprague,  L.  H.  Morrison,  George  Robb,  N.  Robb,  P. 
Forester;  section  twenty- five,  William  Blain,  Samuel  Gordinear,  Benjamin  Pa- 
rent, A.  Fisher  and  J.  Thompson ;  section  twenty-six,  T.  O.  Neal,  Jinks  M. 
Youngs,  J.  Burroughs,  J.  Baker  and  H.  Callehan  ;  section  twenty-seven,  Wm. 
Snyder ;  section  twenty-eight,  B.  Welsh,  S.  Spangler  and  M.  Richardson ; 
section  29,  J.  W.  Vine,  Harrison  Welsh,  T.  A.  Furgeson  and  B.  Welsh  ;  section 
thirty,  A.  H.  Jordan,  Tip  Southworth  and  F.  De  Merritt. 


CHAPTER  LH. 

HISTORY  OF  SWAN  CREEK  TOWNSHIP. 

SWAN  CREEK  township  was  erected  by  law  in  the  year  1836.  At  that  time 
it  was  a  part  of  Lucas  county,  and  included  in  the  township  of  York;  the 
same  being  true  as  to  all  of  the  territory  comprising  Fulton  county,  except  the 
portions  thereof  acquired  from  Williarns  and  Henry  counties.  The  southern  por- 
tion of  this  township,  two  miles  wide  and  six  miles  long,  its  length  being  of  the 
extent  of  the  township  from  east  to  west,  or  from  the  western  boundary  of 
Lucas  county,  to  the  eastern  boundary  of  York  township,  was  taken  from  Henry 
county,  and  contains  twelve  square  miles,  or  7680  acres  of  land.  The  entire 
township  contains  forty-two  square  miles,  or  26,880  acres.  But  this  township, 
as  it  stands  on  the  map  of  Fulton  county,  is  not  the  same  as  originally  con- 
structed. It  formerly  extended  as  far  north  as  the  Fulton  line,  and  lacked  its 
present  two  tiers  of  sections  on  the  south ;  but  when  Fulton  township  was 
erected,  in  1843,  all  that  part  of  this  township  between  the  present  northern 
boundary  of  Swan  Creek  township  and  the  Fulton  line,  was  taken  from  Swan 
Creek  township  and  attached  to  the  new  township  of  Fulton. 

Here  an  explanation  may  very  properly  be  made  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
term,  Fulton  line.  It  has  no  reference  to  any  boundary  line  of  Fulton  town- 
ship, but  refers  to  the  line  of  the  original  survey  of  the  boundary  between  the 
States  of  Ohio  and  Michigan,  and  is  so  called  from  Fulton,  the  name  of  its  sur- 
veyor. The  State  of  Michigan  claimed  it  as  the  correct  boundary,  which  was 
disputed  by  Ohio,  this  State  insisting  that  a  subsequent  survey,  made  by  a  man 
of  the  name  of  Harris,  was  the  true  one.  This  dispute  gave  rise  to  what  is 
known  as  the  "Toledo  war,"  bloodless,  but  resulting  in  favor  of  Ohio  as  to  the 
correct  boundary  on  the  north  and  south  of  the  States  referred  to. 

The  northwestern  part  of  the  township  was  the  earliest  settled  and  devel- 
oped, and  is  probably,  at  the  present  time,  the  most  affluent.      The  greater 


552  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

part  of  the  northern  portion  of  the  township  was  heavily  timbered,  and  con- 
tains, naturally,  the  strongest  and  readiest  soil  for  agricultural  purposes.  A 
great  deal  of  this  township  is  what,  in  local  parlance,  is  called  "  openings,"  or 
"opening  lands,"  a  designation  or  qualification  as  applied  to  the  character  of 
the  land  the  origin  of  which  is  somewhat  difficult  to  determine.  But  it  seems 
to  arise  out  of  two  facts  peculiar  to  considerable  of  the  soil  and  its  aboriginal 
treatment  in  Fulton  county;  the  first  being  its  composition,  largely,  and,  in 
some  instances,  entirely  of  sand  ;  and  the  second,  the  undoubted  circumstance 
of  the'Indians  yearly  burning  it  over  to  keep  down  the  timber  growth,  to  fa- 
cilitate their  hunting.  It  is  probable  that  the  true  origin  of  the  term  is  in  the 
last  stated  fact,  although  there  is  a  large  section  of  the  county,  which,  in  a  state 
of  nature,  and  completely  unmolested  by  any  one  or  anything,  would  not  pro- 
duce other  than  scrubby  and  stunted  growths  of  timber,  and  almost  impervious 
thickets  of  hazel,  whortleberry,  and  other  brushy  kinds  of  the  smallest  timber. 
These  thickets  furnished  a  covert  or  hiding  place  for  game,  and  their  only  one; 
for  in  all  the  county  there  are  no  rocks,  caverns,  or  deep  and  stony  ravines,  as 
in  many  parts  of  Ohio,  and  the  burning  of  the  thickets  and  undergrowth  left 
no  inaccessible  hiding  place,  from  the  Indians,  for  the  various  kinds  of  game  once 
abounding  throughout  the  county.  But  this  fact  of  the  non-productiveness  of 
heavy  timber  by  much  of  the  soil  of  Swan  Creek  township,  is  by  no  means 
conclusive  of  its  lack  of  fertility.  When  properly  drained,  and  it  is  fast  becom- 
ing so,  it  is  well  adapted  to  gardening,  and  the  production  of  all  kinds  of  fruit, 
and  if  skillfully  managed,  yields  excellent  crops  of  clover,  potatoes  and  oats, 
and  fairly  good  corn  and  wheat.  Being  but  a  short  distance  from  the  enter- 
prising and  thriving  city  of  Toledo,  and  traversed  by  one  of  the  principal  lines 
of  railway  leading  from  that  city,  it  is  probable  that  but  a  few  years  will  elapse 
before  there  will  be  so  great  a  demand  for  the  productions  of  the  market  gar- 
dener, that  much  of  the  area  of  this  township  will  be  devoted  to  that  kind  of 
farming.  Another  reason  for  this  prediction  lies  in  the  fact  that  perhaps  the 
poorest  and  most  utterly  worthless  of  all  the  land  in  northwestern  Ohio,  known 
as  "  openings,"  is  much  of  that  immediately  adjacent  to  Toledo,  on  the  west. 
It  is  very  sparsely  settled,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  strip  or  belt  here  and 
there,  seems  incefpable  of  productiveness,  and  a  large  part  of  it  has  not  yet 
been  cleared  off  or  drained,  and  is  not  likely,  for  years  to  come,  to  be  so  at- 
tended to. 

The  natural  drainage  of  Swan  Creek  township  consists  of  a  small  sluggish 
stream  called  Blue  Creek,  a  somewhat  larger  one  called  Bad  Creek,  both  cours- 
ing in  a  southeasterly  direction,  and  Swan  Creek,  from  which  the  township  was 
named,  running  almost  due  east,  and  all  tributaries  of  the  Maumee  River. 
These  streams  are  the  objective  points  of  all  the  numerous  ditches  now  thrid- 
ding  the  township,  by  means  of  which  it  has,  within  the  last  few  years,  ob- 
tained a  very  excellent  drainage. 


Fulton  County. 


SS3 


For  many   years  most  of  the  people  of  the  southern  part  of  this  township 
were  poor.     The  marshy,  sandy  soil  did  not  very  abundantly  repay  their  la- 
bors, and  undoubtedly  many  of  them  had  a  hard  time  to  secure  a  frugal  hving. 
Miasmatic  troubles  also  plagued  them  a  good  deal ;  but  marvels  have  been 
wrought  by  ditching,  and  the  land  is  very  rapidly  increasing  in  productiveness 
and  value,  and  the  atmosphere  has  been   purified  to  such  a  degree  that  it  now 
is,  perhaps,  as  healthy  a  locality  as  any  in  the  county.       Generally  speaking, 
the  people  are  provident  and  industrious.       Churches  and   good,  comfortable 
school- houses  abound,  and  evidences  of  material   thrift  and  mental  cultivation 
are  rapidly  on  the  increase.       Another  hopeful  indication  for  the  development, 
prosperity,  and  increase  of  wealth  of  this  township  is  the  disappearance  of  own- 
ership of  large  tracts  of  its  land  by  non-residents  and  speculators.      The  cost 
of  ditching  has  caused  this  class  to  dispose  of  their  real  estate,  held  only  for 
speculation,  in  Swan  Creek  ;   it  therefore  has  been  divided   and  subdivided,  its 
owners  now  live  on  it  and  are  clearing,  ditching,  and  otherwise  improving  it. 
The  Air-Line  Division  of  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Railway 
penetrates  this  township  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  west  of  the  Lucas  county 
line,  thereby  passing  first  through  the  southeast  corner  of  Fulton  township,  in 
which  township,  Swanton,  the  market  town  of  this  section,  is  mostly  situated. 
Traversing  a  portion  of  section  I2  north,  the  road  then  passes  through  sections 
10,  9  and  8  north,  leaving  the  last  named  at  its  southwest  corner,  and  passing 
through  the  north  part  of  section  i8.     The  Swanton  railway  station  is  in  Ful- 
ton township.     A  source  of  considerable  revenue  to  the  people  of  Swan  Creek 
has  been  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  ties  to  the  railway  company,  the  scrubby 
oak  timber  being  well  adapted  to  that  purpose,  and  the  railroad  tie  seller,  here 
and  there,  has  been  something  of  a  terror  to  the  non-resident  land  owner,  for 
not  always  did   the  enterprising  axman,  who  was  in  the  tie  business,  be  scru- 
pulously careful  to  keep  on  his  own  land.     But  the  predatory  tie  business  be- 
longs to  a  decade  gone  by,  and  the  epithet  "  sand-lapper,"  as  applied  to  the 
people  of  southern  Swan  Creek,  is  fast  losing  its  appositeness.      At  the  south- 
east corner  of  this  township  the  old  Toledo,  Wabash  and  Western  Railroad, 
now  known  in  railway  nomenclature  as  the  main  branch   of  the  Wabash,  St. 
Louis  and  Pacific,  passes,  cutting  a  few  acres  of  land,  triangular  in  form,  from 
the  main  body  of  the  township  ;  but  this  road,  although  about  cotemporaneous 
with  the  Air  Line  in   date  of  construction,  has  been  of  no  particular  value  to 
the  development  of  the  township. 

The  date  of  the  first  settlement  of  Swan  Creek  township  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained with  accuracy,  but  from  the  most  reliable  information  that  can  be  se- 
cured, was  about  the  year  1834. 

The  first  road  penetrating  this  section  was  from  Maumee  City,  which  was 
largely  the  market  and  milling  place,  and  also  the  first  fdistributing  point  of 
those  seeking  new  homes  in  the  extreme  northwest  of  Ohio,  and  so  remained 

70 


554  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

until  a  few  years  later,  when  railways  began  to  be  built ;  the  first  being  the 
main  or  old  line  of  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Railway,  or  as  it  at, 
and  for  many  years  subsequent  to  its  construction,  was  called,  the  Michigan 
Southern  and  Northern  Indiana  Railway.  The  construction  and  opening  to 
travel  and  traffic  of  this  road  brought  settlers,  to  some  extent,  from  and  by  way 
of  Southern  Michigan,  but  did  not  divert  the  milling  and  marketing  of  the 
Swan  Creek  settlers  from  the  immediate  margin  of  the  Maumee  River  and  its 
few  scattered  towns. 

.The  first  twenty-five  years  of  the  settling  and  developing  of  Swan  Creek 
township  were  marked  by  but  slight  progress.  Perhaps  from  1850  to  i860 
were  its  most  hopeful  years  of  the  period  referred  to.  During  the  half  dozen 
years  just  antedating  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  there  was  an  influx  of  set- 
tlers, who  seem  to  have  been  the  most  prominent  by  way  of  enterprise  and 
thrift,  and  to  have  carved  out  its  most  marked  improvement.  They  and  their 
children  now  are  the  leading  citizens.  Their  discouragements  were  far  less 
than  those  who  first  went  in  to  possess  the  country,  and  their  vantage  ground 
was  secured  to  them  by  the  patience  and  persistence  of  the  hardy  pioneers  who 
"began  to  pass  away  with  the  dawn  of  a  hopeful  and  promising  day.  The  same 
spirit  that  impelled  them  to  seek  a  primitive  locality  in  which  to  build  their 
homes,  caused  many  of  their  descendants  to  do  the  same;  and  but  few  of  their 
posterity  are  left,  they  having,  from  time  to  time,  joined  the  restless  column 
seeking  homes  farther  and  farther  west. 

The  oldest  church  organization  of  the  township  is  the  Methodist  Episcopal. 
The  first  place  of  worship  was  at  Centreville,  a  small  hamlet  less  than  a  mile 
south  of  S wanton.  In  18 —  the  meeting-house  was  removed  to  its  present  site 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  village  of  Swanton,  and  therefore  it  yet  remains  in 
Swan  Creek  township.  In  the  northwestern  part  of  the  township  there  is  a 
Union  Church,  so  called,  belonging  to  no  religious  denomination,  and  under 
no  ecclesiastical  control,  but  intended  and  used  for  united  services,  and  where 
any  and  all  religious  bodies  or  people  can  meet  for  worship.  It  is  known  as 
the  Viers  church.  Another  church  building,  erected  with  the  same  view,  is 
the  Raker  Union  Church,  in  the  western  part  of  the  township.  It  was  dedicated 
in  1 88 1.  In  October,  1886,  the  members  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  what  was  formerly  known  as  the  Union  school-house,  in 
section  31,  purchased  the  school  building  and  removed  it  two  and  three-fourths 
miles  east,  in  section  35,  upon  land  owned  by  William  Phare,  and  dedicated  it 
to  the  service  of  their  denomination,  making  four  churches  or  places  of  religious 
worship  in  the  township.  Methodism,  however,  is  the  prevailing  church  faith, 
but  there  are  also  some  Presbyterians,  and  a  few  Catholics  and  Free  Metho- 
dists, the  last  named  being  an  offshoot  of  the  powerful  sect  founded  by  John 
Wesley. 

Thirteen  school-houses  furnish  the  facilities   for  education  to  the  people  of 


Fulton  County.  555 


this  township  and  the  average  yearly  attendance  for  the  last  ten  years  has  been 
about  three  hundred  pupils.  AH  these  school  buildings  are  frame  or  brick,  the 
old  log  school-houses  havipg  entirely  disappeared. 

In  1870  Swan  Creek  township  had  a  population  of  eleven  hundred.  By 
the  Federal  census  of  i88q  it  was  eleven  hundred  and  ninety- six.  To  the  list 
of  Fulton  county  officials,  than  which  there  has  not  been  a  cleaner  handed  or 
more  efficient  one  in  the  history  of  the  State,  Swan  Creek  township  has  con- 
tributed Nathaniel  Legget^:,  who  was  the  first  treasurer,  and  filled  that  office 
for  three  terms  ;  General  M.  R.  Brailey,  who  was  prosecting  attorney  from 
1858  to  1862;  Caleb  M.  Keith,  probate  judge  of  the  county  three  terms, 
closing  his  official  career  in  that  capacity  in  1878,  and  immediately  thereafter 
removed  to  Toledo ;  Charles  Blake,  commissioner  from  1879  to  1885;  Soc- 
rates H.  Cately,  an  associate  judge  of  the  judicial  district  of  which  Fulton 
county  was  a  part  under  the  State  constitution  of  1802,  and  probate  judge  one 
term,  beginning  in  1854;   an^  P.  R.  Lewis,  infirmary  director  two  terms. 

All  that  part  of  {the  village  of  Swanton  lying  south  of  the  railroad  is  in; 
Swan  Creek  township,  and  comprises  a  population  of  about  two  hundred.  The 
houses  were  mostly  built  at  a  comparatively  recent  date,  and  are  all  neat  and. 
comfortable,  and  in  some  instances  elegant  and  costly.  The  minor  share  of 
the  business  is  on  the  Swan  Creek  side,  but  there  are  several  energetic  and 
enterprising  business  establishments  in  that  section  of  the  place.  The  entire 
village  is  included  in  a  special  school  district  recently  organized,  and  the 
schools  have  been  graded  and  promise  a  high  degree  of  excellence. 

Centerville  at  the  first  four  corners  south,  as  the  provincialism  would  state 
it,  is  very  old  and  very  sleepy,  a  mere  relic  and  reminder  of  the  time  when 
travel  and  transportation  were  by  stage  and  wagon ;  but  in  its  bright  and 
flourishing  days  it  furnished  pleasant  and  bountiful  cheer  at  its  old  frame 
tavern  on  the  northwest  corner|to  the  tired  traveler  and  his  jaded  team,  forty 
years  ago.  While  perhaps  aside  from  its  beginnings  away  back  in  the  forties,, 
and  its  traffic  in  the  necessaries  of  a  homely  and  somewhat  meager  subsistence 
with  the  inhabitants  of  its  sparsely  settled  environ  before  the  railroads  were 
built  north  and  south  of  it,  there  is  nothing  in  its  drowsy  annals  worth  record- 
ing; yet  in  the  memory  of  some  to  whom  its  old-fashioned  tavern  was  once 
the  only  one  for  miles  of  weary,  wooded,  wet  country,  and  who  sat  by  its  big 
blazing  fire,  and  there  made  an  extended  acquaintance,  and  gossiped  and  told 
hunting  stories  and  backwoods  legends,  or  danced  away  the  night  in  the 
somewhat  rude  but  innocent  revelry  of  the  country  ball,  in  its  low-ceilinged, 
unornamented  "ball-room,"  and  ate  from  its  bounteous  table,  or  drank  at  its 
bar  "  when  liquor  was  better  than  it  is  now,"  and  a  good  deal  cheaper,  the 
mention  of  Centerville  awakens  very  pleasant  thoughts  of  the  old  palmy,  bois- 
terous days  before  the  railroads  sent  it  to  decay,  and  put  its  drowsy  denizens 
who  chose  still  to  stay  there  to  sleep.  Wesley  Knight  for  years  was  the  land- 
lord. 


SS6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

A  conspicuous  figure  in  the  wilderness  of  Swan  Creek  was  Nathaniel  Leg- 
gett,  the  first  person  buried  in  Wauseon's  beautiful  cemetery.  Clearing  the 
land  and  hunting  was  his  occupation  for  about  ten  years,  and  there  was  no 
doubt  fully  as  great  a  fascination  in  those  pursuits  as  in  many  of  our  later  day 
pastimes  and  vocations.  He  located  in  this  township  about  the  year  1834, 
and  old  citizens  who  knew  him,  speak  of  him  as  having  been  a  great  worker 
and  hunter,  and  his  memory  is  yet  cherished  with  kindness  by  the  living  few 
who  were  acquainted  with  him  when  he  hunted  or  cleared  the  forest  by  day, 
and  read  law  or  history  at  night  out  of  books  from  Maumee  city  by  the  light 
of  blazing  hickory  bark  on  the  rude  hearth  of  his  cabin  home.  He  encouraged 
settlers  to  come  to  the  place  of  his  own  choice,  and  did  much  toward  starting 
the  township  on  its  final  prosperous  career.  In  the  bench  and  bar  chapter  of 
Fulton  county  contained  in  this  volume,  a  slight  sketch  of  his  life,  and  a  brief 
estimate  of  his  character  as  a  lawyer  and  citizen  are  given,  and  mention  of  him 
is  made  in  the  present  connection  only  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating  his 
memory  as  a  pioneer  of  Swan  Creek  township. 

Others  of  this  township's  first  settlers  were  John  Witmer,  Wells  Watkins, 
Joshua  Fassett,  Thomas  Gleason,  David  Williams,  Eccles  Nay,  Looman  Hall, 
Sidney  Hawley,  William  Meeker,  William  Fewless  and  Jesse  Browning.  All 
of  these  became  residents  therein  prior  to  1840.  John  Witmer  settled  in  the 
northwestern  part,  on  what  is  now  section  seventeen,  in  1834.  He  came  from 
Berne,  one  of  the  three  leading  cantons  of  Switzerland,  and  both  he  and  his 
wife  were  natives  of  that  country.  Their  first  habitation  in  the  township  was 
built  of  bark,  and  at  this  time  they  had  several  children.  In  due  time  a  por- 
tion of  land  was  cleared  and  planted  and  a  better  house  erected.  Mr.  Witmer 
was  the  father  of  three  boys,  who  grew  to  manhood,  two  of  whom  battled  for 
the  country  and  laws  of  their  father's  adoption.  At  terrific  battle  of  Pitts- 
burgh Landing  one  of  them  was  killed.  The  father  and  sons  all  were  good 
citizens,  bred  and  brought  up  to  the  Swiss  habits  of  patience,  industry  and 
frugality,  and  they  were  and  are  liberty-loving  and  patriotic. 

Wells  Watkins,  who  came  to  Swan  Creek  township  in  1838,  is  still  living. 
He  is  of  English  ancestry,  but  his  parents  were  natives  of  the  State  of  Mary- 
land. He  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  O.,  on  the  7th  day  of  April,  18 18, 
and  was  married  on  the  Sth  day  of  July,  1838,  at  Wayne  county,  O.,  to  Sarah 
Newhouse.  Just  a  month  after  his  marriage  Mr.  Watkins  and  his  wife  started 
to  seek  a  home  in  Fulton  county.  After  a  hard  journey  of  nine  days  they 
reached  and  settled  in  Swan  Creek  upon  section  ten.  The  first  winter  he  re- 
lates he  did  his  milling  on  foot,  carrying  his  grist  of  corn  on  his  back  three 
miles  to  a  little  mill,  the  motive  power  of  which  was  furnished  by  a  horse.  His 
marketing  was  done  at  Maumee  and  Perrysburg,  what  little  he  had  to  market, 
and  there  were  procured  the  articles  of  subsistence  for  his  family,  he  making 
the  expedition  alone,  winding  about  through  the  woods  and  swamps,  and  gen- 


Fulton  County.  557 


erally  taking  nearly  a  week  for  the  round  trip.  Wages  were  very  low,  the 
remuneration  for  a  hard  day's  work  to  the  best  of  hands  from  sun-up  to  sun- 
down, being  but  fifty  cents,  and  generally  paid  in  some  articles  of  barter  in- 
stead of  money,  for  money  was  extremely  scarce,  and  the  price  of  food  and 
clothing  correspondingly  high.  The  most  plentiful  thing|was  game.  Indians 
also  were  by  no  means  scarce,  but  they  were  peaceable.  The  first  two  years 
flour  was  worth  as  much  per  barrel  nearly  as  oxen  per  yoke,  salt  pork  was 
worth  as  much  per  pound  as  the  choicest  steaks  of  beef  at  the  city  market, 
and  potatoes  so  scarce  and  dear  that  it  took  three  or  four  day's  hard  labor 
with  an  ax  to  earn  money  enough  to  buy  a  bushel  of  them.  Clothing  was 
manufactured  at  home  around  the  cabin  hearth,  of  buckskin,  linsey,  and  coarse 
home-made   linen.     To  this  hardy   pioneer  family  were   born  nine  children, 

■seven  of  whom  are  living.     The  wife  and   mother  died   in  the  year . 

Mr.  Watkins  still  survives,  and  is  honorably  borne  on  the  roll  of  his  country's 
defenders  as  a  member  of  Company  E,  One  hundred  and  Thirty-eighth  Ohio 
Infantry.     His  son,  Vernon  C,  was  also  a  member  of  the  same  regiment. 

Eccles  Nay  came  to  what  is  now  Fulton  county  in  1834.  He  settled  in 
Swan  Creek  township.  His  first  stopping  place  in  Ohio  was  in  the  extreme 
•eastern  part,  in  Jefferson  county.  Here  he  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Mills, 
who  came  with  him  to  northwestern  Ohio.  Mr.  Nay's  birthplace  is  Bristol, 
Vt.,and  he  was  born  in  181 1.  His  parents  were  New  Hampshire  people,  and 
of  Revolutionary  stock.  When  he  located  in  Swan  Creek  there  probably  were 
not  ten  famihes  in  a  radius  of  ten  miles;  but  in  the  summer  of  1835,  some 
fifteen  families  moved  in.  His  land  was  purchased  from  the  government.  The 
first  two  years  all  the  neighbors,  and  that  term  included  families  several  miles 
away,  were  kept  busy  assisting  each  other  in  raising  log  cabins.  1  ut  few  in- 
deed of  such  places  of  habitation  exist  now,  but  it  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  an 
old  settler  sighing  for  the  days  when  he  was  domiciled  in  a  cabin,  and  sat  dur- 
ing the  gloomy  winter  evenings  by  his  big  blazing  fire-place  listening  to  the 
dissonant  requiem  sung  by  the  winds  and  howled  by  the  wolves,  and  which 
soon  became  entirely  too  common  to  be  terrifying.  Some  of  them  have  been 
known  to  slip  out  of  their  fine  farm  houses,  standing  as  monuments  of  their 
ambition  to  better  their  condition  and  their  desire  for  the  comfort  of  their 
families,  and  go  to  the  old  half-tumbled  down  cabin  on  the  corner  of  the  place, 
and  build  a  fire  and  sit  by  it  until  late  at  night,  doubtless  calling  up  memories 
and  trying  to  charm  back  the  scenes  of  hardship,  not  unmingled  with  many 
pleasant  things  belonging  to  the  days  that  have  passed  from  them  forever. 
Mr.  Nay's 'first  experience  in  Swan  Creek  was  probably  unusually  trying  and 
■severe,  for  after  paying  for  his  land  he  had  no  money  left,  and  no  personal 
property  of  any  kind  except  an  ox  team.  But  the  few  neighbors  were  kind 
and  accommodating,  and  subsistence  was  partially  provided  from  the  abun- 
dance of  wild  game  all  around.     The  grandfather  of  this  pioneer  lived  in  the 


558  History  ok  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

city  of  Boston,  and  participated  in  the  tea-spilling  which  was  one  of  the  events 
that  provoked  the  senseless  ire  of  George  HI,  and  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
The  grandson  was  in  no  sense  unworthy  of  his  patriotic  ancestry. 

In  1834,  as  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  William  Fewless,  an  Enghshman 
by  nativity,  came  from  Long  Island  to  Swan  Creek,  but  the  malaria  and  mos- 
quitoes were  so  annoying  that  he  became  discouraged,  and  returned  to  his 
former  home.  However  he  did  not  remain  at  Long  Island  a  great  while  before 
he  returned  west  and  into  Swan  Creek  township  once  more,  remaining  for 
many  years,  and  clearing  and  improving  a  farm.  Mr.  Fewless  died  in  Swan 
Creek  township  in  1881. 

John  Watkins,  a  native  of  ^Steubenville,  Jefferson  county,  went  into  this 
township  about  a  year  later  than  William  Fewless,  was  a  resident  there  but  a 
few  years,  for  his  land  on  the  organization  of  Fulton  township  was  included 
therein.  Mr.  Watkins  is  still  living  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight  years.  He 
was  a  cousin  of  Wells  Watkins. 

Jesse  Browning,  who  died  in  Swan  Creek  in  1867,  went  there  from  Oswego 
county,  N.  Y.,  his  native  State,  in  1835,  and  about  the  same  time  Alexander 
and,'  Africa  Spalding  became  settlers  ;  also  William  Meeker  and  John  Viers. 
Mr.  Viers  was  a  native  of  Portage  county,  O.  In  1836  Ormand  Pray  settled 
on  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  farm  now  owned  by  J.  D.  Lutz,  and  about 
this  time  a  man  named  Crosby,  who  was  a  hatter  by  trade,  located  about  three 
miles  due  south  of  Centerville.  Mr.  Crosby  has  been  dead  many  years,  and 
left  no  descendants.  In  1839,  Jacob  Reighard,  a  member  of  that  provident 
class  of  people  known  as  Pennsylvania  Dutch,  came  from  Pennsylvania  and 
settling  in  section  twenty-eight  of  this  township,  lived  there  until  his  death, 
which  took  place  in  1866.  He  was  buried  in  the  Raker  cemetery.  This  burial 
ground  was  established  in  1836.  About  a  year  after  making  his  home  in  Swan 
Creek,  Mr.  Reighard  was  married  to  Rebecca  Crile.  All  their  children,  four 
in  number,  of  whom  three  are  living,  were  natives  of  this  township.  Henry, 
the  eldest,  resides  at  Delta ;  Robert  and  George  are  farmers  and  yet  live  near 
the  spot  of  their  birth. 

Socrates  H.  Cately,  familiarly  known  throughout  the  county  of  Fulton  as 
Judge  Cately,  was  until  quite  recently,  for  about  forty-two  years,  one  of  Swan 
Creek's  'most  active  [and  enterprising  citizens.  He  is  a  native  of  Cortland 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  born  on  the  8th  day  of  January,  1815,  in  the  calendar 
of  the  Democratic  party,  known  as  "  St.  Jackson's  Day,"  and  the  date  of  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans.  When  he  attained  his  majority  he  started  west,  stop- 
ping at  Maumee  City,  where  he  lived  for  a  little  less  than  eight  years,  and  then 
purchased  land  in  Swan  Creek  township,  and  established  himself  on  it.  He 
still  owns  the  farm  which  then  was  utterly  wild,  but  now  is  one  of  the  best 
farms  in  the  township.  He  was  married  in  1839  at  "  Six  Mile  Woods,"  near 
Delta,  to  Sarah  Williams.      He   was   twice  married,  his  last  wife  being  Juliette 


Fulton  County.  559 


Nearing.  By  his  second  marriage  he  was  the  father  of  ten  children,  seven 
of  whom  are  Hving.  Judge  Cately  now  lives  at  Delta.  He  was  the  first 
probate  judge  of  the  county,  and  was  an  associate  judge  of  the  judicial  dis- 
trict of  which  Fulton  county  was  a  part  under  the  constitution  of  1802. 

Recurring  to  the  settlers  of  this  township  to  whom  vantage  ground  was 
given  by  its  first  dwellers  and  workers,  this  class  being  mainly  the  comers 
from  about  1845  to  i860,  among  the  more  prominent  are  to  be  found  the 
Templetons,  Braileys,  Bassetts,  Blakes,  Reighards  and  Lewises.  These  fam- 
ilies all  were  people  of  push,  energy  and  resolute  intellectual  fibre.  The  mem- 
bers of  some  of  these  have  risen  to  local  prominence  as  business  and  profes- 
sional men  and  teachers. 

John  Templeton,  the  progenitor  of  the  Templeton  family  in  Swan  Creek 
township,  was  born  in  the  southwestern  part  of  Pennsylvania  in  1807.  Early 
in  life  he  came  to  Ohio  with  his  parents  and  settled  in  the  thriving  county  of 
Wayne.  Here  he  was  married  to  Susan  Watkins.  She  was  a  native  of  Ohio, 
and  born  near  the  western  bank  of  that  river  in  Jefferson  county,  and  was  two 
years  older  than  her  husband.  They  came  with  their  children  to  Fulton 
count)'  in  1853  and  located  in  Swan  Creek  township.  The  Templetons,  as 
the  name  would  indicate,  are  of  Scotch-Irish  origin.  They  all  are  men  of  very 
large  frame  and  most  robust  physique.  Old  John  Templeton  weighed  nearly 
four  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  and  it  is  no  extravagant  simile  to  say  he  was 
stout  as  an  ox.  He  was  known  to  lift  a  dead  weight  of  a  thousand  pounds, 
but  his  splendid  gifts  of  nerve  and  muscle  were  never  expended  in  the  phys- 
ical opposition  of  any  one.  He  had  that  kind  of  courage,  stopping  with 
the  assertion  of  his  own  plain  rights,  asking  nothing  more  and  content  with 
nothing  less,  which  is  the  index  of  the  highest  type  of  manhood.  His  grand- 
father participated  in  much  of  that  long  struggle  which  raged  between  the 
Indians  and  the  whites  during  the  closing  ten  years  of  the  last  century  for  the 
mastery  of  the  territory  west  of  Ohio.  He  was  with  Colonel  Crawford  and 
lost  his  hfe  in  the  battle  of  Sandusky  Plains.  John  Templeton  died  at  his 
home  on  section  ten  in  Swan  Creek  township  on  the  —  day  of  18 — .  His 
wife  preceded  him  to  the  grave  about years. 

John  S.,  the  third  son  of  John  and  Susan  Templeton,  was  a  native  of 
Wayne  county,  O.      He  was  born  on  the  22d  day  of  March,  1833,  and  died  in 

Swan  Creek  township  on  the  —  day  of 1886.     He  inherited  largely  the 

physique  and  strength  of  his  father,  but  was  one  of  the  most  genial  and  kind- 
of  men.  A  considerable  portion  of  his  life  was  spent  as  a  railway  conductor, 
but  he  always  made  his  home  on  the  old  Swan  Creek  farm.  During  the  war 
of  the  Rebellion  until  January  4,  1864,  he  was  a  member  of  the  company  that 
carried  the  colors  of  the  heroic  Thirty-eighth  Ohio  Infantry,  participating  in  a 
nnmber  of  the  great  battles  of  the  southwest,  including  the  bloody  fields  of 
Chickamauga  and  Stone  River,  and  winning  his  way  by  meritorious  conduct 


S6o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

to  the  first  lieutenancy  of  his  company.  Because  of  deafness  he  was  discharged 
before  the  war  ended.  It  is  no  unearned  praise  of  John  S.  Templeton  to  say 
that  he  was  a  good  man  and  a  valuable  citizen.  The  war  was  to  him  all  of 
what  it  was  in  small  or  great  degree  to  every  man  that  participated  in  it.  It 
was  an  educator  in  many  ways,  but  one  of  its  principal  personal  lessons  was  to 
teach  men  who  had  been  without  advantages  and  possibly  without  education, 
the  great  and  true  value  of  mental  training  as  acquired  at  school.  Lieutenant 
Templeton  felt  and  appreciated  this  through  his  army  experience,  and  on  his 
return  home  he  made  every  sacrifice  to  educate  his  family  of  boys  that  they 
might  become  useful  men,  and  his  efforts  were  not  misspent.  Frank,  James 
and  John  W.  were  sent  to  college  and  acquired  education  fitting  them  for  ex- 
cellent school  teachers.  Mrs.  Templeton,  whose  maiden  name  was  Lydia  A. 
Fesler,  survives  her  husband,  and  resides  on  the  old  Templeton  farm  in  sec- 
tion ten. 

In  1857  Moses  R.  Brailey,  being  then  in  the  prime  of  a  vigorous  manhood, 
came  from  Huron  county,  O.,  and  settled  in  section  twenty-two  in  Swan  Creek. 
Some  years  previous  Mr.  Brailey  had  acquired  considerable  landed  interests 
there.  Although  an  attorney,  and  a  successful  one,  Mr.  Brailey  could  not 
entirely  divert  his  mind  from  a  love  of  ownership  of  the  soil.  He  desired  what 
man  always  has  and  always  will  want,  a  spot  of  mother  earth  to  call  his  own. 
Though  practicing  law  and  engaged  in  the  varied  duties  of  different  responsi- 
ble positions  of  which  mention  has  been  made  elsewhere,  Mr.  Brailey  made 
his  home  upon  the  land,  which  under  his  direction  was  cleared  and  developed 
into  a  broad  and  productive  farm,  and  upon  it  most  of  his  children  grew  up  to 
manhood  and  womanhood.  In  1869  he  built  a  fine  brick  residence  thereon, 
but  has  resided  in  Wauseon  since  1880,  where  Mrs.  Brailey,  his  faithful  wife, 
died  a  few  years  ago.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Mason  family  of  Erie  county, 
N.  Y.  M.  R.  Brailey  is  of  Irish  descent,  and  though  the  blood  of  other  line- 
ages commingles  considerably  with  the  main  current  of  his  Celtic  origin,  yet 
its  distinguishing  characteristics  of  quickness  of  mental  power  and  generosity 
of  heart  were  not  extinguished  in  him. 

Palmer  R.  Lewis  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  on  the  27th  day  of 
November,  1821.  In  1848  he  settled  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  him  in  this 
township  and  upon  which  he  still  lives.  Previous  to  removing  to  Fulton 
county  he  lived  during  several  years  in  Erie  county,  O.,  where  he  was  mar- 
ried toSophronia  Blake.  They  have  five  children,  one  of  whom,  C.  F.  Lewis, 
esq.,  is  an  attorney  of  Wood  county,  O.  Mr.  Lewis  has  been  identified  with 
the  official  affairs  of  this  township  as  justice  of  the  peace  or  trustee  for  the  last 
twenty  years. 

Orra  Blake,  who  was  born  in  1 821,  in  Allegany  county,  N.  Y.,  became, 
with  his  family,  a  resident  of  Swan  Creek  township  in  1852.  His  wife  was 
Catherine  E.  Osterhout.     Besides   clearing  and  improving  the  excellent  farm 


Fulton  County.  561 


on  which  he  now  resides,  Mr.  Blake  has  built  many  farm  buildings  throughout 
the  township,  and  has  been  a  prominent  and  very  useful  citizen.  The  same 
year  that  Orra  Blake  settled  on  his  present  farm,  Wesley  Knight,  of  Middle- 
bury,  Vt,  bought  and  took  charge  of  the  old  tavern  at  Centerville.  Mr.  Knight 
was  born  in  the  Green  Mountain  State'  in  1808.  For  nineteen  years  he  kept 
the  pubhc  house  of  Centerville,  but  never  sold  any  intoxicating  liquors  of  any 
kind,  taking  a  wide  departure  from  the  example  of  those  who  preceded  him 
there. 

Of  the  others  of  the  Swan  Creek  pioneers  whose  names  have  been  given 
there  are  no  authentic  records.  Their  personal  history  is  not  to  be  found  re- 
liably existing  in  the  memory  of  any  one,  but  it  may  fairly  and  justly  be 
summed  up  by  saying  that  they  all  did  their  part  in  redeeming  an  inhospitable 
and  unpromising  wild  section  from  wilderness  and  swamp,  and  in  preparing 
the  way  for  a  good  living  chance  for  those  who  came  after  them. 

We  believe  we  cannot  more  appropriately  close  this  narrative  by  which  we 
have  briefly  sought  to  embody  in  a  permanent  form  an  outline  of  the  history 
of  Swan  Creek  township,  than  to  make  some  reference  to  the  patriotism  of  its 
citizens  when  that  noble  element  of  character  was  in  most  stern  demand.  Full 
one-third  of  the  men  of  this  township  capable  of  bearing  arms  were  gallant  and 
faithful  Union  soldiers ;  and  enlistment  to  most  of  them,  especially  those  who 
had  families,  was  peculiarly  trying ;  for  in  the  years  of  the  Rebellion  but  few 
parts  of  Ohio  could  be  found  inhabited  by  poorer  people.  The  Swan  Creek 
volunteer  went  from  a  poor  and  often  uninviting  home,  except  for  the  loved 
ones  left  there,  and  from  neighbors  as  poor  as  himself,  and  scarcely  able  except 
by  sore  privation  to  themselves,  to  provide  aid  of  any  kind  to  those  whom 
they  would  most  gladly  have  helped  and  whom  they  often  did  assist,  but  out 
of  no  store  of  abundance.  The  volunteers  of  this  township  participated  in 
many  of  the  bloodiest  battles  of  the  war.  In  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  they 
fought  through  the  Wilderness  campaign,  and  were  participants  in  that  long 
list  of  battles,  numbering  among  others,  the  dreadful  conflicts  of  Antietam, 
Spottsylvania,  and  Chancellorsville.  Many  of  them  were  in  the  southwest, 
and  the  sanguinary  and  trying  campaigns  that  finally  culminated  in  Sherman's 
march  to  the  sea,  are  a  part  of  their  personal  experience.  Sixty  of  her  vet- 
erans belong  to  the  Posts  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  at  Swanton, 
and  other  contiguous  villages,  and  among  them  are  the  usual  proportion  of 
the  scarred,  maimed  and  broken  bodied,  the  victims  of  hardships,  of  prison, 
pestilence  and  of  battle. 

71 


$62  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


CHAPTER  LHI. 

HISTORT  OF  YORK  TOWNSHIP. 

THIS  township  was  originally  a  part  of  Wood  and  Henry  counties.  These 
were  oTganized  from  old  Indian  territory,  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  in 
1820,  and  named  respectively,  the  first  after  the  brave  and  chivalrous  Colonel 
Wood,  a  distinguished  officer-of  engineers  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  the  latter 
after  Patrick  Henry,  the  celebrated  Virginia  orator  in  the  Revolutionary  period. 
In  July,  183s,  the  Legislature  organized  the  county  of  Lucas  from  out  of 
Wood,  south  of  the  Fulton  line,  and  named  the  same  after  Governor  Lucas, 
then  chief  executive  of  Ohio.  York  township  was  organized  June  6,  1836,  after 
the  territory  came  under  the  control  of  Lucas  county ;  yet  no  record  is  found 
in  Lucas  county  of  such  organization  ;  we  find  that  the  very  early  settlers 
went  all  the  way  to  vote  at  what  is  now  known  as  York  Center.  Its  extent  was 
north  to  the  Fulton  line,  and  south  to  the  north  line  of  Henry  county,  and  west 
to  the  county  of  Williams,  embracing  all  the  territory  of  towns  5,  6,  7  and  8 
east,  and  7  north,  and  all  of  town  8  north,  ranges  5,  6,  7  and  8  east.  That 
same  year  the  organization  of  Swan  Creek  township  gave  to  York  its  present 
eastern  boundary.  On  March  5,  1838,  the  board  of  commissioners  of  Lucas 
county  organized  Clinton  township  from  the  western  territory  of  York,  which 
subdivision  defines  the  present  western  boundary  of  York.  On  March  i,  1 841, 
Pike  township  was  organized  by  taking  from  York  all  of  town  8  north,  range 
7  east,  and  one  tier  of  sections  from  the  north  side  of  town  7  north,  range  7 
east,  which  defined  the  present  northern  boundary.  As  thus  formed  it  re- 
mained untouched  until  the  year  1850,  when  Fulton  county  was  organized  by 
the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  which  gave  to  this  county  a  strip  two  miles  wide  from 
Henry  county,  off  of  the  north  side,  the  length  of  Henry  county.  The  strip  of 
two  sections  wide  of  town  6  north,  range  7  east,  was  attached  to  and  became  a 
part  of  York  township,  extending  its  southern  boundary  two  miles  farther 
south,  which  has  ever  since  been  the  southern  boundary  of  this  township.  All 
this  territory  lies  wholly  within  the  Maumee  Valley.  Nothing  prominent  marks 
its  pre-historic  period  before  the  advent  of  the  white  race.  It  is  said  that  the 
Indian  never  shed  the  blood  of  the  white  man  within  the  limits  of  Fulton 
county.  The  township  first  began  to  settle  with  people  of  New  England  de- 
scent, and  can  be  made  to  be  one  of  the  most  highly  cultivated  and  thickly 
populated  townships  of  the  county.  In  1834  began  the  first  white  settlement 
of  the  township  as  now  defined.  The  operations  of  the  Indians  were  principally 
confined  to  the  Maumee  River,  where  the  white  man  first  settled,  and  gave  but 
little  attention  to  the  interior.  Perrysburg  was  the  center  of  location  for  early 
immigrants,  and  from  there  they  distributed  themselves  throughout  the  valley. 


Fulton  County.  563 


It  was  founded  by  the  government  as  a  point  at  the  head  of  ship  navigation, 
and  began  its  existence  in  18 16.  It  was  named  in  honor  of  Commodore  Perry. 
At  this  time  there  roamed  through  the  valley  powerful  tribes  of  Indians  known 
as  the  Ottawas  and  Pottawatamies,  but  their  number  was  much  reduced  by 
government  removals  to  the  West  at  different  dates.  In  1838  the  last  remnant 
of  the  once  powerful  Ottawas  was  removed  beyond  the  Mississippi,  at  which 
■date  they  numbered  some  interesting  men. 

Boundaries. — York  township  as  at  present  formed,  is  bounded  on  the  east 
by  Swan  Creek,  on  the  north  by  Pike,  on  the  west  by  Clinton,  and  on  the  south 
by  Liberty  township,  Henry  county.  It  is  composed  of  sections  7  to  36  inclu- 
sive, of  town  7  north,  range  7  east,  and  sections  i  to  12  inclusive,  of  town  6 
north,  range  7  east,  and  contains  parts  of  two  Congressional  surveys  with  forty- 
two  full  sections  of  land,  or  an  area  of  forty- two  square  miles,  embracing  26,- 
•880  acres  of  land. 

Topography. — The  township  in  general  is  level.  Its  surface  geology  is  ref- 
erable exclusively  to  the  drift.  It  has  a  beach  of  sand  and  gravel  extending 
across  it  in  a  northeasterly  course,  leaving  the  township  just  north  of  Delta,  a 
town  situated  on  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad,  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  town- 
ship. South  of  this  ridge  the  land  is  purely  the  black  swamp  deposit,  and  no 
^purs  of  sand  leave  the  ridge  upon  its  southerly  front.  Upon  the  north  side  a 
few  spurs  put  out  and  overlap  the  lacustrine  clays  for  some  distance.  In  the 
xiorth  part  of  the  township  heavy  spurs  of  sand  reach  southward  from  the  "  oak 
openings"  of  Dover  and  Pike  townships,  overlapping  the  heavy  clays.  There 
are  no  quarries  of  stone  found  in  the  township,  and  but  few  boulders.  The 
depth  of  the  drift  forbids  the  hope  that  any  may  be  discovered.  Any  amount 
■of  material  exists  here  for  tile  and  brick  manufacture,  which  could  be  made  to 
"pay"  if  properly  developed.  The  average  depth  of  the  drift  in  this  township 
is  about  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  above  the  rock  or  water  level  of  Lake  Erie. 

Timber. — The  timber  growth  of  York  was  dense  and  very  tall,  and  pre- 
sented all  the  varieties  common  to  heavy  level  soils.  Elm  is  found  in  abund- 
ance, together  with  basswood,  and  nearly  all  the  varieties  of  oak ;  black  and 
white  ash  exist  in  some  parts  ;  hickory,  butternut  and  black  walnut,  some  hard 
maple,  and,  in  a  few  places,  the  beech  may  be  found  and  a  sprinkling  of  white- 
wood.  The  timber  of  this  whole  township,  in  its  primitive  days,  was  of  a  dense 
growth,  the  branches  and  foliage  making  it  almost  impenetrable  to  the  sun, 
and  its  gloomy  recesses  remained  unbroken  until  discovered  and  settled  by  the 
ever  restless  immigrants  of  the  east  and  south. 

Water  Supply. — The  water  supply  is  derived  wholly  from  rain  fall,  which  is 
insufficient  in  times  of  drouth.  This  rain  fall  is  held  in  the  quicksands  under- 
lying the  sand  and  gravel  ridges  and  sand  spurs  from  the  openings,  and  may 
be  found  by  shallow  diggings,  deposited  in  sand  or  gravel  beds  permeating  the 
lacustrine  clays,  over  the  blue  or  Erie  clay  of  the  whole  valley ;  hence,  in  dry 


564  History  of  Henrv  and  Fulton  Counties. 

weather  the  streams  go  dry  and  qifford  no  water.  The  only  unfailing  supply 
of  water  is  procured  by  the  auger  penetr^iting  to  fhe  rock  below,  where  an 
abundance  of  water  is  often  found,  and  this,  by  the  wind- mill,  is  utilized  for 
farm  and  household  purposes. 

The  streams  of  York  township,  excepting  Bad  Creek,  have  their  source  in 
the  township  on  its  northern  and  western  border.  Those  with  Bad  Creek  in 
the  east  run  in  a  southerly  direction  across  the  township,  while  the  balance  run 
nearly  a  southeasterly  course,  and  find  their  way  to  Maumee  River.  The 
course  of  the  streams  js  marked  with  a  gentle  inclination  of  about  three  to  four 
feet  to  the  mile.  The  laind  of  the  northwest  part  is  more  elevated  than  in  any 
other  section  of  the  township.  Bad  Creek  has  its  principal  source  from 
Chesterfield,  Dover  and  Pike,  and  affords  an  extensive  drainage  for  the  wet 
prairie  lands  lying  in  the  openings  and  sand  areas  surrounding  them. 

Soil  and  Productions. — The  black  swamp  clay  predominates  to  a  large 
extent  south  of  the  sand  and  gravel  ridge  of  this  township.  It  is,  with  a  proper 
rainfall,  very  productive  for  all  the  general  crops  of  this  latitude.  North  of 
the  ridge  spurs  put  out  and  overlap  the  lacustrine  deposits  in  many  places,, 
giving  a  very  rich  and  productive  soil,  sufficiently  mixed  with  the  sand,  gravel,, 
and  clay  to  make  husbandry  easy  and  profitable.  The  largest  area  of  the 
township  is  of  the  lacustrine  deposit,  and  gives  to  the  farm  lands  but  one  spe- 
cific soil.  When  properly  managed  it  is  capable  of  as  heavy  production  as  the 
majority  of  the  soils  of  the  county.  These  clay  soils  are  homogeneous,  with 
sand  and  gravel  enough  to  render  it  arable  and  permeable.  A  few  patches  of 
unmixed  clay  may  be  found,  some  quite  friable,  but  more  commonly  very 
adhesive  and  difficult  of  management. 

Early  Settlers. — The  first  settlement  made  in  York  township,  as  gathered 
from  the  recollections  of  those  still  living,  was  made  by  William  Jones  and 
family,  in  May,  1834.  He  settled  on  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  eighteen. 
However,  we  leave  the  honor  of  being  the  first  pioneer  to  be  settled  by  the 
future  historian.  It  appears  that  William,  John,  and  James  King  came  to  this 
territory  early  in  May,  1834,  and  they  say,  in  a  little  historical  sketch  of  their 
own,  that  when  they  came  the  only  persons  known  to  be  in  the  woods  (for 
then  the  woods  extended  north  to  the  Fulton  line,  and  west  to  Williams 
county),  were  Elisha  Trowbridge  and  his  brother,  Willard,  and  a  Swiss  family 
named  Schlappi.  As  the  region  was  an  unbroken  and  densely  wooded  forest, 
and  with  no  roads,  it  was  quite  impossible  to  know  the  whereabouts  and  time 
of  all  new  arrivals  until  a  better  acquaintance  with  the  woods  and  territory  was 
had.      Mr.  King  settled  on  section  twenty-four. 

John  S.  Trowbridge  settled  in  Fulton  county,  in  this  township,  in  1834. 
He  was  from  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  and  was  born  November  18,  1816.  After  com- 
ing to  the  valley  he  married  Hannah  Hampton.  They  have  nine  children. 
He  is  now  a  merchant  of  Delta.     Cornelius  Trowbridge  came  from  Saratoga- 


y/{  0.^-1^.  ^y^  o- 


■--> 


Fulton  County.  565 


in  1834.  Alanson  Trowbridge  also  eame  in  1834.  A  Mr.  Hampton  was,  in 
that  year,  here  looking  for  land.  He  took  an  entry  of  eighty  acres  made  by- 
William  King,  and  moved  upon  it  in  1834,  cleared  it  and  made  a  fine  farm. 
William  King  and  family  settled  in  York  township  in  May,  1834.  He  had  a 
family — wife,  three  sons,  one  daughter,  and  his  aged  father  and  mother. 
They  came  from  Londonderry,  Ireland.  On  arriving  at  Manhattan  they  hired 
a  team  which  took  them  to  Providence,  where  they  "  put  up  "  at  the  hotel 
kept  by  Manor,  a  Frenchman,  with  the  expectations  of  going  to  Defiance,  but, 
through  the  entreaties  of  Manor,  King  was  induced  to  go  some  twelve  miles 
north,  to  what  was  then  called  the  Six  Mile  Woods,  Manor  accompanying  him._ 
Here  they  found  William  Meeker,  who  had  settled  in  the  edge  of  this  woods 
in  1833,  or  the  year  before,  now  in  Swan  Creek,  where  they  hired  Meeker  to 
show  them  some  of  the  "bush  "  which  Uncle  Sam  was  selling  for  $1.50  per 
acre.  They  then  started  from  Meeker's  cabin,  and  went  on  that  line  due  west, 
to  where  the  village  of  Delta  now  stands ;  thence  they  continued  as  far  west 
as  the  center  of  York  township.  They  then  turned  and  went  south  one  mile  j 
thence  east  to  the  "  oak  openings,"  and  located  lands  on  section  twenty-four. 
They  then  immediately  returned  to  Providence.  From  there  King  went  to 
the  land  office,  then  at  Waupakonetta,  on  foot,  which  journey  required  three 
days  travel.  He  says :  "  The  roads  were  so  bad  that  a  horse  could  hardly 
make  any  headway.  Mud  and  slush  was  nearly  to  the  top  of  boots."  The 
way  to  the  land  office  was  through  a  dense,  unbroken  forest,  and  in  many 
places  not  cut  out.  The  trees  were  blazed  to  mark  the  route.  On  his  return 
he  forthwith  made  the  transfer  of  his  family  to  his  purchase  on  section  twenty- 
four,  and  erected  his  cabin  which  became  their  home,  rude  as  it  was.  The 
Doolittles  settled  near  the  center  of  York  township,  as  also  did  Uriah  Spencer, 
in  1835. 

The  only  mail  these  early  settlers  had  was  at  the  river,  which  passed  once 
a  week  to  Fort  Wayne,  in  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  was  carried  on  horseback. 
All  the  settlers,  even  in  the  Six  Mile  Woods,  had  to  go  from  twelve  to  twenty 
miles  to  the  river  for  their  mail. 

These  families  named,  as  far  as  facts  can  be  gathered,  undoubtedly  were  all 
that  located  within  the  limits  of  York  during  the  year  1834.  The  settlement 
was  begun  so  near  the  present  line  of  Swan  Creek  township  that,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  York  township  history,  correct  information  is  impossible,  but  the  chap- 
ter devoted  to  Swan  Creek  will  show  the  names  of  early  pioneers  and  pioneer 
items ;  yet,  at  a  very  early  period,  all  this  section  was  York  township.  It  is 
here  proper  to  state  that  William  Meeker  was  the  first  settler  within  the  pres- 
ent limits  of  Swan  Creek  township,  being  found  here  in  the  woods  as  early  as 
1833,  and,  for  authority,  we  will  refer  to  the  reminiscences  of  the  hfe  of  Peter 
Manor,  the  Frenchman  of  the  Maumee. 

Smkrs  from  183s  to  1840. — John  Murray  and  his  wife,  Mary  Huffieller, 


$66  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

settled  in  York  in  the  thirties ;  came  from  Pennsylvania  and  settled  upon  sec- 
tion twenty-six,  cleared  and  improved  a  large  farm,  reared  a  family  and  died 
thereon. 

Robert  McClarren  and  his  wife,  Catharine  Jones,  came  from  Maryland  and 
settled  in  York  township,  February  6,  1836 ;  Catharine  was  a  sister  to  William 
Jones  the  first  settler. 

Henry  Fluhart  located  here  in  the  very  early  days  of  the  settlement  of  the 
township  upon  section  seven.  He  was  a  zealous  Christian  and  did  noble  work 
in  aid  of  early  missionary  work.  His  latch  string  was  always  out  to  friend  or 
foe.  He,  at  a  later  period,  moved  to  Missouri  and  has  since  died,;^but  some  of 
his  family  are  residents  of  York  ;  one  son,  James  Fluhart,  is  editor  and  propri- 
etor of  the  Delta  Avalanche,  published  at  Delta. 

Abram  Cole  and  family  came  to  York  in  January,  1835,  and  settled  on  sec- 
tion twenty-five,  the  east  half  of  northeast  quarter. 

Peter  Wise,  Gillman  Cheedle,  William  Fowler,  David  Childs,  Avery  Lamb, 
John  Batdorf,  Bethuel  Gould,  Jefferson  Van  Vleet,  Martin  Butler, Don- 
aldson, Thomas  Wardly,  Charles  Gray  and  William  Fowler  came  in  1835.  Gard- 
ner Tremain  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  came  to  York  in  1836,  the  former  a  na- 
tive of  Cayuga  county,  and  the  latter  from  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y.  They  set- 
tled on  section  twenty-five  and  thirty-six.      He  died  many  years  ago. 

John  Jones  came  with  his  father,  William  Jones,  and  hence  may  be  con- 
sidered among  the  settlers  of  1834.  He  is  still  living,  having  attained  a  good 
old  age. 

John  Batdorf  settled  upon  section  twenty-one,  the  same  on  which  he  now 
resides,  and  raised  a  large  family.  H.  E.  Whitney  came  at  a  very  early  date, 
and  with  his  family  settled  upon  section  twenty- five. 

James  Trowbridge,  wife  and  two  children,  left  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  July  4,  1837, 
and  landed  at  Perrysburgh,  in  the  Maumee  Valley,  July  17,  1837.  His  route 
of  travel  was  from  Albany  to  Buffalo,  by  freight  boat  on  the  Erie  canal,  and 
from  there  on  Lake  Erie  to  Toledo,  O.,  on  board  of  the  boat,  Commodore  Per- 
ry. He  found  at  Maumee  an  Indian  camp,  and  government  officers  were  gath- 
ering the  Indians  of  the  valley  at  this  place,  preparatory  to  moving  them  west. 

The  Indians  were  very  peaceable  and  friendly.  The  same  day,  on  arriv- 
ing at  Perrysburgh,  he  found  a  man  by  the  name  of  Elijah  Herrick  (now  a  res- 
ident of  Fulton  township),  who  took  him  and  family  to  the  "  Six  Mile  Woods," 
near  where  Delta  now  stands.  There  were  no  roads  and  the  way  lay  through 
what  was  called  wet  prairies  and  sand  openings.  That  night  they  all  stayed 
at  Swanton,  fourteen  miles  from  Maumee.  In  the  morning  they  started  for 
their  home  eight  miles  further  west.  They  met  with  many  difficulties  in  get- 
ting across  Swan  Creek.  After  crossing  and  traveling  a  mile  or  two  they  came 
to  a  thick  wooded  country  where  they  found  a  few  inhabitants  and  before  noon 
got  to  their  future  home.     This  was  on  July  20,  1837.     He  says  that  at  that  time 


Fulton  County.  567 


it  was  twenty  miles  to  a  postoffice,  twenty  miles  to  a  doctor  and  the  same  dis- 
tance to  a  saw  or  grist-mill.  The  roads  were  nothing  but  Indian  trails  and 
cow  paths.  Some  of  the  difficulties  they  had  to  encounter  were  amusing  and 
many  times  dangerous.  One  very  important  undertaking  at  this  time  in  pro- 
gress, was  the  building  of  the  canal  up  the  Maumee,  which  gave  an  impetus  to 
immigration  that  reached  this  territory  and  had  its  influence  for  the  ultimate 
benefit  of  all. 

In  the  summer  of  1838  a  dreadful  epidemic  broke  out  among  the  canal  dig- 
gers and  reached  all  the  isolated  settlers  in  the  woods,  ten  or  twelve  miles  away. 
During  this  siege  of  sickness  there  were  not  well  persons  enough  to  care  for 
the  sick.     Eight  persons  died  that  summer. 

Catharine  Moyer,  in  her  historical  reminiscence  says,  "I  landed  at  the 
mouth  of  Swan  Creek,  May  14,  1838,  and,  to  get  to  land  had  to  wade  through 
water  enough  to  sail  quite  a  boat.  But  that  was  nothing  to  riding  over  cor- 
duroy roads,  and  the  kind  of  bridges  in  use  at  time,  with  a  six  months  old  ba- 
by in  my  arms.  The  shaking  and  rocking  did  not  soothe  the  child  much.  So 
I  had  to  get  out  and  walk  when  I  came  to  a  good  place.  We  stopped  on  the 
route  out  at  a  cabin  for  water,  and  they  had  to  strain  it  to  get  the  'wigglers' 
out  of  it  before  offering  it  to  drink.  I  was  thirsty  and  drank,  regardless  of  the 
wigglers.  I  took  my  supper  that  night  at  the  cabin  of  Gardner  K.  Tremain, 
and  from  there,  the  next  morning  went  to  the  cabin  of  Abram  Cole  and  stayed 
until  we  built  a  place  of  our  own.  After  many  trials  incident  to  a  pioneer  be- 
ginning, we  cleared  our  land,  got  a  fair  start  on  the  road  to  a  good  and  easy 
way  of  living,  when  my  husband  went  to  Delta  and  worked  as  a  blacksmith. 
Again  in  1849  he  went  to  California  and  there  died." 

Mrs.  Moyer,  in  her  recollections  of  those  early  days,  further  says  :  "  I  do 
not  understand  architecture  very  well ;  but  our  house  had  a  shake  roof,  boards 
for  floor  below,  and  two  boards  for  chamber  floor ;  we  took  one  of  them  for  a 
door  in  the  fall ;  a  two-legged  bedstead,  a  chest  for  a  table,  a  log  sawed  out 
for  windows,  a  blanket  for  door,  shakes  for  pantry,  and  one  side  of  the  house 
for  a  fire.  People  said  we  were  quite  well  off.  We  lived  in  hope  ;  we  had  to 
wait  until  we  could  prepare  ground.  In  the  spring  I  hoed  up  some  dirt  around 
the  house  and  planted  twelve  hills  of  corn.  I  never  felt  so  rich  in  all  my  Hfe, 
as  I  did  when  the  corn  came  up.  I  have  planted  and  raised  bushels,  since,  yet 
nothing  ever  gave  me  the  joy  that  I  experienced  in  raising  that  twelve  hills. 
It  was  my  first,  and  on  my  own  land.  I  taught  school  and  took  my  pay  in 
produce." 

W.  King  says  :  "  On  the  21st  of  June,  1834,  shortly  after  I  was  settled,  we 
were  visited  by  a  terrible  cyclone,  which  swept  the  woods  from  west  to  east. 
Its  track  was  about  two  miles  wide  and  thirty  miles  long.  Its  duration  was 
about  twenty  minutes,  and  almost  destroyed  the  forest;  everything  was  a 
wreck  in  its  path.     It  came  just  at  sun  setting.      The  day  had  been  calm  and 


568  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

sultry.  When  the  storm  came  it  was  accompanied  with  wonderful  ekctfkal 
disturbances,  heavy  thunder,  a  great  volume  of  rain  and  total  darkness.  The 
shanty  was  saved,  amid  the  falling  and  crashing  of  timber."  Mr.  King  thought 
it  safer  to  plant  himself  at  the  foot  of  a  patriarchal  oak,  which  was  twisted  off, 
a  few  yards  above  his  head,  and  carried  away.  The  fallen  timber  was  piled 
around  the  shanty,  but  none  fell  upon  it.  A  horse  that  was  tied  near  the 
shanty,  was  also  saved.  It  required,  of  the  settlers,  eight  days  of  steady  work 
to  cut  their  way  out  of  this  windfall. 

William  Fowler,  sen.,  came  originally  from  Cumberland  county,  Pa.,  in 
1828,  to  Fairfield  county,  O.  ;  and  in  August,  1835,  with  his  family,  came  to 
Fulton  county.  With  him  were  three  sons,  who  may  be  considered  pioneers 
of  that  age.  They  were  William,  Thomas  and  Robert.  William  Fowler,  sen., 
located  his  farm  in  York  township,  where  he  died  many  years  ago. 

General  Remarks. ■'—Ma.ny  of  the  old  pioneers  that  first  entered  York  town- 
ship were  obliged  to  cut  and  clear  away  miles  of  timber,  to  get  to  their  lands, 
and  each  gave  to  the  public  from  twenty  to  thirty  days  hard  work,  for  a  few 
years,  to  clean  and  cut  out  roads.  They  conquered  all  obstacles,  by  their 
courage  and  ambition,  and  by  their  own  steadfast  purposes  and  personal  exer- 
tions, have  finally  succeeded  in  owning  a  fair  property. 

One  of  the  characteristics  of  these  old-time  settlers  was,  that  they  generally 
managed  to  have  enough  to  eat  and  wear,  such  as  it  was.  They  liked  to  hear 
the  trees  fall,  and  see  the  light  from  the  burning  log  heaps  and  brush  piles,  at 
night.  This  was  one  of  their  greatest  enjoyments,  and  they  always  lived  as 
though  the  life  of  a  pioneer  was  a  glorious  one ;  and  many  of  them,  still  living 
to-day,  look  back  to  the  old  times  with  longing,  and  would  love  to  live  them 
over  again. 

Other  Settlers. — Stebbins  R.  Stebbins  came  to  York,  in  1844;  George 
Wright  came  in  1847,  ^""^  settled  upon  section/;  he  was  a  native  of  England. 
William  Markle  and  wife,  from  Pickaway  county,  came  in  1844;  Elija  Smith 
and  his  wife,  Eliza,  came  in  1849.  Mr.  Smith  was  from  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  his  wife  from  Seneca  county,  O.  They  settled  upon  section  26- 
Alfred  B.  Gunn  settled  in  York,  in  1844.  At  that  time  he  was  in  Henry 
county,  and  became  a  resident  of  Fulton  county  April  i,  1850,  when  that  part 
of  Henry  was  made  a  part  of  Fulton  county.  He  was  one  of  the  delegates  to 
the  convention  that  established  the  boundary  line  of  Fulton  county.  He  set- 
tled upon  section  12,  town  6  north,  range  7  east.  He  has  been  twice  elected 
commissioner  of  this  county,  and  served  a  period  of  six  years  ;  was  one  of  the 
commissioners  in  locating  the  court-house  at  the  place  where  it  now  stands,  in 
Wauseon.  He  has  long  since  passed  away,  but  his  homestead  remains  in  the 
family.  He  was  a  very  influential  man  and  a  good  neighbor.  He  lived  a  life 
worthy  of  imitation. 

Samuel  and  Elizabeth  Biddle  settled  in  York  township  October  13,  1842. 


d  CT^'UIq.^ 


Fulton  County.  569, 


They  came  from  Pennsylvania,  "the  land  of  the  Quakers."  They  raised  a 
family  of  five  girls  and  three  boys.  In  his  lifetime,  Mr.  Biddle  was  one  of  the 
foremost  men  of  the  township;  he  settled  upon  section  17,  on  lands  that 
were  entered  and  improved  by  Uriah  Spencer,  one  of  the  first  settlers.  Mr. 
Biddle  died  February  17,  1867,  and  his  wife  in  1877.  When  Mr.  Biddle  set- 
tled in  York,  1842,  there  were  but  three  school-houses  in  the  whole  township, 
and  log  buildings  at  that.  The  township  then  was  not  as  large  as  at  present, 
yet  children  found  their  way  to  what  few  schools  there  were. 

The  first  school  taught  in  this  part  of  York  was  by  Miss  Sophronia  Flu- 
hart.  She  taught  a  winter  term  of  six  weeks  and  three  days,  at  a  cost  of  sixty- 
two  and  one- half  cents  per  week,  and  boarded  herself  at  home.  This  school 
was  kept  in  a  cabin  owned  by  Samuel  Biddle,  near  the  York  and  Clinton  line, 
east  of  Wauseon.  Calvin  Biddle,  son  of  Samuel,  settled  in  York  in  1842.  He 
came  with  his  parents  from  Pennsylvania.  He  has  been  twice  married  ;  his 
present  wife  was  Margaret  Todd. 

Mark  Berry,  from  Wooster,  settled  here  in  1843.  Stillman  C.  Biddle  set- 
tled in  York,  1842.  He  came  with  his  parents  when  but  a  small  boy,  and,  un- 
doubtedly, as  a  barefoot  boy,  of  that  period,  is  able  to  give  a  very  characteris- 
tic description  of  pioneer  days.  He  now  resides  upon  section  17,  and  is  one 
of  the  foremost  men  of  York. 

Abner  P.  Brainard  settled  in  York,  in  1846.  John  Harrison  came  in  a 
very  early  day  and  settled  upon  section  17.  The  only  crops  of  these  days 
were  wheat,  oats,  corn  and  potatoes,  and  in  this  township  a  crop  of  the  finest 
quality  was  sure  to  follow.  This  was  a  wonderful  encouragement  to  the  early 
settlers.  There  was  no  trading  point  of  any  account  except  Maumee,  where 
all  business  was  done.  The  building  of  the  Air-Line  Railroad,  in  1854,  seemed' 
to  change  the  very  face  of  nature,  and  was  the  pivotal  point  in  which  pioneer 
life  suddenly  vanished,  and  a  general  traffic  in  every  product  that  could  be- 
gleaned  from  the  land,  jumped  into  life. 

The  history  of  these  and  others,  that  might  be  given,  serve  as  a  type  of  a 
generation  who  will  soon  be  gone.  They  are  crossing  over  the  river.  Many 
of  these  old  pioneers  have  lived  to  see  the  sunshine  of  a  better  Christian  civili- 
zation ;  the  forest  displaced  by  wide  areas  of  improvements ;  by  towns  and  cit- 
ies filled  with  churches,  and  the  whole  country  dotted  over  with  school-houses  ; 
and  railroads,  where  was  once  the  Indian  trail.  It  was  in  these  homes  that 
many  of  the  present  generation  received  their  early  training,  by  the  side  and. 
upon  the  lap  of  that  mother,  whose  influence  was  felt  and  fully  appreciated. 

Roads. — ^The  first  road  opened  in  and  through  York  township  was  laid  out 
by  one.  Captain  Williams,  with  chainmen  and  axmen,  and  Judge  Ambrose 
Rice,  of  Perrysburgh,  as  surveyor.  The  road  extended  from  Maumee,  by  the 
way  of  where  Delta  now  stands,  west  to  West  Unity,  Williams  county.  It 
was  surveyed  in  August  and  completed  about  the  first  of  September,  1834, 
and  is  now  called  the  State  road.  ^^ 


57°  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Post  Routes. — The  first  post  route  established  was  from  Toledo  via  Delta, 
west  to  West  Unity,  in  1838,  running  upon  the  State  road. 

Post-Offices. — The  first  post-office  in  the  township  was  York  Center,  two 
and  one-half  miles  west  and  one  mile  south  of  Delta.  In  1838  there  was  a 
post-office  established  on  what  is  now  the  farm  of  the  Hon.  S.  H.  Cately,  in 
Swan  Creek,  which  answered  well  for  York  township.  William  Meeker  was 
the  first  postmaster,  and  in  naming  it,  misapprehending  its  meaning,  supposing 
it  signified  "fertile  valley,"  gave  it  the  name  of  Delta.  It  was  in  1842  moved 
to  the  village  of  Delta,  and  became  a  post-office  of  York  township,  and  so  re- 
mains to  this  date.  Beta,  a  post-office  upon  the  south  side  of  York,  became 
as  such  in  1850,  by  the  acquisition  of  territory  from  Henry  county.  Platts- 
town  post  office  was  established  in  1886.  This  comprises  the  list  of  offices  of 
the  township.     York  Center  was  discontinued  some  years  ago. 

Physicians. — The  first  physician  of  the  township  was  Erastus  Lathrop,  who 
settled  near  Delta  and  died  very  soon  after  the  village  was  located.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  and  sometimes  preached  for  the  society. 

The  medical  practitioners  of  the  township  have  centered  in  the  village  of 
Delta,  from  which  point  they  practice  over  a  large  area  of  the  surrounding 
county,  and  are  William  Ramsey,  S.  P.  Bishop,  John  Odell,  John  A.  Wilkins, 
and  O.  P.  Fletcher. 

Educational. — The  first  school-house  built  in  the  township  stood  upon  the 
farm  of  Willard  Trowbridge,  one  mile  west  of  Delta.  There  are,  at  the  pre- 
sent time  thirteen  sub- districts  and  one  graded  school  for  Delta,  all  in  a  very 
flourishing  condition. 

Churches. — The  first  church  built  in  the  township  was  by  the  Presbyterian 
society  of  Delta,  and  at  date,  the  township,  including  Delta,  has  eight  houses 
for  public  worship  located  as  follows  :  Four  in  Delta,  one  each  on  sections 
•eleven,  twenty-nine,  thirty-one  and  thirty-four,  embodying  in  faith  all  the  prin- 
■cipal  denominations  of  the  county. 

Steam  Mills. — Outside  of  the  village  of  Delta  there  are  four  steam  saw- 
mills, employed  for  the  use  of  the  lumber- producing  interest  of  the  township. 
No  grist-mills  were  ever  run  in  the  township  ;  the  only  one  erected  is  at  Delta, 
a  roller  process  mill,  doing  a  large  and  profitable  business,  both  in  home  and 
foreign  trade. 

Some  of  the  Present  Inhabitants. — Some  of  the  principal  land  owners,  noted 
for  enterprise,  who  are  likely  to  lead  in  the  industry  of  the  township,  are  Frank 
T.  Blair,  Daniel  Harmon,  John  McQuillen,  William  Ramsey,  Norman  Hunger, 
Silas  B.  Skeels,  Jacob  Koos,  Matthew  Lutton,  J.  B.  Fasbaugh,  Daniel  Eberly, 
Phillip  Boyce,  A.  Berkebile,  John  Harrison,  George  Seible,  Valentine  Emer- 
ling,  William  Trowbridge,  George  Orndorf,  Jacob  P.  Garman,  Stillman  C.  Bid- 
die,  Calvin  Biddle,  Samuel  G.  Aumind,  Frank  Briggs,  Jacob  Huth,  Cornelius 
Trowbridge,  Richard  E.  Terwilliger,  C.  Harrison,  J.  Berkebile,  John   Batdorf, 


Fulton  County.  571 


A.  E.  Bradley,  J.  Pontius,  Reuben  Bond,  Samuel  McLain,  William  Struble,  J. 
Leist,  N.  Biery,  George  W.  Tabor,  A.  B.  Thompson,  Charles  Cullen,  Charles 
W.  Hatton,  and  J.  M.  Longnecker. 

Aside  from  the  agricultural  industry  of  the  township,  all  the  competitive 
industries  that  once  existed  therein  have  taken  leave,  and  now  only  exist  in 
the  villages. 

Delta,  a  large  village  of  this  township,  is  endowed  with  no  natural  facilities 
for  manufacture  or  commerce,  but  simply  has  a  good  farming  country  around 
it,  and  is  only  good  for  the  production  of  food,  and  whatever  will  forward  her 
agricultural  interest  is  of  vital  consequence  to  all.  As  Delta  is  a  rival  to  the 
other  towns  of  the  county,  and  possibly  the  oldest  of  all,  it  is  one  of  the  very 
few  that  has  come  to  us  alive  from  the  wrecks  of  city  booms  of  early  days. 

This  village  was  not  planted  by  some  shrewd  speculator,  nor  were  its  ad- 
vantages heralded  throughout  the  land  by  flaming  hand  bills ;  it  was  of  spon- 
taneous growth  and  seemed  indigenous  to  the  soil,  and  grew  apace  with  the 
improvements  of  the  country.  This  site  was  trod  over  by  the  white  man  as 
early  as  in  1834,  and  up  to  1838  the  land  hunters  did  not  seem  to  have  any 
idea  that  there  would  be  a  town  where  Delta  now  stands.  Two  families  then 
were  living  on  the  bank  of  the  creek  :  James  McQuilling  on  the  south  side  of 
the  State  road,  and  G.  B.  Lewis  on  the  north  side.  Both  were  farmers.  Mc- 
Quilling owned  and  run  a  saw- mill,  a  water-mill,  and  Lewis  opened  a  temper- 
ance tavern.  He  kept  a  little  tea  and  tobacco  for  sale,  and  on  Sunday  always, 
had  preaching  in  his  house,  so  his  was  a  dwelling,  tavern,  store  and  church. 
This  was  really  the  first  beginning  of  business  in  Delta. 

A  Mr.  Kenyon  built  the  first  house,  a  frame,  and  up  to  1839  George  Wood 
and  wife  composed  one  fourth  of  all  the  residents  of  the  village.  This  house 
was  afterward  sold  to  Doctor  Lathrop,  who  had  just  married  his  second  wife, 
but  in  a  few  months  from  that  time  they  both  died.  J.  T.  Gates  and  George 
Wood  became  the  owners  of  the  Lathrop  property  in  184 1.  In  this  year  the 
village  received  an  accession  to  its  population  in  a  very  old  fashioned  way.  All 
its  previous  increase  had  been  through  immigration,  but  this  was  by  the  birth, 
in  October,  of  Mary  Augusta  Wood,  who  made  her  debut  as  an  actor  on  the 
world's  great  stage,  and  on  which  she  has  continued  to  act  for  forty-six  years; 
during  this  time  she  has  visited  the  principal  towns  in  Europe  and  America, 
and  has  given  the  former  an  opportunity  of  talking  with  a  native  American  in 
their  own  language  and  on  their  own  soil,  and  showing  to  the  literary  men  and 
women  of  England,  France,  Germany  and  other  countries,  that  a  person  may 
be  born  in  the  wilds  of  Ohio  and  be  their  equal. 

The  first  church  in  Delta  was  the  Presbyterian  of  the  old  school.  It  was 
built  on  Adrian  street  at  a  very  early  date.  Since  that  time  the  society  has 
built  a  new  one  on  Main  street  a  fine  structure. 

James  Trowbridge  kept  the  first  store,  but  the  pioneer  store  that  prepared 


372  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  way  for  all  the  rest  since,  with  no  interruption,  was   opened  by  Eli  Kitts, 
of  the  firm  of  Wisewell  &  Kitts,  of  Maumee  city,  in  1841.     At  this  time  Delta 

contained  four  families,  James   McQuilling, McKaskey,  the  venerable 

Adam  Zedaker  and  George  Woods,  and  contained  at  that  time  only  four  log 
dwellings.  Kitts  lived  here  about  one  year  and  died.  A  man  by  the  name  of 
Griswold  took  up  the  stock  in  trade  and  had  the  whole  oversight  for  a  short 
time.  After  him  came  Dan  Cummings.  The  first  permanent  structure  built 
in  Delta  was  by  Dr.  Allen  White,  for  a  residence,  and  is  now  the  wing  part  of 
the  residence  of  Dr.  William  Ramsey.  The  first  printing  press  established  in 
the  county  was  at  Delta,  Louis  Stumm  was  editor  and  proprietor.  This  was 
very  soon  after  the  organization  of  the  county;  and  after  the  location  of  the 
county  seat,  the  paper  was  moved  to  Ottokee.  The  Avalanche  and  the  Delta 
Atlas  seem  to  be  established  on  a  solid  foundation  and  have  passed  through 
several  years  of  life,  and  from  their  beginning  to  this  day  both  are  sending  out, 
weekly,  a  large  edition  to  subscribers.  Delta  is  a  very  active  live  town  for 
business  ;  with  its  bank,  stores,  mills  and  other  industries  it  is  a  heavy  market 
point  for  the  products  of  the  farm,  and  distributes  as  many  goods,  wares  and 
merchandise  to  the  farmer  as  any  town  in  the  county  of  its  size.  It,  in  1880, 
had  a  population  of  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  and  an  estimated  popula- 
tion at  the  end  of  1887  of  twelve  hundred.  The  village  is  situated  upon  the 
Lake  Shore  Railway,  about  twenty- three  miles  west  from  Toledo.  It  lies 
principally  on  sections  twelve  and  thirteen,  upon  the  east  bank  of  Bad  Creek, 
and  in  the  northeast  corner  of  York  township.  It  has  the  best  of  railway  ac- 
commodations for  the  traveling  public.  Surrounding  is  a  rich  country  of 
farming  lands,  north,  south,  east  and  west,  and  it  handles  largely  the  products 
of  that  region. 

About  the  year  1849  or  1850  a  company  was  formed  at  Toledo,  and  by 
certificate  of  incorporation  laid  out  a  plank  road  from  Toledo  to  West  Unity, 
in  Williams  county,  with  the  right  of  way  upon  the  old  State  Road.  The  pro- 
jectors asked  for  from  three  to  five  thousand  dollars  aid  of  the  township,  for 
which  all  the  townships  along  the  route  were  bonded.  Its  construction  was 
completed,  or  nearlj'  so,  as  early  as  1853,  but  it  was  continued  only  a  few 
years  when  the  worn  out  timber  bed  was  removed.  It  was  very  expensive  to 
the  people  and  never  made  a  good  road. 

The  first  marriage  was  William  Spencer  to  Miss  Donaldson. 

The  first  death  was  that  of  a  Mrs.  Doolittle,  who  was  laid  away  in  the 
grave-yard  used  by  the  German  Baptist  society. 

The  first  election  was  at  York  Center,  on  the  30th  day  of  June,  1836,  to 
select  township  ofircers,  who  then  presided  over  a  large  territory  south  of  the 
Fulton  line. 

Official  Roll. — First,  L.  H.  Upham,  one  term  as  representative  in  the  Ohio 
Legislature ;  second,  L.  H.  Upham  served  one  month  as  probate  judge.     (He 


Biographical.  573 


was  elected  but  was  displaced  by  the  court,  John  M.  Palmer,  judge).  George 
Taft  was  commissioner  by  appointment ;  Octavius  Waters  was  elected  repre- 
sentative in  the  State  Legislature  one  term,  two  years.  John  A.  Wilkins  was 
•elected  and  served  one  term  as  State  Senator.  Octavius  Waters  was  prosecut- 
ing attorney  two  years;  William  H.  Gavett  prosecuting  attorney  four  years,  or 
two  terms ;  Alfred  B.  Gunn  served  two  terms,  or  six  years,  as  commissioner 
of  the  county;  Frank  T.  Blair  two  terms,  or  four  years,  as  sheriff;  Thomas 
Kelley  five  years  as  county  treasurer,  and  eight  months  as  auditor,  by  appoint- 
ment ;  Silas  B.  Skeels  one  term  of  three  years  as  infirmary  director ;  Samuel 
G.  Aumend  one  term  of  three  years  as  infirmary  director,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1887  was  re-elected  for  a  second  term  ;  M.  H.  Butler  was  the  first  school  ex- 
aminer; next.  Holmes  Smith,  by  appointment,  served  several  years  as  school 
examiner  of  the  county;  A.  B.  Thompson  also  served  as  commissioner. 

Population. — York  has  shown  steady  and  a  very  healthy  increase  in  pop- 
ulation. In  1840  it  had  435  and  the  last  census  of  the  United  States  had, 
excluding  Delta  and  corporation,  a  population  of  1,714,  but  with  Delta  added 
it  numbered  2,572. 


CHAPTER  LIV. 
BIO  GRAPHICAL. 

ALLEN,  Hon.  CHARLES  L.  The  parents  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
were  natives  of  New  England,  born  in  the  State  of  Connecticut,  but  they, 
at  a  very  early  day,  emigrated  to  Western  New  York,  and  were  pioneers  of  Mon- 
roe county.  The  father  was  Isaac  and  the  mother  Mary  (Terry)  Allen.  They 
never  became  residents  of  Ohio,  but  passed  their  lives  in  New  York  State, 
where  the  father  died  in  the  year  1884,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety- one,  the 
mother  having  died  in  1876,  some  eight  years  before  her  husband,  and  aged 
about  seventy-eight. 

Isaac  Allen  was  a  somewhat  prominent  figure  in  the  early  history  of  the 
Empire  State,  and  he  lived,  moreover,  in  a  region  that  was  fruitful  of  important 
events  during  the  first  score  of  this  century's  years.  He  was  an  American 
soldier  in  the  War  of  181 2,  and  fought  therein  to  maintain  that  independence 
the  American  colonies  had  gained  during  the  Revolutionary  War;  and  in  this 
connection  it  way  it  may  be  stated  that  during  war  of  1861-5  his  loyalty  and 
patriotism,  and  devotion  to  the  Union  arms  were  almost  remarkable,  and  he 
■even  went  so  far  as  to  go  to  the  South  in  the  hope  that  he,  notwithstanding 
his  years,  might  in  some  manner  assist  the  Northern  army. 


574  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

In  the  family  of  Isaac  Allen  were  ten  children,  and  of  them,  all  save  one 
are  still  living.  Three  of  the  sons  now  reside  in  Gorham  township,  Fulton 
county,  and  are  numbered  among  its  highly  respected  and  enterprising  citizens. 
Isaac  Allen  died  at  his  home  in  Clarkson,  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1884,  and 
at  the  funeral  ceremony  each  of  his  living  children  was  present,  and  six  of 
the  sons  officiated  as  bearers  of  the  pall. 

Charles  Luther  Allen,  one  of  the  sons  of  Isaac  Allen,  and  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Clarkson,  N.  Y,.  on  the  i6th  day  of 
November,  in  the  year  1838.  Up  to  1859  he  lived  at  his  father's  home, 
but  in  that  year  he  came  to  Fulton  county  and  took  up  his  abode  in  Gorham 
township,  where  his  brother,  Dr.  Allen,  was  then  a  resident.  Here  Charles 
taught  school  for  a  time,  but  afterward  accepted  a  position  in  the  store  of 
Thompson  &  Cadwell,  where  he  remained  until  August,  186 1.  He  then  en- 
hsted  in  Company  K,  Thirty-eighth  O.  I.  V.,  and,  upon  the  organization  of 
the  company,  was  elected  second  lieutenant.  In  this  capacity  he  served  for 
about  six  months,  when,  after  the  battle  at  Mill  Springs,  he  was  assigned  to 
duty  on  the  staff  of  General  Shoeppf,  commanding  the  Ohio  Brigade.  Some 
time  later  Lieutenant  Allen  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant  and  made  regi- 
mental quartermaster,  serving  as  such  nearly  a  year,  when  he  was  assigned 
to  duty  as  regimental  adjutant. 

On  January  i,  1864,  Lieutenant  Allen,  on  account  of  disabilities  that  un- 
fitted him  for  active  field  service,  resigned,  which  resignation  being  accepted, 
he  returned  to  Fayette  the  same  month.  For  the  succeeding  four  or  five 
months  Mr.  Allen  acted  as  enrolling  officer  at  Fayette,  and  rendered  efficient 
service  in  that  capacity  during  the  latter  part  of  the  war. 

In  October,  1865,  Charles  L.  Allen  was  married  to  Susan  Gamber,  the 
daughter  of  Henry  and  Mary  Gamber,  of  Fayette.  Of  this  marriage  two  chil- 
dren have  been  born. 

In  this  same  year  Mr.  Allen  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Fayette, 
in  partnership  with  his  brother,  Joseph  O.  Allen,  which  firm  relations  were 
maintained  and  the  business  conducted  with  a  fair  degree  of  success  for  about 
four  years,  when  our  subject  became  its  sole  owner  and  so  continued  for  a 
period  of  about  ten  years,  when  the  mercantile  department  was  disposed  of,  and 
he  thereafter  continued  the  produce  dealing  branch  until  the  month  of  No- 
vember, 1885,  when  this  department  was  discontinued. 

In  this  year  the  Bank  of  Fayette  was  established,  and  in  it  Mr.  Allen  took 
an  interest ;  he  was  chosen  its  cashier  and  has  so  acted  to  the  present  time, 
having  practically  the  management  of  its  business.  The  success  of  this  well 
conducted  and  growing  institution  fully  attests  the  business  capacity  of  our 
subject. 

During  the  years  1880-I  Mr.  Allen  represented  Fulton  county  in  the  sixty- 
fourth  General  Assembly  of  the  State,  and  upon  the  expiration  of  his  first  term 
was  re-elected  to  the  sixty-fifth  General  Assembly. 


Biographical.  575 


Upon  the  organization  of  Gorham  Lodge,  No.  387,  F.  and  A.  M.,  Charles 
L.  Allen  was  one  of  its  charter  members  ;  he  is  also  a  member  of  Stout  Post, 
G.  A.  R.,  and  A.  D.  C.  on  the  staff  of  the  department  commander. 


BARBER,  Colonel  E.  L.  Epaphras  Lord  Barber  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and 
was  born  at  Cleveland,  Cuyahoga  county,  December  16,  1830.  Of  the 
five  children  born  to  Epaphras  L.  and  Jerusha  T.  (Sargent)  Barber,  he  was 
the  third.  The  days  of  his  boyhood  and  youth  were  spent  on  his  father's  farm 
at  work,  and  in  attending  the  district  school  during  the  winter  terms.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  years  young  Barber  joined  an  engineer  corps  and  was  em- 
ployed on  the  Cleveland,  Columbus  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  where  he  had  a 
practical  education  in  surveying  and  civil  engineering.  After  a  few  months 
engaged  in  this  work  he  attended  a  private  school  for  nearly  two  years,  but 
again  returned  to  engineering  and  perfected  himself  in  that  profession.  After 
leaving  the  C.  C.  &  C.  road  he  was  engaged  on  other  work  of  the  same  char- 
acter, and  in  1853  came  to  Fulton  county,  being  then  employed  on  the  Air 
Line,  now  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Railroad.  In  connection 
with  the  work  in  this  county  he  had  headquarters  at  Delta. 

Mr.  Barber  continued  his  connection  with  the  construction  of  this  road 
until  about  1856,  when,  having  become  interested  in  lands  in  the  vicinity  of 
Wauseon  and  elsewhere  in  the  county,  he  severed  his  connection  with  the  road 
to  give  attention  to  the  real  estate  business.  Two  years  later  he  was  appointed 
station  agent  at  Wauseon,  and  held  that  position  for  two  years,  resigning  in 
i860  to  resume  his  real  estate  business,  but  to  continue  therein  for  a  single 
year  only,  when  loyalty  and  patriotism  called  him  into  an  entirely  new  field 
of  action. 

When,  in  April,  1861,  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon,  in  answer  to  the 
president's  call  for  troops,  a  company  was  at  once  raised  at  Wauseon,  and 
among  them  Mr.  Barber's  name  was  found.  At  the  election  of  officers  he  was 
made  captain  of  Company  H,  of  the  Fourteenth  Ohio  Infantry,  and  served 
with  that  command  during  the  term  of  their  enlistment,  and  was  mustered  out 
at  Toledo  in  August,  1861.  Prior  to  the  muster-out,  and  while  awaiting  that 
event  Captain  Barber  re-enlisted  and  was  appointed  major  in  the  Thirty-eighth 
Infantry,  which  was  then  forming.  With  this  regiment  he  served  for  a  period 
of  eight  months  in  Kentucky,  when,  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  business 
partner,  Nathaniel  Leggett,  he  resigned  his  commission  and  returned  home. 

Not  long,  however,  was  he  to  remain  there,  for  he  was  soon  called  to  Co- 
lumbus by  Governor  Tod,  advanced  to  the  rank  of  colonel  and  directed  to 
organize  the  One  Hundredth  and  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Regiments. 
This  he  did  promptly  and  well,  and  was  placed  in  command  of  the  latter  and 
went  to  Cincinnati  with  them  to  repel  the  threatened  invasion  of  the  State  by 
the  rebel  forces  under  General  Bragg.     The  duties  assigned  him  by  the  gov- 


576  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ernor  being  fulfilled,  Colonel  Barber  returned  to  his  business  interests  at  Wau- 
seon  in  the  fall  of  1862. 

In  connection  with  the  military  career  of  our  subject  it  may  be  remarked 
that  at  the  time  of  his  enlistment,  in  the  spring  of  1 861,  he  had  no  special 
desire  for  advancement  to  a  position  more  exalted  than  that  occupied  by  his 
comrades;  but  they  made  him  captain,  knowing  his  capacity  as  a  man  of  busi- 
ness, and  having  full  confidence  in  his  ability  as  a  commanding  officer.  As  an 
officer,  in  preparing  his  command  for  the  field,  Colonel  Barber  was  a  strict 
disciplinarian ;  so  rigidl}',  indeed,  did  he  enforce  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
tactics,  and  so  thoroughly  did  he  instruct  and  drill  the  men,  that  murmurs  of 
discontent  were  not  infrequent;  yet,  after  the  three-months  men  were  dis- 
charged and  re-enlisted,  of  those  of  his  company  that  returned  to  the  service 
no  less  than  twelve  were  made  commissioned  officers,  thus  reaping  direct  ben- 
efit from  the  instruction  received  at  his  hands.  Again,  as  an  organizer  he  was 
no  less  efficient ;  insomuch  that  the  governor  called  him  from  private  life  to 
organize  two  regiments  for  the  service,  besides  the  other  important  duties  en- 
trusted to  his  charge. 

Having  returned  to  Wauseon  in  the  fall  of  1862,  Colonel  Barber  resumed 
his  business  of  dealing  in  real  estate,  and  to  this  he  has  devoted  more  or  less 
of  his  time  to  the  present  day.  In  the  spring  of  1 863  he  established  a  bank- 
ing house  at  the  place,  of  which  he  was  sole  owner  and  manager  until  1865, 
at  which  time  Naman  Merrill  became  a  partner  therein.  The  firm  remained 
unchanged  until  the  month  of  June,  1879,  when  E.  S.  Callendar  became  a 
partner.  In  November  following  Mr.  Merrill  died,  since  which  event  the  bank 
has  been  owned  and  managed  under  the  firm  name  and  style  of  Barber  &  Cal- 
lendar. In  November,  1885,  Colonel  Barber  became  interested  in  a  bank  es- 
tablished at  the  village  of  Fayette,  and  known  as  the  Bank  of  Fayette,  but  his 
interest  therein  is,  in  the  main,  an  investment,  the  management  of  the  business 
being  in  charge  of  residents  of  that  place.  As  a  man  of  business  Colonel  Bar- 
ber occupies  a  position  in  the  county  second  to  none  ;  his  integrity,  his  hon- 
esty and  his  careful  business  methods  are  well  known,  and  he  enjoys  the 
confidence  of  the  people.  His  manner  of  doing  business  is  strict,  as  it  is 
acknowledged  that  to  be  successful,  banking  must  be  done  on  strict  business 
principles ;  he  has  been  successful  and  no  man  has  deserved  success  more  than 
he ;  he  is  public  spirited  and  generously  aids  every  enterprise  looking  to  the 
advancement  of  his  town  and  its  people. 

On  the  20th  of  day  of  October,  1853,  Epaphras  L.  Barber  married  Sophia 
H.  Watkins,  daughter  of  Timothy  Watkins,  of  Cleveland.  Of  this  marriage 
two  children,  one  son  and  one  daughter,  have  been  born. 


BRIGGS,  FRANK,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  Wayne  county, 
O.,  on  the  15th  of  February,  1842,  and  was  the  third  of  seven  children, 
sons  and  daughters  of  Francis  and  Sarah  (Cuffle)  Briggs.     The  father,  Francis 


BlOGRAPAICAL.  577 


Briggs,  was  a  physician  of  much  repute  in  Lucas  county.  As  a  youth,  Frank 
was  about  his  father's  office  much  of  the  time  when  not  at  school,  or  at  work 
on  the  farm,  and  there  he  gained  a  fair  knowledge  of  pharmacy  that  was  of 
great  benefit  to  him  after  he  came  to  reside  in  Fulton  county. 

In  April,  1861,  young  Briggs  enlisted  in  Company  I,  of  the  Fourteenth 
Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  for  the  three  months  service.  This  was  a  Lucas 
county  company,  and  with  it  he  served  until  the  month  of  August  following, 
when  he  was  mustered  out.  He,  in  October,  1861,  re-enlisted  in  Company  K 
of  the  Sixty-Seventh  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  as  a  private,  but  was  promoted 
for  meritorious  service,  first  to  sergeant,  then  to  second  lieutenant,  and,  still 
later,  to  first  heutenant,  which  latter  commission  he  held  at  the  time  of  his 
final  muster-out.  With  the  Sixty-Seventh  regiment  Mr.  Briggs  served  three 
years  and  six  months. 

Unlike  the  great  majority  of  the  young  men  that  entered  the  service,  Lieu- 
tenant Briggs  saved  the  earnings  of  those  years,  and  upon  his  coming  to  Delta, 
in  December,  1864,  he  had  five  hundred  dollars  in  cash.  With  this  he  pur- 
chased the  stock  of  drugs  and  business  formerly  conducted  by  Dr.  Young  at 
this  prosperous  village.  After  making  the  purchase,  Mr.  Briggs  added  to  the 
stock  as  the  requirements  of  trade  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  town  de- 
manded. About  twelve  years  ago  he  enlarged  his  business  enterprises  by  the 
addition  of  an  extensive  hardware  stock.  These  he  had  in  adjoining  stores, 
and  were  successfully  conducted  by  him  until  the  month  of  September,  1887, 
when  the  drug  stock  was  sold  and  replaced  by  a  large  assortment  of  crockery, 
glass,  and  queensware. 

Since  his  residence  in  Delta,  Mr.  Briggs  has  always  been  in  the  mercantile 
business,  and,  although  his  beginning  was  small,  it  has  continued  to  steadily 
grow  until  he  is  now  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  merchants  of  the  village  ; 
nor  does  his  stock  in  trade  represent  his  whole  business,  as  he  is  interested  in 
real  estate  in  this  vicinity.  But  whatever  of  success  has  attended  his  efforts, 
there  is  no  man  to  say  it  is  undeserved,  as  his  accumulations  are  the  result  of 
his  own  personal  endeavor,  and  his  acknowledged  honesty  and  integrity. 
This  is  the  common  report  among  the  people  of  the  town  and  locality  in  which 
he  lives.  While  Frank  Briggs  has  never  been  an  aspirant  for  political  honors, 
he  has,  nevertheless,  taken  great  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  political 
welfare  of  the  county  at  large,  and  in  the  just  and  economic  administration  of 
its  affairs.  In  Delta  he  has  held  various  town  offices — clerk,  councilman,  and 
perhaps  others  of  minor  importance  ;  but  in  the  advancement  of  the  educa- 
tional interests  of  the  town,  and  in  keeping  up  the  high  standing  of  the  schools 
he  has  been  especially  prominent.  In  his  political  preferences,  Mr.  Briggs  is  a 
staunch,  determined  Republican. 

A  no  less  commendable  zeal  has  been  shown  by  our  subject  in  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  community.     He  is  prominently  connected  with  the  Methodist 
73 


578  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Episcopal  Church,  and  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  that  society.  Of  his  means  he 
has  been  a  generous  contributor  to  the  several  funds  used  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  and  advancing  the  strength  of  this  and  other  church  societies. 

In  the  Masonic  fraternity,  Frank  Briggs  is  a  member  of  the  lodge  and 
chapter  at  Delta ;  also  of  the  Toledo  Comniandery.  In  this  ancient  order  he 
has  advanced  step  by  step  until  he  is  now  what  is  termed  a  thirty-second  de- 
gree member. 

While  the  business  and  social  relations  of  our  subject  have  been  entirely 
pleasant  and  successful,  and  his  progress  in  these  have  been  marred  by  no 
untoward  event,  his  home  and  fireside  have  been  invaded  by  the  Destroyer, 
and  wife  and  children  alike  have  been  taken  from  him.  Mr.  Briggs  has  been 
thrice  married :  First,  on  March  20,  1 864,  to  Laura  Trowbridge,  daughter  of 
Elisha  Trowbridge,  of  Delta.  She  died  October  20,  1871.  On  the  20th  of 
June,  1872,  Mr.  Briggs  married  Mattie  Hill,  daughter  of  Robert  Hill,  of  Port 
Washington,  Tuscarawas  county.  Of  this  marriage  two  children  were  born, 
neither  of  whom  is  living.  His  wife,  Mattie,  died  February  14,  1878.  On  the 
lOth  day  of  July,  1878,  Mr.  Briggs  married  Emma,  daughter  of  Jacob  Gelzer,. 
of  Delta.  ^  Of  this  marriage  four  children  have  been  born,  all  of  whom  are 
living. 


HAAG,  Hon.  J.  M.      For  more  than  twenty-five  years  has  Judge  Haag 
been  in  active  practice  at  the  bar  of  the  courts  of  Henry  county. 

In  the  thousand  and  one  details  that  go  to  make  up  the  character  of  a  suc- 
cessful lawyer,  noticeable  in  the  work  of  Judge  Haag,  are  industry  in  collecting 
facts,  sagacity  and  foresight  in  collating  them,  broad  and  comprehensive  views 
of  the  legal  principles  applicable  to  them,  and  absolute  fearlessness  in  the  pre- 
sentation of  his  client's  cause.  Added  to  these  is  a  memory  that  is  seldom  at 
fault,  either  regarding  a  fact  or  the  law.  His  knowledge  of  the  statutory  code 
laws  of  Ohio,  even  after  the  codifiers  had  exhausted  their  capacity  to  obscure 
it,  is  something  unusual.  He  is  rarely  mistaken  as  to  the  existence  or  force  of 
any  statute.  Judge  Haag  loves  the  practice  of  the  law,  not  because  he  partic- 
ularly loves  litigation  of  itself,  but  because  it  is  a  profession  in  which  men  of 
erudition,  high  legal  attainments,  and  honorable  feelings,  have  full  scope  for 
all  their  powers,  and  yet  can  aid  in  the  honest  and  able  administration  of  jus- 
tice. His  clients  know  that  he  is  incapable  of  betraying  their  confidence,  his 
professional  associates  know  that  he  is  incapable  of  trick,  the  bench  knows  that 
candor  and  entire  fairness  are  his  characteristics. 

Again,  as  a  lawyer  his  character  is,  in  many  respects,  a  model  for  imita- 
tion. In  the  examination  and  preparation  of  a  cause  he  exercises  the  greatest 
care,  especially  if  the  case  be  one  of  vital  importance.  He  is  careful  and  con- 
scientious in  his  conclusions  and  in  his  advice  to  his  clients ;  determined  and 
unyielding  in  the  vindication  of  the  rights  of  his  client,  and  in  his  defense  of 


Biographical.  579 


the  principles  which  he  has  asserted  with  the  energy  of  thorough  conviction  ; 
properly  deferential,  but  never  more  than  that,  to  the  court ;  courteous  to  his 
antagonist,  and  never  more  so  than  when  dealing  his  severest  blows,  and  es- 
pecially always  kind  and  considerate  in  a  marked  degree  towards  the  younger 
and  more  timid  members  of  the  profession.  In  his  practice  of  the  law,  accord- 
ing to  his  impulse,  he  would  rather  defend  than  prosecute  even  a  criminal. 
There  is  also  another  characteristic  of  the  man  in  his  legal  work.  His  mind  is 
studious  and  practical  as  well,  and  in  investigating  any  question,  he  will  search 
for  principles  first  and  expedients  afterward. 

It  is  natural  and  fit  that  such  a  man  should  be  entrusted  with  public  duties 
and  a  brief  review  of  his  history  will  show  that,  though  this  is  so  to  a  degree, 
office  was  not  even  a  secondary  pursuit  to  him,  but  all  that  he  has  filled  he 
has  discharged  with  ability  and  fidelity.  [These  expressions  are  not  the  sen- 
timents of  the  Henry  county  bar  alone,  but  are  as  well  the  result  of  an  acquaint- 
ance that  the  writer  of  this  volume  has  had  with  Judge  Haag  of  some  months' 
standing.] 

John  Marion  Haag  was  born  at  MifHinsburg,  Union  county.  Pa.,  on  the 
i6th  day  of  August,  in  the  year  1836.  During  his  early  childhood  his  parents 
moved  to  York  county,  where  they  lived  a  short  time  and  then  moved  to  Lan- 
caster county,  of  the  same  State.  At  about  the  age  of  seventeen  years  young 
Haag  left  home  and  came  to  Millersburg,  Holmes  county,  O.,  where  he  en- 
tered the  Free  Press  office  to  learn  the  printer's  trade,  and  afterward  accepted 
a  position  on  the  editorial  staff  of  that  paper.  After  this  he  went  to  New  Phil- 
adelphia, Tuscarawas  county,  to  which  place  his  parents  had  removed,  where 
his  time  was  employed  on  the  newspaper.  The  Ohio  Democrat,  and,  in  part,  in 
a  course  of  legal  study  in  the  office  of  Belden  &  Haag,  attorneys  at  that  place ; 
he  also  received  a  no  small  part  of  his  early  legal  education  under  the  instruction 
of  Judge  Mclllvaine.  In  1859  Mr.  Haag  was  admitted  to  practice,  and  soon 
afterward  established  himself  in  an  office  at  Canal  Dover,  in  Tuscarawas  county. 
Three  years  later,  in  1 862,  he  became  a  resident  of  Napoleon,  and  a  member 
of  the  Henry  county  bar.  He  formed  a  law  partnership  with  S.  R.  McBane, 
esq.,  which  continued  until  the  death  of  that  person  in  1863,  after  which  Will- 
iam Sheffield  and  James  G.  Haly  became  partners  with  our  subject,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Sheffield,  Haly  &  Haag,  but  the  senior  partner  soon  after- 
ward accepted  a  government  appointment,  and  Mr.  Haag  purchased  the  Dem- 
ocratic Northwest,  and  became  its  editor  and  publisher.  This  was  in  June, 
1864.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Haag  was  made  the  nominee  of  the 
Henry  county  Democracy  for  the  office  of  probate  judge,  and  at  the  polls  in 
October  was  elected.      He  then  retired  from  the  law  firm. 

In  the  succeeding  year,  1865,  on  the  17th  of  August,  Mr.  Haag  was  mar- 
ried to  Martha  J.,  the  daughter  of  John  M.  Meek.  Of  this  marriage  five  chil- 
dren were  born,  three  of  whom  are  now  living.     In  the  fall  of  the  year  1866 


S8o 


History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 


Judge  Haag  was  re-elected  to  the  office  of  probate  judge.  In  this  capacity  he 
served  in  all  five  years,  still  retaining,  during  the  time,  his  ownership  and  control 
of  the  Northwest,  but  at  the  expiration  of  his  second  term  he  sold  his  interest 
in  the  paper  and  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law,  in  partnership  with  J.  L. 
Robertson,  esq.,  and  this  relation  was  maintained  until  Mr.  Robertson's  death. 

In  the  fall  of  1871  Judge  Haag  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State, 
and  re-elected  in  1873.  During  his  last  term  in  the  State  Legislature  he  was 
chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee.  After  the  expiration  of  his  second  term 
Judge  Haag  returned  to  his  practice  at  Napoleon,  and  to  this  has  his  time 
ever  since  been  devoted.  His  partnership  with  James  P.  Ragan  was  formed 
in  1880. 

In  the  politics  of  the  municipality  of  Napoleon,  Judge  Haag  has  been  a 
somewhat  conspicuous  figure,  and  in  the  selection  of  its  officers  he  is  governed 
by  a  desire  to  secure  the  best  men,  and  not  held  strictly  by  party  ties.  In 
1882  he  was  elected  mayor  for  the  express  purpose  and  with  the  avowed  in- 
tention of  correcting  certain  existing  evils.  Besides  this  he  has  held  other 
offices  of  importance  in  the  village. 

Judge  Haag,  during  his  journalistic  experience,  contributed  his  full  share  to 
the  current  anonymous  newspaper  literature,  of  which  much  of  the  uncredited 
emanated  from  his  pen.     The  following  stanzas,  indited  to  his  two  daughters. 


are  worth  preserving : 


My  Little  Girls'  Dispute. 

To  meet  me  on  the  way 

As  homeward  turned  my  feet. 
To  be  the  first  with  kiss 

And  give  me  welcome  greet, 
At  childhood's  greatest  speed 

Two  httle  maidens  came  — 
Mary  the  name  of  one 

And  Kate  the  other's  name. 

"  O,  pa  !  We  had  dispute," 
The  eldest  called  to  me, 
"  And  you  must  tell  who's  right. 
For  we  cannot  agree  ; 
Which  do  you  like  the  best. 

Which  prettiest  of  us  ? 
Now  tell  us  quickly,  pa. 
And  still  our  little  fuss." 

Like  birds  of  plumage  same, 

Or  flowers  from  one  vine, 
A  choice  I  cannot  make 

'Tween  little  girls  of  mine  ; 
You  must  not  urge  me  more, 

I  cannot  tell  you  why  — 
One's  the  morning  sunrise 

And  one's  the  evening  sky  ! 


Biographical.  581 


TJOWARD,  Hon.  D.  W.  H. 

The  hazy  Indian  summer  skies, 

The  autumn  leaves  that  strew  the  way, 
I've  seen  for  three  score  years  and  ten, 

I'm  seventy  this  November  day. 

My  mind  goes  back  to  twenty-one  (1821  ;) 

The  Maumee  pioneer  appears  ; 
And  I,  a  boy  of  but  four  summers  then. 

Have  lived  to  count  my  seventy  years. 

I've  seen  the  seasons  come  and  go, 

With  plenty  and  tranquillity  ; 
And  thank  my  God  for  each  and  all 

The  seventy  years  he's  given  to  me. 

These  verses  are  taken  from  a  poem  written  upon  the  occasion  of  the  sev- 
entieth birthday  of  Colonel  Howard,  and  they  recall  to  the  biographer  the 
words  of  a  famous  writer  :  "  Dear  are  the  days  of  youth  !  Age  dwells  on  their 
remembrance  through  the  mist  of  time.  In  the  twilight  he  recalls  the  sunny 
hours  of  morn." 

The  events  of  the  life  of  this  man  have  been  so  many,  and  are  so  well 
known  to  the  people  of  Northwestern  Ohio,  especially  among  the  older  resi- 
dents, that,  in  narrating  those  events  we  shall  confine  all  statements  strictly  to 
facts,  and  indulge  in  no  comment  and  draw  no  conclusions.  But,  before  enter- 
ing upon  this  narrative,  we  must  say,  that  in  the  past  history  of  this  region 
there  stands  out  clear  and  distinct  the  name  and  life  of  this  man,  and  his 
ancestors.  As  the  narrative  will  show,  it  has  not  been  the  lot  of  Colonel  How- 
ard to  possess  an  education  through  the  school  or  the  college,  but  his  intelli- 
gence and  judgment  have  so  matured  by  observation  and  reflection  and 
experience,  that  he  has  been  able  to  do  much  good,  and  set  an  example  in 
life  worthy  of  praise  and  imitation.  His  naturally  well  balanced  mind  has 
never  for  a  moment  yielded  to  the  novel  vagaries  of  the  day,  either  in  theory 
or  practice,  but  have  led  him  safely  through  the  windings  and  turnings  of  life's 
path ;  but  misfortunes  unforeseen  and  insurmountable  have  come,  and  through 
them  he  has  been  a  sufferer,  as  have  all  men.  But  it  is  as  a  citizen,  neighbor 
and  friend  that  Colonel  Howard  is  known  and  remembered  most  fondly.  His 
genial  and  kindly  presence,  his  uprightness  and  purity  of  life,  his  truthfulness 
and  singleness  of  mind,  his  liberal  hand  and  free  heart,  his  thorough  contempt 
for  all  knavery  and  sham,  his  unhesitating  assertion  and  support  of  his  honest 
convictions,  in  short,  his  Christian  faith,  and  the  Christian  morals  and  Christian 
life  by  which  that  faith  is  evinced,  these  form  the  memories  of  him  which  will 
longest  endure  in  the  hearts  of  his  friends. 

Dresden  Winfield  Huston  Howard  was  born  in  the  village  of  Dresden,  on 
the  east  bank  of  Seneca  Lake,  Yates  county,  N.  Y.,  on  the  3d  day  of  Novem- 
ber,  in   the  year    181 7.     In   1821,  then   being  but   four  years  old,  with  his 


582  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

parents,  Edward  and  Nancy  (Haight)  Howard,  his  grandfather,  Thomas  How- 
ard, his  two  uncles,  Richard  M.  W.  and  Robert  A.  Howard,  and  his  aunt, 
Sidney  Nelson  Howard,  he  came  to  the  Maumee  country.  They  came  by 
wagons  to  Buffalo,  where  the  party  divided,  a  portion  taking  passage  on  the 
thirty  ton  schooner  Eagle,  while  the  balance  continued  the  wagon  journey 
overland.  After  an  unpleasant  voyage  of  eight  days,  the  schooner  arrived 
under  the  picketed  walls  of  Fort  Meigs,  on  the  evening  of  June  17th.  The 
land  party  were  some  weeks  on  the  road  before  they  reached  their  destination 
—  the  Maumee. 

The  scene  that  was  presented  to  this  little  party  of  emigrants  upon  reach- 
ing the  mouth  of  the  river  was  far  from  inviting  or  encouraging  ;  the  dark  and 
dreary  forest  stretched  unbroken  in  every  direction  ;  the  habitation  of  the 
white  man  was  nowhere  seen,  save  the  Indian  agency  building ;  but  the  wig- 
wams of  the  savages  were  in  every  opening,  and  the  smoke  from  their  camp- 
fires  curled  upward  in  blue  columns  above  the  dark  green  forest.  Even  the 
stoutest  heart  might  fail  at  such  an  outlook  for  the  future.  Their  neighbors 
were  to  be  the  bear  and  the  wolf,  and  the  hardly  less  savage  red  man.    , 

It  was  the  intention  of  these  families  to  go  to  the  then  new  settlement  at 
Ann  Arbor  (properly  written  An-aw-ba,  the  Pottawatomie  word  for  "boy"), 
but  the  fatigue  of  the  long  journey  and  the  dread  on  the  part  of  the  women  to 
enter  the  dark  and  seemingly  interminable^  forests,  changed  their  plan,  and 
they  were  easily  persuaded  by  the  few  white  settlers  to  remain  on  the  murky 
waters  of  the  "  Miami  of  the  Lakes,"  and  they  were  soon  provided  with  small 
log  cabins  and  a  few  acres  of  cleared  land  on  the  river  flats,  on  which  they 
planted  corn,  potatoes,  and  other  necessary  earth  products.  To  this  work  the 
attention  of  our  pioneers  was  given,  but  in  its  performance,  however  slight  that 
labor  was,  they  were  much  delayed  and  their  work  retarded  by  the  ever  pres- 
ent and  ever  ready  ague,  but  with  the  approach  of  cold  weather  the  severity 
of  these  attacks  was  much  relaxed.  During  the  next  summer  lands  were  pur- 
chased on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  at  the  head  of  the  Rapids,  or  at  Grand 
Rapids,  as  it  is  more  commonly  known.  Here  three  log  cabins  were  built  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  famiUes,  and  to  which  they  moved  in  March,  1823. 
To  reach  their  home  with  wagons  new  roads  were  required  to  be  cut  through 
the  woods.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  was  the  Ottawa  Indian  village  of 
between  one  and  two  thousand  people,  and  these,  save  one,  were  the  only 
neighbors  of  our  pioneers.  The  exception  just  noted  was  the  kind  hearted 
and  ever  willing  Frenchman,  "Uncle"  Peter  Manor  and  his  good  wife. 

The  young  Indians  of  the  village  were  soon  the  companions  and  playmates 
of  Dresden  Howard,  and  he  soon  learned  to  speak  their  simple  language.  His 
association  with  them  became  so  friendly  and  intimate  that  he  as  often  slept 
in  their  wigwams,  on  their  beds  of  blankets  and  skins,  as  in  the  comfortable 
cabin  of  his  parents.     His  good  mother   was   in   a  state   of  almost  constant 


Biographical.  583 


anxiety  for  the  safety  of  her  son  in  the  camp  of  the  dreaded  Indian — but  the 
free,  wild  life  in  the  woods,  under  no  restraint — how  soon  the  boy  learned  to 
love  it ! 

The  Presbytery  of  Massachusetts  had  established  an  Indian  mission  (church 
and  school)  at  a  point  eight  miles  down  the  river  from  Edward  Howard's 
cabin,  and  here  Dresden  attended  school  from  the  age  of  six  to  nine  years,  and, 
other  than  this,  the  days  of  youth  and  boyhood  gave  him  but  little  chance  for 
an  education  at  school. 

However,  before  he  was  ten  years  old,  young  Howard  was  taken  from 
school  and  put  at  work  far  too  important  for  a  child  of  his  years  ;  but  necessity 
is  a  hard  master.  According  to  his  father's  idea,  the  life  of  an  Indian  fur 
trader  seemed  to  be  the  best  for  his  son  ;  therefore  he  was  hired  out  to  a  mer- 
chant in  the  Indian  trade  with  the  limited  knowledge  of  the  business  that  he 
acquired  in  his  father's  little  store  of  Indian  goods.  The  boy  soon  became 
expert.  He  knew  the  value  of  all  the  articles  of  trade,  and  could  accurately 
judge  the  quality  and  value  of  skins  and  furs  brought  into  market  by  the  In- 
dians and  the  few  white  hunters  of  the  region.  These  accomplishments,  for 
such  were  they  then  considered,  together  with  his  understanding  of  the  Indian 
languages,  made  him  an  exceedingly  valuable  employee,  so  that,  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  he  had  a  safe  passport  into  any  of  the  fur  trading  establishments  of  the 
country. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1827  or  1828,  young  Howard  accompanied  Benja- 
min F.  Hollister  with  a  pack  train  of  horses  loaded  with  goods  for  the  Indian 
trade,  on  a  journey  to  the  "  treaty  grounds,"  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River  (now  the  site  of  the  great  western  metrop- 
olis), where  were  gathered  the  various  tribes — the  (Pottawatomies,  the  Sacs, 
the  Foxes,  and  the  Winnebagoes — who  were  met  in  council  with  agents  of  the 
government  for  the  purpose  of  treating  upon  various  subjects. 

At  the  time  this  journey  was  made,  young  Howard  remembers  not  of  see- 
ing a  single  settler's  cabin  in  all  that  long  distance,  but  there  was  an  occasional 
trading  post.  There  was  maintained,  on  the  site  of  the  treaty  ground,  or  near 
it,  Fort  Dearborn,  with  its  little  garrison  of  soldiers,  held  here,  ostensibly,  for 
the  purpose  of  checking  any  depredations  of  the  Indians,  and  the  protection 
of  the  western  frontier.  The  business  of  trading  in  furs  and  peltries  was  car- 
ried on  during  the  fall  and  winter  months ;  therefore,  during  the  heated  term 
our  subject  had  but  little  to  occupy  his  time.  His  father  sent  him,  during  the 
summer  of  183 1,  on  an  expedition  down  the  Wabash  River,  thence  through 
to  the  Mississippi,  for  the  purpose  of  locating  bounty  lands,  to  which  the  father 
was  entitled  as  a  veteran  of  the  war  of  1 81 2-1 5.  For  this  purpose  our  young 
hero,  for  such  he  was,  being  but  fourteen  years  old  at  that  time,  was  fully 
equipped,  and  fully  authorized  to  act.  On  this  journey  his  route  lay  up  the 
Maumee  by  boat  with  some  French  "  freighters,"  thence  down  the  Wabash,  on 


$84  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  back  of  an  Indian  pony  purchased  at  Fort  Wayne,  to  the  old  trading  .post 
at  Terre  Haute ;  thence  across  the  prairie  to  the  Mississippi.  His  trip,  he 
says,  was  a  most  enjoyable  one ;  he  was  accompanied  by  young  Indians  most 
of  the  time,  and  the  rifle  easily  procured  an  abundance  of  venison,  turkey,  and 
other  wild  game.  He  camped  wherever  night  found  him.  Upon  the  details 
of  this  journey  and  the  successful  accomplishment  of  the  duty  assigned  him, 
we  cannot  dwell.  The  scenes  of  wild  sport  and  adventure  through  the  unset- 
tled country  with  companions  as  wild  as  the  scenes  around  them,  would  fill  a 
volume. 

In  the  summer  and  fall  of  1832  was  commenced  the  removal  of  the  Indians 
from  this  section,  and  in  this  work  our  subject  bore  an  important  part ;  it  was 
a  work  of  many  weeks  and  many  hardships.  It  was  done  under  the  direction 
of  Benjamin  F.  Hollister,  assisted  by  Dresden  Howard  (our  subject),  Duncan 
Forsythe,  and  Samuel  (Curt)  Roby.  The  Indians  were  taken  in  small  num- 
bers at  each  time,  a  few  hundred,  as  they  were  very  unwilling  to  leave  their 
old  homes  and  hunting  grounds,  and  depart  on  a  long  journey  to  the  Indian 
Territory,  southwest  of  the  Missouri  River ;  but  they  must  retire  before  the 
steady  approach  of  the  white  man,  and  their  country  in  all  its  wild  beauty  and 
grandeur  soon  yielded  to  the  attacks  of  the  ax  of  the  woodman  and  the  plow 
of  the  husbandman ;  the  powerful  Shawnees  from  Wapokoneta,  and  the  Ot- 
tawas  from  the  Au  Glaize,  alike,  must  leave  and  make  their  homes  in  the  far- 
off  west. 

It  will  be  remembered,  too,  that  this  year  witnessed  the  first  visitation  of 
cholera  in  this  country,  and  on  the  journey  several  of  the  Indians  were  attacked 
and  died  of  that  terrible  disease. 

The  last  of  the  Indians  were  removed  from  the  valley  in  1838,  and  with 
their  departure  likewise  went  the  occupation  of  our  subject.  He,  however, 
prepared  to  follow  them  in  1 840,  taking  a  large  stock  of  goods  for  the  fur  trade, 
and  acting  as  agent  for  W.  G.  &  G.  W.  Ewing.  Mr.  Howard  ascended  the 
Missouri  as  far  as  Fort  Leavenworth,  where,  in  consequence  of  the  shallow- 
ness of  the  river,  he  disembarked,  procured  freight  wagons  (San  Taffee),  with 
eighty  mules  and  Spanish  drivers,  and  then  followed  the  land  trail  up  the  Mis- 
souri. The  white  settlements  at  that  time  extended  only  to  the  little  trading 
post  at  St.  Joseph,  which  was  laid  out  by  and  named  for  Joseph  Rebidue,  the 
old  French  fur  trader  for  the  American  Fur  Company.  Mr.  Howard's  trade 
among  the  Sioux,  Blackfeet,  Crows,  Grosventres  and  other  tribes  of  Indians, 
proved  quite  lucrative.  Of  the  numerous  incidents  of  this  visit  we  will  men- 
tion but  one,  and  that  is  of  some  historic  interest.  It  occurred  on  the  day  of 
the  presidential  election  of  that  year,  1 840.  There  was  gathered  under  a  large 
Cottonwood  tree  a  party  of  ten  or  twelve  traders,  trappers,  and  hunters  of  the 
region,  among  them  our  subject,  for  the  purpose  of  holding  an  election  for 
president.      General  William  Henry  Harrison  seems  to  have  been  the  unani- 


Biographical.  585 


mous  choice  of  this  small  but  patriotic  assemblage.  The  oldest  trapper  was 
chosen  chairman  and  the  youngest  trader  secretary  of  the  meeting ;  this  latter 
choice  called  into  requisition  the  services  of  Mr.  Howard,  who  kept  the  poll 
list  on  a  piece  of  paper  torn  from  a  memorandum  book.  The  votes  were  cast 
for  the  candidate  direct,  and  not  for  electors ;  and,  after  all  had  voted,  the 
"poll  book"  was  directed  and  sent  to  the  "President  of  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States."  This  was  the  first  vote  of  our  subject  for  a  presidential  candi- 
date ;  and  it  may  be  remarked,  parenthetically,  that  the  meeting  was  held  near 
the  ruins  of  old  Fort  Calhoun,  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  State  or  territorial 
government ;  nevertheless,  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe  received  the  undivided  sup- 
port of  the  whole  party.  Of  these  persons  all,  save  Mr.  Howard,  were  past 
the  middle  age  of  life,  so  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  he  alone,  of  the  entire  num- 
ber, is  now  living.     But  to  return  to  the  scenes  of  life  on  the  Maumee. 

Edward  Howard,  the  father  of  our  subject,  died  in  1841,  after  which,  as 
soon  as  it  could  be  done,  Dresden  closed  his  business  at  the  various  trading 
posts,  and  became  a  permanent  resident  of  the  Maumee  country.  In  the  sub- 
sequent development  of  this  region  he  has  been  an  active  participant,  and  his 
progressive  nature  and  public-spiritedness  have,  in  a  measure,  been  rewarded 
by  his  being  chosen  to  some  of  the  most  responsible  public  offices  in  the  gift 
of  his  fellow  people. 

In  1842,  soon  after  closing  the  affairs  of  his  former  business,  Dresden  W. 
H.  Howard  was  married  to  Mary  Blackwood  Copeland.  Of  this  marriage  two 
children  have  been  born:  O.  E.  M.  Howard,  now  a  civil  engineer  and  promi- 
nent citizen  residing  at  San  Diego,  Cal.,  and  Miss  Mary  Agnes  Howard,  now 
living  with  her  parents. 

The  first  public  station  to  which  our  subject  has  been  called,  was  in  his 
appointment  by  the  State  Legislature,  as  commissioner  with  Elisha  Hunting- 
ton, of  Perrysburg,  and  Orlando  Evans,  of  Defiance,  as  co- commissioners  for 
the  purpose  of  locating  and  constructing  a  turnpike  from  Fort  Meigs  to  Fort 
Wayne,  or  to  the  Indiana  State  line.  This  was  about  the  year  1843.  I"  1870 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Equalization  for  the  real  estate 
of  Ohio.  Again,  in  187 1,  he  was  elected  to  represent  his  district  as  senator 
in  the  Legislature  of  the  State.  In  April,  1887,  Mr.  Howard  was  appointed 
by  his  Excellency,  Governor  Foraker,  to  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Asylum 
for  Insane  persons  at  Toledo. 

These  are  the  leading  positions  to  which  our  subject  has  been  called ;  but 
he  has  been  identified  as  strongly  with  the  growth  and  development  of  Fulton 
county  and  northwestern  Ohio  as  any  resident  within  its  borders  ;  he  is  not  a 
man  that  inclines  naturally  to  political  station  or  to  special  prominence  in  any 
relation,  but  would  rather  retire  to  the  quiet  of  his  own  home.  Mr.  Howard 
loves  to  dwell  upon  the  memories  of  the  past,  and  to  recall  the  days  and  com- 
panions of  his  youth  ;  his  farm  home  at  Winameg,  at  the  Springs,  and  on  the 

74 


586  History  of  Henry  a]S(d  Fulton  Counties. 

site  of  the  village  of  the  old  chief,  Winameg,  is  exactly  suited  to  his  tastes,  for 
on  it  are  still  discernible  traces  of  old  Indian  mounds,  though,  much  disturbed 
by  the  plowshare ;  and  on  the  trees  are  still  visible  bullet  holes  and  Indian 
marks  of  various  kinds.  But,  notwithstanding  his  inclinations  and  tastes,  our 
subject  has  been  identified  with  some  very  prominent  measures,  among  which 
was  that  of  originating  and  building  the  Toledo  and  Grand  Rapids  Railroad,  in 
which  enterprise  his  son  was  also  extensively  engaged.  This  road  is  now  a 
part  of  the  Toledo,  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  Railway  (standard  gauge),  and 
extends  to  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 


HAAG,  SAMUEL  C.  In  the  town  of  Bainbridge,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,, 
on  the  7th  day  of  August,  1841,  Samuel  Conroth  Haag,  the  youngest,  but 
one,  of  the  seven  children  of  Peter  H.  and  Catharine  Haag,  was  born.  When 
Samuel  was  eleven  years  of  age  the  family  left  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, crossed  over  the  mountains  and  took  up  their  residence  at  New  Philadel- 
phia, Tuscarawas  county,  O.  The  boyhood  days  of  our  subject  were  not  unlike 
those  common  to  all  youths,  attending  school  and  doing  such  work  about  home 
as  he  could  perform ;  but,  when  old  enough,  Samuel  entered  the  office  of  the 
Ohio  Democrat,  at  New  Philadelphia,  where  he  learned  the  printer's  trade,  and 
where  he  was  employed  until  the  fall  of  1861. 

On  the  19th  day  of  September,  of  that  year,  he  enlisted  in  and  was  made 
corporal  of  Company  G,  Fifty- first  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry.  In  the  per- 
formance of  his  duty  at  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1862,. 
Mr.  Haag  was  severely  wounded,  being  struck  in  the  left  arm  by  a  minnie 
bullet.  He  was  then  sent  to  the  hospital  and  remained  there  some  six  months. 
Upon  recovering  the  use  of  his  arm  sufficiently  to  perform  duty  Mr.  Haag 
returned  to  his  command  and  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  orderly  on  General 
Stanley's  staff. 

With  this  command  our  subject  served  with  credit,  sharing  alike  the  suc- 
cesses and  reverses  incident  to  army  life,  performing  well  each  and  every  duty 
assigned  to  him,  until,  on  the  2d  day  of  September,  1864,  when,  at  the  battle 
of  Lovejoy,  he  was  again  wounded  in  the  left  arm,  but  this  time  with  more 
serious  results,  for  amputation  became  necessary.  This  operation  was  performed 
in  the  field  hospital,  but  he  was  soon  after  removed  to  the  regular  hospital  for 
the  wounded.  Mr.  Haag  was  not  discharged  from  the  service  until  March  17, 
1865,  upon  which  he  returned  to  his  home  at  New  Philadelphia. 

In  October  following  Mr.  Haag  became  a  resident  of  Henry  county,  taking 
up  his  abode  at  Texas,  and  here  he  continued  to  live  until  the  year  1871.  His 
chief  occupation  at  this  place  was  teaching  school,  at  which  he  was  remarkably 
successful ;  he  was  elected  clerk  of  Washington  township,  and  held  the  position 
of  postmaster  at  Texas,  his  commission  bearing  date  September  19,  1866.  In 
1871,  Mr.  Haag,  came  to  reside  in  Napoleon  township.     He  was  appointed 


I 


(  1 


Biographical.  587 


superintendent  of  the  infirmary  farm,  assuming  that  position  September  i  st,  and 
holding  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  He  then  moved  to  Freedom  township,  hav- 
ing purchased  a  farm  therein,  but  his  residence  here  was  of  but  two  years 
duration,  as,  in  October,  1884,  he  moved  to  the  village  of  Napoleon  that  his 
children  might  have  the  benefits  of  the  excellent  schools  of  that  place. 

Mr.  Haag  had  not  been  a  resident  of  the  county  seat  a  single  year  before 
his  appointment  to  the  position  of  postmaster,  to  succeed  Captain  Leverett  G. 
Randall,  removed.  This  appointment  dated  from  July  14,  1885.  At  the  expi- 
ration of  the  term,  May  27,  1886,  he  was  re-appointed  by  the  president  for  a 
full  term  of  four  years. 

There  have  been  no  events  in  the  life  of  Samuel  C.  Haag  that  require  ex- 
tended comment  in  these  pages.  In  his  nature  and  disposition  he  is  quiet  and 
reserved ;  a  faithful  friend  and  a  kind  and  generous  husband  and  father.  He 
has  not  been  an  active  partisan  in  the  field  of  politics,  as  his  nature  leads  in  an 
opposite  channel.  He  is  certainly  deserving  of  credit  for  his  success  in  life,  and 
that  despite  the  fact  that  he  was  wholly  unable  to  work  at  his  trade  after  the 
loss  of  an  arm.  His  marriage  event  occurred  while  he  was  in  the  Union  serv- 
ice, and  at  a  time  when  he  was  at  home  on  veteran  furlough.  On  the  21st  of 
February,  1864,  in  Tuscarawas  county,  at  New  Philadelphia,  Samuel  C.  Haag 
was  married  to  Christina  Limestall,  who  then  residing  near  New  Philadelphia. 
Of  this  marriage  three  children  have  been  born,  the  oldest  of  whom  is  dead, 
the  others  living  with  their  parents  at  Napoleon. 


H' ANDY,  WILLIAM  HENRY,  the  fourth  child  of  Hon.  Michael  and  Mary 
A.  Handy,  was  born  in  Pike  township,  Fulton  county,  on  the  29th  day 
of  January,  in  the  year  1847.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  William  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany H,  of  the  Eighty-sixth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  with  that 
regiment  until  February  10,  1864,  when  he  was  discharged.  On  the  15th  of 
April  following  he  re-enlisted  in  Company  H,  of  the  Sixty-seventh  Ohio  Vol- 
unteer Infantry  and  served  through  the  remainder  of  the  war,  and  was  mus- 
tered out  of  service  and  discharged  on  the  1st  of  September,  1865. 

On  returning  home  he  entered  the  office  of  his  father  as  a  student  at  law, 
where  he  remained  some  time,  and  afterward  further^'prosecuted  his  studies  in 
the  office  of  Judge  Lemmon,  of  Toledo.  At  this  city,  in  the  year  1868,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  He  immediately  commenced  practice  at  Ottokee,  then 
the  county  seat  of  Fulton  county,  being  associated  with  his  father.  This  rela- 
tion was  maintained  until  January  i,  187S,  when  our  subject  retired  from  the 
firm  to  assume  control,  as  editor  and  publisher,  of  the  Democratic  Expositor. 
This  paper  was  the  only  exponent  of  Democratic  principles  in  the  county  at 
the  time,  nor  had  there  been  one  for  eleven  years  prior  thereto.  To  Mr.  Han- 
dy's  management  is  credited  the  paper's  early  success,  and  to  his  leaders  in  its 
editorial  columns,  was  also  due  the  credit  of  having  brought  about  a  more  per- 
fect party  organization  in  the  county.     After  two  and  one-half  years  in  the  ed- 


588  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

iter's  sanctum  Mr.  Handy  sold  the  paper  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, which  he  continued  up  to  the  time  of  his  advancement  to  the  common 
pleas  bench  in  February,  1885. 

The  position  that  Mr.  Handy  has  occupied  in  the  political  history  of  the 
county  is  too  well  known  to  need  any  extended  comment  in  this  place;  yet,  in 
some  respects  his  position  has  been  somewhat  singular.  While  he  is,  and  for  a 
number  of  years  past  has  been  looked  upon  and  acknowledged  as  one  of  the 
Democratic  leaders  of  the  county,  and  in  the  councils  of  the  party  therein  he 
stands  perhaps  at  the  head,  yet  the  turmoil  of  politics  has  no  special  charm  for 
him.  Thrice  has  he  been  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  the  office  of  prosecut- 
ing attorney,  but  upon  a  single  occasion  only  can  it  be  said  that  he  was  an  ac- 
tive, aggressive  aspirant  for  this  preferment.  Being,  as  he  has  been  for  some 
years,  the  only  Democratic  member  of  the  legal  fraternity  in  his  county,  and 
being,  moreover,  a  man  of  much  professional  and  personal  popularity,  he  could 
not  well  avoid  entering  the  arena  of  politics  in  answer  to  the  demands  of  his 
party,  when  it  was  hoped  that  his  strength  might  turn  the  scale  of  doubtful 
contest;  but  the  county  has  generally  proven  too  strongly  Republican  to  ad- 
mit of  such  a  possibility;  yet  Mr.  Handy  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that* 
to  his  support  has  rallied  the  full  strength  of  his  own  party,  and  that  he  has  al- 
so drawn  largely  from  the  opposition. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  delegates  to  the  Democratic  judicial  convention  of 
the  third  sub-division  of  the  third  judicial  district,  on  the  27th  day  of  January, 
1885,  William  H.  Handy  was  made  the  nominee  of  that  body  for  the  office  of 
common  pleas  judge.  Two  days  later  he  was  appointed  by  his  excellency. 
Gov.  Hoadley,  to  the  office  for  which  he  had  just  been  nominated,  and  entered 
upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  on  the  7th  day  of  February.  In  October  fol- 
lowing he  was  elected  for  the  unexpired  term,  there  being  no  candidate  nomi- 
nated to  oppose  him. 

As  a  Ia3'man  of  the  legal  profession  Mr.  Handy  enjoys  the  reputation  of  be- 
ing a  good  counselor,  and  a  good  trial  lawyer,  and  while  he  never  laid  claim 
to  possessing  especial  brilliancy  as  an  advocate,  yet  he  had  a  way  of  present- 
ing a  case  to  the  jury  that  brought  him  at  once  into  favor  with  that  body,  and, 
in  close  cases,  gave  him  a  fair  advantage.  As  a  judge  Mr.  Handy  presides  with 
becoming  dignity;  he  thoroughly  understands  the  law  and  interprets  and  pre- 
sents it  to  the  jury  clearly  and  with  conciseness  ;  and  in  reviewing  the  facts  is 
wholly  free  from  any  bias  or  prejudice.  While  the  public  and  professional  life 
of  our  subject  have  been  entirely  pleasant,  his  private  life  and  qualities  among 
friends  and  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  home,  have  been  none  the  less  agree- 
able. Mr.  Handy  was  married  on  the  i6th  day  of  October,  1869,  to  Isabella 
J.,  daughter  of  John  Van  Arsdale,  of  Ottokee,  but  formerly  a  resident  of  Wy- 
andot county.  Of  this  marriage  three  children  have  been  born  :  Harry  L., 
Clive  C.  and  May  B.,  all  of  whom  are  living. 


Biographical.  589 


HOLLISTER,  M.  D.,  De  WITT.  The  residence  of  this  well-known  citizen 
in  Wauseon,  Fulton  county,  dates  back  to  about  the  year  1851.  He  was- 
born  in  the  town  of  Fulton,  Oswego  county,  N.  Y.,  on  the  8th  day  of  Decem- 
ber, 1825.  His  father,  Philarmon  HoUister,  was  a  carpenter  and  joiner  by 
trade,  but  our  subject,  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen  years,  determined  to  enter 
professional  life.  With  this  end  in  view  he  commenced  a  course  of  medical 
study  with  Dr.  Stephen  Pardee,  a  physician  of  Oswego  county,  and  continued 
his  reading  for  a  period  of  about  four  years  ;  during  this  time,  however,  young 
Hollister  attended  the  Geneva  Medical  College,  where  he  perfected  himself  in 
the  higher  branches  of  the  profession,  and  in  surgery,  and  from  which  institu- 
tion he  was  graduated  after  two  terms'  attendance. 

Dr.  Hollister  first  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Pierrepont 
Manor,  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.,  and  remained  there  about  one  and  one-half 
years,  after  which  he  joined  the  tide  of  emigration  to  this  then  western  country, 
and  took  up  his  abode  at  Wauseon,  in  the  newly  created  county  of  Fulton.  At 
that  time  Dr.  Hollister  was  the  only  resident  physician  in  the  place,  and  soon 
acquired  a  large  practice  ;  and,  being  a  young  man  of  good  education  and  ad- 
dress, and  possessing  a  thorough  understanding  of  his  profession,  this  practice 
became  so  extended  as  not  to  be  confined  to  the  limits  of  the  county. 

After  a  residence  here  of  about  two  years  Dr.  De  Witt  HoUister  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Permelia  Lamb,  daughter  of  Avery  and  Sarah  Lamb,  of  York 
township.  Of  this  marriage  three  children  were  born,  all  of  whom  are  now 
living. 

In  connection  with  his  professional  life  and  duties  in  Fulton  county  Dr. 
Hollister  has  been  a  very  busy  man  ;  too  much  so,  perhaps,  to  give  much  at- 
tention to  public  affairs  other  than  as  interests  every  well-disposed  and  enter- 
prising citizen ;  he  has  never  held  nor  sought  public  office,  yet  in  the  welfare 
of  the  county  he  is  much  interested,  and  gives  his  full  share  of  generous  sup- 
port to  every  measure  for  its  advantage.  Of  late  years  he  has  given  some 
attention  to  farming,  not,  however,  as  a  means  of  livelihood,  but  rather  as  a 
diversion.  When  he  had  been  a  resident  of  the  county  for  some  years,  in 
connection  with  his  practice,  the  doctor  estabhshed  a  drug  store  in  Wauseon, 
which  he  conducted  about  ten  years  without  a  partner,  but  later  he  became 
associated  with  Dr.  William  Hyde,  under  the  style  of  Hollister  &  Hyde ;  but, 
after  about  two  years,  he  again  became  sole  proprietor,  and  so  remained  for 
several  years,  when  John  A.  Reed  came  into  the  firm,  but  he  in  turn  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Jacob  S.  Newcomer,  the  present  partner,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Hollister  &  Newcomer 

In  his  business  and  professional  life  Dr.  Hollister  has  been  rewarded  with  a 
good  degree  of  success,  and  there  stands  no  man  to  say  that  he  has  not  de- 
served it.  As  a  physician  and  surgeon  he  stands  second  to  none  in  the  county, 
and  as  a  friend  and  adviser  his  acquaintance  and  counsel  are  frequently  sought. 


59°  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Now  having  reached  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  Hfe  our  subject  is  content  to 
lay  aside  the  more  arduous  duties  of  his  profession  and  devote  a  part,  at  least, 
of  his  time  to  the  care  of  his  lands ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  demands  for  his 
professional  skill  and  advice  are  constant,  and  cannot  well  be  refused. 


HAMLER,  JOHN.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  sketch  to  record  some  of  the 
events  that  have  caused  John  Hamler  to  be  ranked  among  the  prominent 
men  of  Henry  county ;  for  it  is  a  well  known  and  well  established  fact  that  in 
the  early  settlement  of  the  south  portion  of  this  county,  and  its  subsequent 
development,  no  person  has  taken  a  more  active  part,  or  rendered  more 
efficient  service  to  that  end  than  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Again,  John 
Hamler  has  a  favorable  acquaintance  throughout  the  entire  county,  and  will 
be  remembered  from  the  fact  of  his  having  served  faithfully  for  a  term  of  six 
years  as  one  of  the  county  commissioners. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  Alexander  Hamler,  who  was  born  in  the 
old  county  of  Northumberland,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  nth  of 
August,  1789.  His  wife  was  Mary  Hamler,  a  native  also  of  Pennsylvania, 
born  in  York  county  in  February,  1792.  Their  children  were  Elizabeth,  Mary, 
Sarah,  Catharine,  Eleanor,  Alexander,  John,  Samuel  and  James.  At  the  time 
of  the  birth  of  John  Hamler  the  family  resided  at  Marietta,  in  Lancaster  county. 
John  was  born  April  20,  18 17.  The  father  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  but, 
during  the  youth  of  our  subject,  he  was  occupied,  a  part  of  the  time  at  least, 
as  a  pilot  on  the  historic  Susquehanna  River,  and  to  the  occupations  of  the 
father  John  was  brought  up  until  he  was  old  enough  to  make  his  own  way  in 
life.  But  in  the  year  1834,  or  thereabouts,  the  family  left  Pennsylvania  and 
came  to  Franklin  county,  O.,  where  they  lived  for  about  a  year  and  a  half,  and 
then  moved  to  Crawford  county  and  occupied  a  leased  farm. 

John  Hamler,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  years,  up  to  this  time  having 
resided  at  home,  decided  to  started  out  in  search  of  a  fortune,  so  with  but  one 
dollar  in  his  pocket  and  without  a  coat  to  his  back,  he  started  for  Franklin 
county,  where  he  found  employment  with  an  old  friend.  While  at  home  his 
education  had  been  neglected,  never  having  spent  a  day  in  school,  but  after 
coming  to  Franklin  county  he  devoted  his  evenings  to  study,  and  by  the  aid 
of  an  old  friend,  for  whom  he  was  working,  he  suceeded  in  obtaining  for  him- 
self a  fair  business  education.  In  the  spring  of  1 842  he  fell  sick,  and  was  in 
so  serious  a  condition  that  but  little  hope  of  his  recovery  was  entertained.  By 
the  advice  of  his  physician  he  went  south,  working  at  various  places,  and 
traveling  over  several  States.  His  greatest  success  in  the  southern  country 
was  the  full  restoration  of  health  and  strength,  after  which  he  returned  to 
Franklin  county,  settled  up  his  affairs  there,  and  then  came  to  the  home  of 
his  parents  in  Crawford  county,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  and  clearing  land. 

It  was  while  so  engaged,  and  on  the   20th  of  December,  1843,  that  Mr. 


Biographical.  591 


Hamler  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  Ann  HoUingshead,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Richard  and  Catharine  HoUingshead,  then  residents  of  Crawford  county, 
but  formerly  of  Morgan  county.  They  too,  were  native  Pennsylvanians,  born 
in  Bedford  county,  Richard  on  August  21,  1788,  and  his  wife,  Catharine,  on 
January  i,  1793.  Mary  Ann,  the  wife  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Morgan 
county,  O.,  December  7,  1827. 

In  the  year  1 846,  with  his  wife  and  one  child,  John  Hamler  came  to  the 
wilderness  country  of  southern  Henry  county,  locating  upon  land  in  the 
present  Marion  township.  They  arrived  here  on  the  night  of  September  16, 
and  took  up  their  abode  in  a  cabin  built  the  summer  before,  and  which  had 
neither  windows  or  doors.  Mr.  Hamler's  land  comprised  a  quarter  section 
situate  one  and  three-fourths  miles  southwest  of  the  present  village  of  Hamler. 
At  that  time  there  were  but  three  other  residents  of  the  region.  From  this 
time  dates  the  residence  of  John  Hamler  in  Henry  county.  He  has  been,  to 
some  extent,  a  farmer,  but  his  chief  occupation  has  been  that  of  land  tracer 
and  agent  for  land  owners.  To  this  has  the  greater  part  of  his  time  been 
devoted  for  upwards  of  forty  years,  and  he  is  now  the  agent  of  the  Deshler 
Land  Company  and  for  the  Deshler  heirs.  This  employment  has  been  the 
source  of  a  good  revenue  to  Mr.  Hamler,  and  added  to  it  is  the  result  of  his 
own  investments,  and  his  own  industry  in  clearing  and  improving  the  lands  in 
this  vicinity. 

John  Hamler  has  lived  to  see  this  vast  country  cleared  of  its  forest  trees, 
its  great  swamp  lands  thoroughly  drained,  and  where,  forty  years  ago,  there 
seemed  but  a  trackless  waste,  are  now  finely  cultivated  farms,  villages  spring- 
ing up  here  and  there,  and  the  whole  territory  cut  by  well-kept  thoroughfares 
of  travel.  And  while  our  subject  has  lived  to  see  all  of  this  improvement,  in 
its  accomplishment  he  has  borne  no  small  part.  In  him  the  owners  of  land 
have  had  the  fullest  confidence,  and  to  every  trust  reposed  in  him  has  he  been 
faithful  and  true.  He  has  been  successful,  but  that  success  he  has  earned. 
He  was  chosen,  and  for  twenty- four  years  held  the  office  of  assessor  in  Marion 
township ;  his  acquaintance  with  the  lands  in  the  region  especially  fitted  him 
for  this  service ;  in  fact  no  man  but  he  could  locate  them  accurately.  For 
several  years,  he  served  as  trustee  and  clerk  of  the  township,  and  besides,  has 
held  other  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility ;  for  thirteen  years,  in  connection 
with  his  land  operations,  he  held  the  office  of  notary  public.  About  the  year 
1850  he  was  elected  county  commissioner,  and  served  two  terms  of  three  years 
each.  Under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan  he  was  appointed  post- 
master at  Ridgeland,  the  first  such  office  in  the  township,  and  held  four  years. 
During  the  war  Mr.  Hamler  was  active  in  raising  men  for  service,  devoting 
much  of  his  time,  and  using  his  own  means  for  this  purpose,  asking  and  seek- 
ing no  reward  therefor.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  been  actively  identified  with 
the  Democratic  party  in  the  county,  but  from  that  to  the  present  time  he  has 


592  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

voted  for  men,  not  for  party,  but  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience,  and 
regardless  and  independent  of  party  ties. 

John  Hamler  has  been  a  progressive  man  in  the  county,  and  particularly 
in  his  own  locality ;  every  measure  tending  to  benefit  the  township  and  its 
people  has  found  in  him  a  hearty  supporter,  and  one  not  niggardly  in  his  con- 
tributions for  all  substantial  benefits  and  improvements.  The  growing  and 
pretty  little  village  of  Hamler  was  so  named  in  his  honor.  At  this  place  is  his 
present  comfortable  home,  and  here  is  he  content  to  pass  the  remaining  years 
of  his  life,  still  possessed  of  full,  mental  and  physical  vigor,  although  now 
past  the  allotted  three  score  years  and  ten  of  life. 

By  his  marriage  with  Mary  Ann  Hollingshead  there  has  been  born  to  John 
Hamler  six  children,  as  follows:  Mary  Catharine,  born  July  12,  1846,  married 
Jesse  W.  Hitt,  of  Marion  township  ;  Ellen,  born  March  18,  1849,  married 
George  Fredericks,  of  Hamler;  Angelina,  born  February  21,  1852,  died  Jan- 
uary 24,  1856;  Alice,  born  June  i,  1854,  died  November  17,  1855;  John  Flet- 
cher, born  July  28,  1857,  died  March  16,  1858;  Sarah,  born  August  12,  1859, 
married  Richard  H.  Ebersol,  now  living  at  Lima,  O. 


KELLEY,  Esq.,  WILLIAM  C.  For  but  a  little  more  than  two  score  years 
was  Mr.  Kelley  a  resident  of  Fulton  county;  yet,  during  that  time  he 
made  a  record  as  a  citizen  and  lawyer  second  to  none  within  its  boundaries. 
As  a  lawyer  he  stood  at  the  head  of  the  bar  in  the  county,  and  ranked  equal 
with  any  in  Northwestern  Ohio'.  He  possessed  far  more  than  ordinary  legal 
ability,  and  was  thoroughly  successful  both  in  the  counsel  room,  and  as  an 
advocate  before  the  court  and  the  jury. 

In  the  political  history  of  the  county,  during  the  first  ten  or  twelve  years 
of  his  residence  here,  Mr.  Kelley  was  a  prominent  central  figure,  and  one  of 
the  recognized  leaders  of  the  Republican  party.  He  fully  enjoyed  the  excite- 
ment of  a  political  campaign,  and  lent  his  every  effort  for  the  success  of  the 
candidates  of  his  party,  but  he  would  never  consent  to  become  its  nom- 
inee, except  for  some  local  office  of  minor  importance.  During  the  latter 
eight  or  ten  years  of  his  life  he  cared  less  for  the  exciting  political  issues  of 
parties,  but  interested  himself  in  the  ability,  honor,  integrity  and  fitness  of  the 
candidate  for  the  office.  One  reason  for  this  was  the  fact  that  his  professional 
duties  required  his  careful  attention,  for  he  was  as  true  to  his  client  as  he  was 
to  his  friends.  This  was  one  of  the  marked  and  striking  characteristics  of  the 
man,  and  one  that  always  kept  him  high  in  the  esteem  of  his  professional 
associates  and  fellow-men.  In  a  trial  of  a  case  he  was  entirely  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  his  client,  yet  equally  watchful  and  careful  of  his  client's  conscience. 
He  had  true  moral  courage,  and  if  at  times  aggressive,  he  never  carried  per- 
sonal feeling  beyond  the  doors  of  the  court  room.  He  could,  and  he  did  look 
an  antagonist  squarely  in  the  face  and  express  his  sentiments,  uncomplimentary 


Biographical. 


593 


or  otherwise,  as  forcibly  as  if  out  of  his  presence.  He  was  also  singularly  free 
from  professional  jealousy.  He  desired  consideration  for  himself,  he  demanded 
it,  and  obtained  it  too,  but  he  never  sought  it  at  the  expense  of  another.  He 
wished  his  light  to  flame  high,  but  he  never  thought  it  necessary  for  that  end 
that  other  lights  should  be  dimmed. 

He  won  his  position  and  success  by  sturdy  and  sterling  qualities  of  mind, 
by  undaunted  courage,  by  mental  readiness,  by  untiring  industry,  and  un- 
flagging patience,  by  self-denial,  and  setting  his  face  against  temptations  to 
idleness  and  frivolity. 

By  nature  he  was  free  from  cant,  and  impatient  of  shams,  and  always  gave 
more  heed  and  attention  to  the  substance  than  the  form  of  anything,  and  thus, 
though  not  pretending  to  be  polished  in  manner,  was  powerful  and  thorough 
in  his  work,  holding  with  an  unyielding  grip  every  step  he  won  in  his  business 
or  profession.  Possessing  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  law,  he  was  not 
given  to  misconstruction  of  doubtful  cases,  and  before  the  jury  he  was  a  log- 
ical, influential  advocate. 

William  Clay  Kelley,  of  whom  these  things  are  said  by  his  associates  at  the 
bar,  was  born  in  Liberty  township,  Hancock  county,  O.,  on  the  24th  day  of 
March,  1838.  His  father,  Daniel  R.  Kelley,  was  a  carpenter  and  joiner,  but 
our  subject,  at  an  early  age,  showed  a  strong  inclination  for  professional  life. 
This  was  a  determination  more  easy  to  arrive  at  than  to  perform.  His  father 
was  a  man  in  quite  modest  circumstances,  and  whatever  young  Kelley  might 
accomplish  must  be  the  result  of  his  own  personal  effort  and  perseverance.. 
,  He  was  not  wanting  in  any  of  the  essential  elements  that  make  success  possi- 
ble, and  he  had,  moreover,  an  unusually  bright  mind  and  an  abundance  of 
perseverance.  His  early  education  was  received  at  the  Findlay  High  School, 
but  prior  to  that  time  he  had  attended  school  only  about  twenty  months.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  began  teaching.  During  these  years  of  study,  and 
in  those  that  followed,  he  supported  himself  by  such  work  as  he  could  find  to 
do.  In  the  month  of  December,  1859,  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Hon.  Henry 
Brown,  of  Findlay,  for  a  course  of  study,  having  fully  determined  to  enter  the 
legal  profession.  He  continued  his  studies  until  the  month  of  July,  1861^ 
when  he  dropped  them  for  a  time,  and  helped  to  recruit,  and  took  a  commis- 
sion as  second  lieutenant  of  Company  D,  99th  O.  V.  I.  With  this  command 
he  served  until  November,  1862,  when  his  resignation  was  accepted  because  of 
impaired  health. 

In  January,  1863,  Mr.  Kelley  entered  the  Ohio  Union  Law.  College,  at  Cleve- 
land, and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  June  of  the  same  year,  and  soon  after 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  the  State.  The  next  year,  in  March, 
1864,  Mr.  Kelley  came  to  reside  at  Wauseon,  and  became  a  member  of  the 
Fulton  county  bar.  After  having  been  a  resident  here  of  some  three  years, 
Mr.  Kelley  was,  on  the  2d  day  of  November,  1867,  married  to  Minnie  L.  Ayers, 

75 


594  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

daughter  of  Eli  Ayers,  of  Kossuth,  Iowa.  At  the  time  their  acquaintance 
was  formed  Miss  Ayers  was  a  teacher  in  the  schools  of  Wauseon.  Her  home 
had  been  in  Gouverneur,  St.  Lawrence  county,  N.  Y.,  her  parents  having 
recently  moved  to  Des  Moines  county,  Iowa. 

From  1864  until  1885,  William  C.  Kelley  resided  and  was  actively  en- 
gaged in  practice  at  Wauseon,  and  during  this  time  his  life  was  one  of  almost 
uninterrupted  success.  But  during  the  latter  portion  of  this  period  the  de- 
stroyer was  not  idle.  Mr.  Kelley  was  attacked  with  a  malignant  tumor  of  the 
throat,  which  resulted  in  his  death  on  the  30th  day  of  June,  1885. 

In  his  religious  views  Mr.  Kelley  was  a  radical  free  thinker,  although  he 
never  forced  his  theories  upon  unwilling  listeners.  At  his  burial  ceremony  re- 
marks were  made  by  prominent  members  of  the  bar  from  Fulton  and  other 
counties,  and  while  clergymen  were  present,  they  took  no  part  in  the  services. 

In  concluding  this  sketch,  no  higher,  or  more  fitting  tribute  of  respect  to 
the  memory  of  this  man  can  be  written,  than  is  embodied  in  the  record  of  the 
Common  Pleas  of  Fulton  county,  being  the  action  of  the  bar  upon  the  occasion 
■of  his  death.     The  record  is  as  follows : 

"The  State  of  Ohio,  Fulton  county,  ss.  In  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 
At  a  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  begun  and  held  at  the  court-house  in  the  town 
of  Wauseon,  in  the  county  of  Fulton,  and  State  of  Ohio,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-five.  Present,  Hon.  William  H. 
Handy,  judge  of  said  court. 

"Whereas,  It  has  pleased  the  Supreme  Architect  of  the  universe  in  His 
inscrutable  wisdom,  to  remove  from  earth  our  esteemed  friend  and  fellow 
member  of  the  Fulton  county  bar,  the  Hon.  William  C.  Kelley;   and 

"Whereas,  In  his  untimely  death  the  community  has  been  deprived  of  the 
services  of  one  of  its  most  useful  citizens,  and  the  bar  of  this  county  one  of  its 
most  faithful  representatives,  and  his  friends  and  relatives  of  one  who  was 
loved  for  his  virtues  and  respected  for  his  integrity ;   therefore  be  it 

"  Resolved,  That  we  hereby  bear  testimony  to  his  acknowledged  talents,  his 
public  and  private  worth,  uprightness  of  character,  and  the  many  estimable 
and  sterling  qualities  of  mind  and  heart;  that,  feeling  our  own  loss,  we  deeply 
sympathize  and  condole  with  the  relatives  of  the  deceased  in  their  greatest  be- 
reavement. 

''Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  ordered  spread  upon  the  journal  of  the 
court,  and  a  copy  thereof  be  transmitted  to  the  relatives  of  the  deceased." 


ROBINSON,  ANTHONY  B.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  the 
valley  of  Salt  Creek,  Wayne  county,  O.,  on  the  28th  day  of  September, 
in  the  year  1825.  His  parents  were  George  W.  and  Sarah  Robinson,  and  of 
their  ten  children,  Anthony  was  the  oldest.  The  father  was  a  farmer  living  in 
Salt  Creek  valley,  and  here  our  subject  passed  the  days  of  boyhood  and  youth. 


^^^^-y'^T  *^Jr   ycyf^^^^^zj^T^n^ 


Biographical.  595 


working  on  the  farm  and  attending  school.  When  he  was  eighteen  years  old, 
Anthony  attended  Edinburg  Academy,  in  Wayne  county,  intending  to  prepare 
himself  for  teaching  and  civil  engineering.  After  some  four  or  five  terms  at 
the  academy,  he  did  commence  to  teach,  and  so  continued  for  twenty  eight 
terms,  and  gradually  took  rank  with  the  best  and  most  successful  instructors 
of  the  county.  For  four  years  he  was  one  of  the  principals  of  the  Fredericks- 
burg school,  which  was  a  "  summer  and  winter  "  school. 

June  17,  1847,  then  being  twenty- two  years  of  age,  Mr.  Robinson  was  mar- 
ried to  Nancy  Hutchinson,  daughter  of  Jimsey  Hutchinson,  of  Wayne  county. 
From  this  time  down  to  1862,  our  subject  was  employed  as  teacher  and  at  work 
on  a  farm,  devoting,  however,  his  leisure  time  to  the  study  of  civil  engineerings 
intending  to  emigrate  to  Iowa  and  follow  surveying,  but  the  unexpected  death 
of  his  father  (September  26,  1846),  materially  changed  his  plans  for  the  future, 
and  he  then  decided  to  remain  in  Ohio,  but,  during  the  year  last  above  men- 
tioned, 1862,  he  came  to  Fulton  county  and  took  up  his  residence  on  a  farm 
about  one  and  one-half  miles  southwest  from  Wauseon,  and  one-half  mile  south- 
west from  that  on  which  he  now  resides. 

At  that  time  the  lands  in  this  vicinity  were  in  a  comparatively  undevel- 
oped condition,  and  there  appeared  nothing  in  the  then  future  to  materially 
enhance  their  value  except  the  labor  that  might  be  put  upon  them.  A  few 
years  later,  however,  the  seat  of  justice  of  the  county  was  removed  from  Ot- 
tokee  to  Wauseon,  near  which  this  farm  was  situate.  Being  a  thrifty,  enter- 
prising and  industrious  farmer  (and  takes  an  active  interest  in  the  farmer  insti- 
tutes), Mr.  Robinson  soon  possessed  as  good  an  agricultural  tract  as  was  to  be 
found  in  the  county,  and  the  removal  of  the  county  seat  greatly  increased  its 
value.  To  this  he  subsequently  added  other  lands,  until  now  he  is  the  owner 
of  nearly  three  hundred  acres  of  as  productive  farm  lands  as  can  be  found  in 
the  region,  and  they  have,  in  the  main,  been  cleared,  underdrained  and  devel- 
oped by  himself 

Mr.  Robinson  is  among  the  staunch,  stalwart  Republicans  of  Fulton  county,, 
he  being  one  of  the  delegates  at  its  formation  in  1854,  at  Columbus,  O,  Prior 
t®  his  residence  in  the  county,  however,  he  had  held  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
peace.  In  1854,  then  being  a  Wayne  county  citizen,  Mr.  Robinson,  as  we 
said  before,  helped  to  organize  the  Republican  party,  and  in  its  doctrines, 
teachings  and  policy  he  has  ever  since  been  a  firm  believer,  and  to  its  cause  a 
faithful  adherent  and  an  efficient  helper.  In  about  the  year  1872  he  was 
elected  county  surveyor  and  held  that  office  for  twelve  consecutive  years  ;  in 
the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  of  Clinton  township,  he  served  for  an  unbroken 
term  of  eighteen  years.  And  in  all  measures  pertaining  to  the  educational 
interests  of  the  township  and  the  county,  as  well,  has  our  subject  been  espe- 
cially active  and  prominent,  and,  in  this  branch  of  the  local  government,  he 
has  represented  the  township  in   various   capacities.     As   an  early  teacher  of 


'596  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

understanding  and  experience,  during  his  younger  life,  Mr.  Robinson  was  well 
fitted  to  suggest  and  direct  such  measures  as  were  of  the  greatest  benefit,  both 
to  teachers  and  scholars. 

To  the  marriage  of  Anthony  B.  Robinson  and  Nancy  Hutchinson  there  has 
been  born  a  family  of  ten  children — five  sons  and  five  daughters — and  of 
•these  all,  save  two,  are  still  living. 

Surrounded  with  family  and  friends,  Mr.  Robinson  still  lives  in  Clinton, 
township  on  the  farm  adjoining  that  on  which  he  first  settled  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  health,  although  now  past  his  sixty-second  year,  and  possessed  of 
sufficient  of  this  world's  goods  to  keep  wife  and  self  in  comfort  during  the  re- 
mainder of  their  days,  and  thereafter  to  leave  a  goodly  inheritance  to  their 
children,  all  of  whom  are  now  married  and  living  in  Fulton  county  near  the 
old  home. 


SCOFIELD,  JOHN  N.  In  the  year  1855  Mr.  Scofield  became  a  resident 
of  Ridgeville  township.  Four  years  later  he  bought  the  land  upon  which 
was  afterwards  built  the  little  hamlet  of  Ridgeville,  being  so  named  for  the 
township.  Perhaps  no  man  has  been  so  instrumental  in  building  up  and  im- 
proving the  place  as  he,  and  there  are  few,  if  any,  who  have  done  as  much  for 
the  welfare  of  the  township  at  large  as  has  Mr.  Scofield.  With  its  civil  and 
political  history  he  has  been  closely  identified  for  upwards  of  thirty  years,  and 
although  his  political  convictions  are  not  in  accord  with  the  majority  of  the 
voters  of  the  township,  his  personal  standing  has  been  sufficient  to  break  down 
party  lines,  and  place  him  in  some  of  the  most  important  of  its  offices;  still,  he 
has  not  been,  by  any  means,  a  politician,  nor  has  he  ever  sought,  while  in  office, 
to  advance  his  own  or  his  party's  interest  at  the  expense  of  the  opposing  party; 
his  effiarts,  rather,  have  been  directed  toward  the  improvement  and  develop- 
ment of  the  locality,  thus  benefiting  the  whole  people.  As  is  well  known,  Mr. 
Scofield  holds  to  the  doctrine  of  Republicanism,  and,  in  the  various  offices  that 
he  has  been  chosen  to  fill,  he  has  always  been  the  representative  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  His  candidacy  for  the  county  office  of  probate  judge  is  well  re- 
membered by  the  people  of  the  county,  and,  although  defeated  at  the  polls,  he 
ran  well  up  with  the  ticket,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  was  opposed  by 
one  of  the  strongest  Democrats  of  the  county — a  person  of  no  less  strength 
than  James  G.  Haly. 

John  Newberry  Scofield  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  August  30, 
1 8 14.  When  he  was  but  three  years  old  his  parents,  Benjamin  and  Sally  (New- 
berry) Scofield,  with  their  children,  left  Seneca  county  and  came  to  Ohio,  locat- 
ing in  Strongville  township,  Cuyahoga  county,  where  the  father  purchased  a 
tract  of  wild  land,  and  upon  which  he  commenced  an  improvement,  although 
his  former  occupation  was  that  of  a  carpenter.  In  the  family  of  Benjamin  Sco- 
field was  thirteen  children,  and  of  these  John  was  the  eighth  in  the  order  of 


Biographical.  597 


their  birth.  John  lived  with  his  parents  until  he  became  of  age,  and  during 
these  years  acquired  a  very  good  common  school  education.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  went  to  Cleveland,  where  he  learned  the  carpenter  trade,  and  at 
which  he  worked  some  six  or  seven  years  continuously  thereafter,  but  he  de- 
voted considerable  of  his  time  to  teaching  and  farm  work  in  various  portions  of 
Cuyahoga  county;  in  all  his  mechanical  labors  in  this  county  covered  a  period 
of  something  like  twenty  years. 

In  the  year  1837  he  went  to  the  town  of  Independence  to  teach  school,  and 
while  so  employed,  became  acquainted  with  Miss  Anna  L.  Stafford,  one  of  his 
pupils,  to  whom,  on  the  6th  of  September,  1838,  he  was  married.  From  this 
time  until  1855,  Mr.  Scofield  was  variously  employed,  part  of  the  time  on  his 
father's  farm,  again  at  his  trade,  then  he  bought  and  improved  a  piece  of  land, 
but,  in  the  year  last  named  sold  out  and  came  to  Henry  county,  locating  in 
Ridgeville  township,  where  he  purchased  a  saw-mill  property,  completed  the 
mill  and  set  the  machinery  in  motion.  This  he  owned  and  operated  success- 
fully for  about  twenty- one  years. 

In  connection  with  his  business  operations  in  this  locality  Mr.  Scofield  has 
become  possessed  of  large  tracts  of  wooded  land,  and  many  fine  farms  show 
the  results  of  his  labor.  In  other  branches  of  business,  also,  he  has  been  very 
active,  and  established  and  operated  them  with  good  success.  He  built  a 
cheese  factory  in  the  township  in  1867,  but  sold  it  after  one  season.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1878,  he  started  a  general  store  at  Ridgeville,  and  still  owns  and  conducts 
it.  In  1 86 1,  under  the  administration  of  President  Lincoln,  Mr.  Scofield  was 
appointed  postmaster  at  this  place,  the  name  of  the  office  being  Ridgeville  Cor- 
ners, but  after  about  three  or  four  years  he  resigned ;  again,  under  President 
Hayes,  he  was  reappointed  and  held  until  the  year  1887,  when,  under  the  new 
administration,  a  successor  was  appointed. 

In  the  year  following  that  in  which  Mr.  Scofield  became  a  resident  of  Henry 
county,  1856,  on  the  2d  of  December,  his  wife,  Anna,  was  taken  away  by  the 
hand  of  death.  She  bore  him  six  children,  but  all  of  these,  save  one,  are  dead. 
On  the  1 6th  of  December,  1858,  Mr.  Scofield  married  Margaret  N.  Harring, 
of  Port  Byron,  N.  Y.  She  died  March  26,  1886.  Again,  on  December  30, 
1886,  he  was  married  to  Sarah  E.  Harris,  of  Ridgeville. 


THOMPSON,  ABRAHAM  B.  About  half  a  mile  north  from  the  village 
of  Delta,  in  York  township,  stands  the  residence  of  Abraham  B.  Thomp- 
son. He  is  not  a  native  of  this  country,  but  was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  England, 
on  the  Sth  day  of  March,  183 1.  When  Abraham  was  but  three  months  old  his 
mother  died,  and  when  a  little  over  one  year  old  his  father  left  England  and 
emigrated  to  the  United  States,  leaving  three  small  children,  the  oldest  being 
but  five  years  of  age,  entirely  dependent  upon  the  kind  charity  of  relatives. 
The  father  did  not  return  to  England  until  the  year  1848,  and  at  that  time  our 


598  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

subject  was  seventeen  years  old.  Upon  again  coming  to  America  Abraham 
accompanied  his  father.  They  came  to  Royalton  township,  Fulton  county,  and 
here  the  son  lived  until  he  attained  his  majority,  when  he  started  out  determined 
to  work  his  own  way  in  life,  and,  above  all  other  considerations,  to  acquire,  at 
least,  a  fair  business  education.  After  working  out  by  the  month  for  nearly  a 
year,  Mr.  Thompson  attended  school  at  Maumee  city,  and  here  he  remained 
as  long  as  he  had  money  to  pay  for  board  and  tuition,  but  was  finally  obliged 
to  give  up  further  study  for  want  of  funds,  and,  at  this  time,  he  never  so  much 
realized  the  need  of  cash,  as  when  compelled  to  leave  the  school  before  finishing 
the  course  he  had  marked  out. 

About  this  time  there  was  considerable  excitement  over  the  wonderful  gold 
fields  of  California,  and  many  of  the  more  venturesome  young  men  of  the  east 
were  going  there.  In  1854,  then  being  twenty- three  years  old,  young  Thomp- 
son made  the  journey  by  the  Nicaragua  route.  On  reaching  the  Pacific  slope 
small-pox  broke  out  among  the  passengers,  and  many  died  before  reaching 
their  destination,  while  from  this  and  other  unfortunate  causes,  the  arrival  of  all 
was  much  delayed.  Upon  reaching  San  Francisco  our  subject  was  entirely 
out  of  money,  but  by  no  means  was  he  discouraged.  He  borrowed  $30  from  a 
friend,  and  started  for  the  mines  full  of  hope  and  expectation.  For  about  four 
years  he  endured  the  hardships,  privations  and  disappointments  of  life  in  the 
mines,  when,  in  the  fall  of  1858,  he  returned  to  Ohio,  having  accumulated  about 
$2,000  in  money  as  the  result  of  his  toil.  With  this  he  purchased  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  Amboy  township,  the  improvement  and  cultivation 
of  which  he  immediately  commenced.  Having  got  the  farm  and  its  build- 
ings in  good  condition,  our  subject  realized  that  it  was  "  not  good  for  man  to 
live  alone,"  for  we  find  that  on  the  27th  of  November,  1859,  he  was  married  to 
Susan  Ann  Powlesland,  a  native  of  Devonshire,  England,  but  who  came  with 
her  parents  to  this  country  in  the  year  1849.  Of  this  marriage  five  children 
were  born,  viz.:  Addison  Brooks,  born  October  i,  i860;  Cara  Dora,  born  May 
18,  1862;  Evaline  Francetta,  born  June  20,  1864;  Gertrude  H.,  born  June  7, 
1867,  died  April  10,  1869;  and  Ira  J.,  born  May  10,  1868. 

During  his  residence  in  Amboy  township  Abraham  B.  Thompson  was 
recognized  as  one  of  its  most  thrifty  farmers  and  enterprising  business  men.  In 
1869  he  erected  a  suitable  building  and  commenced  the  manufacture  of  cheese, 
which  industry  he  has  ever  since  continued  with  most  favorable  results. 

In  187s  Mr.  Thompson  moved  to  his  present  home  in  York  township, 
where,  in  1877,  he  built  the  elegant  residence  which  he  now  occupies.  At  this 
place,  in  1875,  he  built  an  extensive  cheese  factory,  and,  until  1883,  operated 
both  this  and  that  at  Amboy,  in  which  year  the  Amboy  factory  was  sold. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  this  manufacture  Mr.  Thompson  has  been  engaged 
for  the  last  eighteen  years ;  in  fact,  this  has  been  as  much,  and  possibly  more,, 
his  occupation  as  farming,  although  at  both  he  has  been  abundantly  successful,. 


Biographical.  599 


and  accumulated  a  comfortable  fortune,  the  result  of  energy,  perseverance  and 
straightforward  honesty.  The  cheese  that  he' has  produced  has  always  been  a 
standard  article  in  the  market,  and  brings  good  prices.  It  is  shipped  mainly  to 
Toledo  and  Adrian,  although  a  fair  proportion  of  the  output  is  used  to  supply 
a  demand  in  the  county. 

While  Mr.  Thompson  has  been  a  very  busy  man  in  conducting  his  business 
affairs,  he  has,  nevertheless,  found  time  to  show  a  patriotic  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  his  township  and  county  ;  and  in  the  political  history  of  each  he  has 
been  a  prominent  figure  as  is  shown  by  his  various  political  holdings,  and  in 
each  of  which  he  has  been  the  nominee  of  the  Republican  party.  He  has  filled 
with  entire  satisfaction  the  offices  of  township  road  supervisor,  school  director 
(fifteen  consecutive  years),  treasurer,  trustee,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  con- 
nection with  the  county's  affairs,  he  filled  the  important  and  responsible  posi- 
tion of  commissioner  for  nine  consecutive  years. 

In  the  most  ancient  and  honorable  order  of  Masonry  has  our  subject  been 
for  many  years  a  faithful  craftsman.  He  joined  the  order  in  1863,  and  has 
filled  various  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility  in  connection  therewith  ;  from 
master  of  Fulton  Lodge,  No.  248,  he  has  advanced  and  is  now  acting  M.  E. 
H.  P.,  of  Octavius  Waters  Chapter,  No.  154,  of  Delta.  In  1881  he  became  a 
member  of  Toledo  Commandery,  and  went  into  the  Scottish  rites  in  1883. 


AYERS,  Esq.,  DAVID.  Among  the  pioneers  of  the  territory  that  is  now 
embraced  within  the  boundaries  of  Fulton  county,  was  the  family  of  Moses 
Ayers,  a  former  resident  of  Wayne  county,  but  who  came  to  this  locality  in  the 
year  1838.  To  the  older  residents  of  this  county  the  name  of  Mr.  Ayers  is 
well  known.  He  was  a  thorough,  honest,  intelligent  and  respected  farmer,  and 
one  that  contributed  his  full  share  in  the  development  of  Dover  township.  His 
wife  was  Elizabeth  (Chrisman)  Ayers.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children, 
five  boys  and  two  girls. 

Moses  Ayers  built  a  small  tannery  and  conducted  it  in  connection  with  his 
farm  work  for  some  time.  This  event  is  probably  forgotten  by  many  of  the 
old  settlers,  as  it  was  done  some  fifty  years  ago.  At  that  time  Dover  was  a 
wild  and  uncultivated  country,  and  Indians  were  more  numerous  than  whites, 
but  they  were  quite  friendly  and  peaceable.  The  old  tannery  has  long  since 
gone  to  decay,  and  the  farm  is  now  occupied  by  David  Ayers,  who  was  the 
second  child  of  this  pioneer  family. 

David  Ayers  was  born  near  Shreve,  in  Wayne  county,  this  State,  on  the 
2d  day  of  April,  1828,  and,  at  the  time  of  his  father's  settlement  in  this  locality, 
was  but  ten  years  of  age.  There  was  no  school  in  Dover  at  that  time,  so  Da- 
vid, when  old  enough,  was  put  at  work  in  the  tannery,  but  the  damp  and  un- 
pleasant atmosphere  told  severely  against  him,  in  fact,  it  was  then  thought  that 
he  had  not  long  to  live.  At  the  age  of  twenty  years  he  went  to  Adrian,  Mich,, 
and  attended  school  for  about  six  months,  after  which  he  entered  the  Bethany 


6oo  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

College,  in  West  Virginia.  Here  he  remained  two  and  one- half  years,  when 
his  health  failed  and  compelled  him  to  return  home.  It  should  be  mentioned 
that  the  father  of  this  young  man  was  very  generous  toward  his  children,  and 
encouraged  them  in  every  industrious  effort ;  he  gave  them  land  to  cultivate, 
and  a  share  in  the  profits  of  the  tannery,  and  it  was  from  the  sale  of  his  share 
that  David  acquired  means  with  which  to  pay  for  his  education. 

In  1853  he  went  to  California,  induced  to  make  the  journey  in  the  hope  of 
restoring  health  and  strength,  and,  in  part,  to  acquire  a  fortune.  The  first, 
and  perhaps  the  most  important,  of  these  desires  was  realized,  for  his  physical 
strength  was  recovered,  but  in  the  acquisition  of  a  fortune  his  efforts  were  not 
so  fully  rewarded.  He  worked  a  claim  on  the  Yuba  River  for  one  fall  season, 
and  at  its  close  was  just  $500  out  of  pocket.  He  then  engaged  in  shingle  mak- 
ing at  $9  per  thousand,  but  this  price  soon  declined.  Still  later  he  worked  on 
a  farm  until  the  year  1856,  when  he  returned  to  Fulton  county  to  reside.  Two 
years  later,  on  the  i8th  of  March,  1858,  our  subject  was  married  to  Elizabeth 
Anna  Bayes,  daughter  of  William  W.  Bayes,  of  Clinton  township.  Of  this 
marriage  three  children  have  been  born,  all  of  whom  are  still  living. 

From  the  time  of  his  return  home  from  the  far  west  to  the  present  day,  Da- 
vid Ayers  has  been  a  respected  resident  of  Dover  township ;  but  from  this 
time  must  be  excepted  the  four  years  of  his  incumbency  of  the  office  of  county 
treasurer,  during  which  he  lived  at  Wauseon.  His  farm  is  one  of  the  best  in 
Dover,  and  it  was  here  that  his  parents  settled  fifty  years  ago. 

Mr.  Ayers  is  a  man  of  modest,  quiet  disposition  and  temperament,  yet  pos- 
sessed of  firm  convictions  in  political  and  civil  affairs.  He  has  been,  in  no  sense, 
a  seeker  after  office,  still  there  are  but  few,  if  any,  of  the  offices  of  the  township 
that  he  has  not  filled  at  the  request  of  his  fellow-townsmen ;  and,  in  each  and 
every  capacity  in  which  he  has  been  elected  to  serve,  the  people  have  had  the 
assurance  of  the  selection  of  a  faithful  official,  one  in  whom  they  had  confidence, 
and  one  by  whom  no  trust  was  ever  violated.  Such  a  reputation  does  David 
Ayers  bear  among  his  townspeople,  and  throughout  the  county.  In  the  year 
1 87 1  he  was  the  nominee  of  the  Republican  party  for  the  office  of  county 
treasurer,  and  at  the  polls  was  elected  by  a  good  majority.  His  administration 
of  the  affairs  of  this  office  showed  that  the  honor  was  worthily  bestowed,  and 
upon  its  incumbent  there  was  no  breath  of  suspicion.  He  proved  a  faithful 
public  servant,  and  discharged  his  duty  to  the  entire  satisfaction,  not  only  of 
his  party,  but  of  the  people  of  the  whole  county.  Upon  the  expiration  of  his 
second  term,  for  he  was  re-elected  in  1873,  Mr.  Ayers  returned  to  his  comfort- 
able farm  home  where  he  now  resides. 

In  matters  pertaining  to  religion  Mr.  Ayers  is  connected  with  the  Christian 
Church,  of  which  he  and  his  family  are  members.  He  has  been  frequently 
chosen  for  various  church  offices,  and  of  his  means  has  contributed  liberally 
toward  defraying  the  expenses  of  building  the  church  edifice,  and  maintaining 
the  good  work  of  the  society.  


William  D.  Hagar. 


Biographical.  6oi 


HAGAR,  WILLIAM  D.,  was  born  in  Galway,  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
November  22,  1847,  ^"^  in  that  quiet  and  peaceful  village  he  received  his 
early  education,  under  the  careful  guidance  of  a  mother  who  possessed  unusual 
intelligence  and  moral  firmness  of  character.  His  opportunities  for  a  literary 
education  were  limited,  but  at  an  early  age  he  displayed  an  aptness  for  acquir- 
ing and  retaining  knowledge,  which,  in  the  eventful  years  of  his  life,  has  en- 
abled him  to  secure  a  fund  of  information  upon  literary,  scientific  and  useful 
subjects,  and  especially  in  the  intricacies  of  his  profession,  which  is  possessed 
by  but  few  men. 

Possessed  of  a  fixed  determination  to  occupy  a  prominent  position  in  life's 
busy  arena,  he  early  commenced  the  fight  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  launched 
his  hopeful  craft  on  the  adverse  sea  of  life,  which,  guided  by  his  own  hand  and 
kept  afloat  by  his  own  energy  and  perseverance,  was  to  eventually  land  him  in 
the  ranks  of  the  progressive  men  of  the  times.  Experience  teaches  its  own  les- 
sons and  the  succeeding  years  were  devoted  to  that  very  exacting  preceptor^ 
Several  occupations  were  tried  and  dropped,  and  several  schemes  succeeded 
each  other,  but  all  failing  to  meet  his  youthful  expectations.  The  great  armies 
of  the  Union  were  fighting  the  desperate  battles  of  the  rebellion,  and  young 
Hagar  responded  with  youthful  patriotism  to  the  call  for  reinforcements  and 
enlisted  in  Company  I,  Tenth  New  York  Cavalry  and  went  to  the  front.  Bra- 
very on  the  battlefield,  a  patriotic  devotion  to  his  country's  cause,  and  prompt 
performance  of  every  duty  won  for  the  boy  soldier  the  love  of  comrades  andi 
high  regards  of  all  who  knew  of  his  valor  and  deeds  of  heroism.  He  was. 
taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Manassas  Gap  and  confined  in  the  rebel  prisoin 
at  Richmond  six  months,  after  which  he  was  paroled  and  subsequently  honor- 
ably discharged  from  the  army,  having  served  two  years.  Young  Hagar  re- 
turned home,  laid  aside  the  blue  and  donned  the  citizen's  dress,  but  not  satis- 
fied with  opportunities  offered,  started  for  Michigan  and  engaged  in  various 
pursuits  at  Morenci,  but  afterwards  went  to  the  "pineries"  and  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  shingles,  but  soon  drifted  to  Chicago.  The  heavy  firm  of  C. 
W.  &  E.  Partridge  of  that  flourishing  city  was  the  first  to  offer  flattering  in- 
ducements, and  he  passed  the  ensuing  three  years  in  their  employ,  making 
a  specialty  of  the  dry  goods  trade,  during  which  time  he  gained  the  esteem 
and  respect  of  his  employers  as  well  as  of  the  mercantile  firms  of  note  in  the 
west. 

Miss  Jennie  Neff,  professionally  known  as  "  Miss  Jennie  Morgan,"  was  at 
that  time  at  the  height  of  her  fame  as  a  public  singer,  and  while  filling  an  en- 
gagement at  Chicago  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Hagar,  which  resulted  in 
the  solemnization  of  the  marriage  rites  between  the  busy  man  of  commerce 
and  the  charming  songstress.  Mrs.  Hagar  was  an  accomplished  vocalist  of 
pure  merit,  who  was  celebrated  for  her  high  talents  throughout  the  Union, 
which  no  doubt  was  the  cause  of  the  turning  point  toward  a  fortune  for  the 

76 


■6o2  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

subject  of  our  sketch,  as  it  attracted  his  attention  to  the  public  dennand  for 
amusement,  for  the  supplying  of  which  he  was  particularly  qualified.  It  is  not 
inappropriate  to  add  that  the  fame  of  Mrs.  Hagar  never  abated  during  her  pro- 
fessional career,  but  she  voluntarily  retired  from  the  stage,  and  in  her  private 
life  is  equally  fascinating  to  her  friends,  and  a  loving  and  devoted  wife  to  her 
husband.  Mr.  Hagar  decided  to  embark  in  the  amusement  profession  and  se- 
cured what  are  known  in  circus  parlance  as  the  "  privileges  "  with  the  late  John 
Murray's  circus  and  menagerie.  These  Mr.  Hagar  operated  with  rare  ability 
for  four  years.  Mr.  Coup,  then  owning  one  of  the  most  noted  circuses  of  the 
day,  rented  Mr.  Hagar  the  "  privileges  "  of  his  enterprise,  which  were  controlled 
with  success  for  a  similar  period  of  four  years ;  but  adversity  overcame  Mr. 
Coup  in  1882,  and  his  immense  concern  was  sold  by  the  sheriff  at  Detroit  to 
satisfy  the  demands  of  his  creditors.  Coup  was  then  owing  Mr.  Hagar  about 
;$I4,000  borrowed  money.  He  was  on  the  alert  and  took  timely  steps  to  save 
liis  money,  but  every  dollar  was  lost  through  technical  errors,  for  which  his  at- 
torneys were  purely  responsible. 

In  1883  the  museum  fever  demanding  the  attention  of  some  of  the  ablest 
showmen  of  the  day,  caused  Mr.  Hagar  to  become  the  senior  partner  of  Hagar, 
Campbell  &  Co.,  in  the  proprietorship  of  the  Dime  Museum  of  Philadelphia, 
which  was  undoubtedly  the  largest,  most  prosperous  and  best  managed  insti- 
tution of  its  kind  on  the  American  continent. 

In  1883  Mr,  Hagar,  still  holding  his  interest  in  the  Dime  Museum,  secured 
the  management  of  the  concert,  side  show,  annex,  and  other  "  privileges  "  of 
the  world- renowned  "Barnum  and  London  Combined  Shows."  Mr.  W.  T. 
Campbell  was  also  a  partner  in  the  Barnum  enterprise.  They  having  an  offer 
of  what  was  supposed  to  be  a  fabulous  price  for  the  museum,  it  was  sold  in 
1885,  and  Messrs.  Hagar  &  Campbell  turned  their  entire  attention  to  the  man- 
agement of  the  "privileges"  of  Barnum's  "  Greatest  Show  on  Earth."  In  the 
spring  of  1887  Mr.  Campbell  retired  from  the  show  business  and  settled  upon 
his  large  fancy  stock  farm  at  Rushville,  Ind.,  Mr.  Hagar  taking  his  entire  in- 
terest. 

Mr.  Hagar  has  long  been  identified  with  the  agricultural  interest  of  Fulton 
■county,  having  frequently  invested  a  portion  of  his  surplus  earnings  in  real  es- 
tate here  and  now  owning  one  of  the  largest  and  best  farms  in  York  township, 
■which  is  heavily  stocked  with  blooded  horses.  He  has  an  elegantly  furnished 
Ihome  in  Wauseon,  where  he  takes  a  winter's  rest  after  the  arduous  labors  of  the 
show  season,  enjoying  the  rich  reward  of  a  life  well  improved. 

He  is  the  soul  of  honor,  a  genial  companion,  a  fast  and  never  failing  friend, 
a  lavish  giver  to  deserving  charity,  and  a  liberal  supporter  of  every  public  en- 
terprise. 


Biographical.  605 


RORICK,  Hon.  JOHN  C.  There  is  not,  perhaps,  a  single  resident  of  Ful- 
ton county  that  has  had  an  experience  in  life  so  varied  as  that  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  ;  still,  from  a  business  point  of  view,  notwithstanding  his 
years  of  travel  and  the  many  enterprises  in  which  he  has  been  engaged,  the  life 
of  our  subject  may  be  said  to  have  been  entirely  successful  and  satisfactory,  and 
he  now  stands  among  the  leading  business  men  of  the  county.  Mr.  Rorick  has- 
profited  by  his  experiences,  and  the  many  places  that  he  has  visited,  the  pur- 
suits in  which  he  has  engaged,  and  the  people  he  has  met,  have  educated  and' 
given  him  an  understanding  of  men  and  affairs  that  has  proved  of  great  value. 
This  much  of  comment  will  be  pardonable  when  we  narrate  the  partial  events 
of  a  lifetime. 

John  Conklin  Rorick  was  born  near  Elmira,  in  New  York  State,  on  the  13th- 
day  of  February,  1834,  and  of  the  five  children  born  to  William  and  Phoebe 
Ann  Rorick,  he  was  the  second.  When  John  was  but  two  years  old  the  family 
moved  to  Lenawee  county,  Mich.  Here  our  subject  was  reared,  and,  when  old 
enough,  was  put  at  work  on  his  father's  farm.  He  attended  school  about  two 
months  each  winter,  acquiring,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  a  very  limited  education,, 
confined  to  reading,  writing  and  simple  rules  of  arithmetic.  By  the  encourage- 
ment of  a  teacher,  named  Ed.  Hopper,  he,  at  that  time,  made  a  radical  change,, 
and  by  incessant  application  to  his  studies  during  the  hours  when  other  boys 
slept,  and  every  moment  that  could  be  spared  from  his  daily  labors,  aided  bj^ 
eighteen  weeks'  attendance  at  the  Medina  Seminary,  he  passed  a  successfuF 
examination  in  the  common  and  some  of  the  higher  branches,  and  commenced 
teaching  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  Graduating  in  book-keeping  and  commercial 
law  at  Gregory's  College,  in  Detroit,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he  went  to  the  Lake 
Superior  copper  regions,  to  take  charge  of  the  books  of  the  Ridge  Mine,  but 
his  arrival  having  been  delayed  by  lake  storms  several  days,  he  found  the  place 
already  filled,  and  accepted  the  position  of  "  boss  "  of  a  gang  of  men  connected' 
with  the  mines.  Disliking  the  position,  in  company  with  three  companions,  he 
made  the  trip  from  Ontonagon  to  Stephen's  Point,  a  distance  of  two  hundred: 
and  thirty  miles,  on  foot  through  an  unbroken  wilderness,  being  guided  by  the 
use  of  chart  and  compass.  From  this  place  Mr.  Rorick  went  to  Madison,  Wis., 
where  he  opened  a  school  for  writing  and  drawing.  It  may  be  stated  here  that 
in  the  art  of  penmanship  and  drawing  Mr.  Rorick  became  wholly  proficient, 
and,  in  fact,  in  the  latter  of  these  attainments,  he  has  but  few  equals. 

But  our  subject  did  not  remain  long  in  Madison,  for  in  the  year  1855  we 
find  him  associated  with  a  celebrated  penman,  Dan  Howard,  in  establishing  a 
commercial  college  at  Milwaukee,  Mr.  Rorick  having  charge  of  the  depart- 
ments devoted  to  book-keeping  and  commercial  law.  The  institution  was  suc- 
cessful and  profitable  from  the  commencement,  but  Mr.  Rorick's  close  applica- 
tion to  teaching,  both  day  and  evening  classes,  was  followed  by  failing  health, 
and,  upon  the  advice  of  Professor  Douglass,  he  sold  out  his  interest,  and  loaned 


€o4  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

his  surplus  earnings  to  a  successor,  taking  therefor  a  note  which  was  never  paid. 
Mr.  Rorick  then  resumed  his  former  occupation  of  teaching  night  schools  in 
Northern  Illinois,  and  from  that  time  to  i860,  he  engaged  in  teaching,  working 
farms  on  shares,  and  small  speculations ;  but  at  that  time  he  became  the  owner 
of  a  good  farm  near  Aurora,  with  a  large  personal  property,  but  was  quite 
heavily  in  debt.  The  reverses  of  i860  caused  by  the  Illinois  "stub-tail"  cur- 
rency, followed  by  the  depressions  of  war  prospects  and  other  misfortunes, 
wiped  out  his  margins  ;  but  instead  of  keeping  his  cash  and  forsaking  his  credi- 
tors, he  sold  all  his  property  at  great  sacrifices,  and  paid  every  dollar  of  debt 
before  it  became  due. 

After  closing  his  affairs  in  Illinois  Mr.  Rorick  returned  to  Lenawee  county, 
and  in  1862  leased  his  father's  farm  in  company  with  his  brother,  J.  M.  Rorick, 
giving  his  note  for  his  share  of  the  investment,  which  was  very  successfully  run 
for  two  years  in  connection  with  speculations  in  stock  and  other  property.  His 
next  venture  was  the  purchase  of  the  Sherman  House,  in  Wauseon,  the  con- 
duct of  which  he  assumed  in  January,  1864,  but  in  August  following  he  sold 
out  at  a  large  profit,  and  bought  a  farm  in  Chesterfield  township  to  which  he 
then  moved.  This  farm  was  sold,  also  at  a  large  profit,  and,  in  1866,  with  J. 
M.  Rorick,  he  purchased  the  Exchange  Hotel  at  Morenci,  Mich.,  which  they 
managed  for  a  short  time  and,  being  offered  a  large  advance,  sold  out. 

John  C.  Rorick  then  moved  to  Canandaigua,  and  purchased  a  spoke  factory 
and  a  large  amount  of  town  property,  which  was  greatly  enhanced  in  value  by 
his  energy  and  other  causes.  Having  sold  out  his  entire  interest  he  moved 
again  to  Wauseon  in  1872,  at  which  place  he  has  since  resided,  taking  an  active 
interest  in  its  industries  and  prosperity.  He  has  owned  several  farms  in  Ful- 
ton county,  which  have  been  greatly  improved  under  his  management ;  he  has 
been  prominently  connected  with  the  National  Butter,  Cheese  and  Egg  Asso- 
ciation, which  has  a  reputation  as  wide  as  civilization ;  he  was  many  times 
elected  one  of  its  vice-presidents,  and  once  its  first  vice-president,  and  his 
speeches  at  Chicago,  Indianapolis  and  other  cities  are  prominent  features  of  its 
reports  during  his  membership.  He  was  the  inventor  and  patentee  of  the 
"Rorick  system  of  reworking  butter,"  which  went  into  general  use,  and  no 
doubt  added  millions  of  dollars  to  the  value  of  the  "store  butter"  of  the  United 
States.  He  invented  and  patented  the  Ohio  Rug  Machine,  which  has  found 
sale  all  over  the  United  States  ;  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Safety  Loan 
and  Abstract  Company,  and  is,  at  the  present  time,  its  president. 

To  enumerate  each  of  the  interests  with  which  Mr.  Rorick  has  been  identi- 
fied since  his  residence  in  Wauseon  would  be  a  long  and  useless  task  ;  but  it 
will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  sketch  that  the  life  of  our  subject  has  been, 
from  early  manhood,  an  exceedingly  busy  one,  and  one  that  would  ordinarily 
require  the  whole  attention  of  the  person  interested  ;  but,  notwithstanding  this, 
Mr.  Rorick  has  found  time  to  give   much  attention  to  public  affairs,  and  has 


Biographical.  605 


taken  a  prominent  interest  in  politics  from  the  time  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  to 
the  present.  He  was  a  Democrat  up  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise, 
casting  his  first  vote  for  Fremont,  and  has  been  a  Republican  ever  since.  He 
commenced  his  career  as  a  newspaper  writer  by  reporting  Douglas's  Illinois 
speeches  for  the  Chicago  Democrat.  He  was  justice  of  the  peace  in  Michigan 
several  terms,  and  held  other  offices  there.  Since  residing  in  Wauseon  he  has 
been  township  trustee  once,  and  a  member  of  the  city  council  four  years.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  EquaHzation  in  1881,  representing  the 
Thirty-third  Senatorial  district  comprising  the  counties  of  Lucas,  Fulton, 
Henry,  Hancock,  Putnam,  and  Wood.  His  duties  on  that  board  were  neces- 
sarily very  laborious,  but  were  performed  to  the  utmost  satisfaction  of  his  dis- 
trict. He  at  the  commencement  secured  the  confidence  of  his  associates,  and 
by  rare  good  judgment,  never  taking  a  position  which  he  did  not  have  the 
figures  and  arguments  to  maintain,  kept  it  to  the  last,  and  the  records  show 
that  he  never  made  a  motion  which  was  not  carried.  It  is  conceded  that  no 
part  of  the  State  secured  so  favorable  a  consideration  as  did  the  "  northwest,'' 
through  the  management  of  Mr.  Rorick.  The  temperance  legislation  of  the 
Republicans  turned  the  Thirty-third  District  over  to  the  Democrats,  and  the 
Senatorial  Convention  at  Toledo,  in  1883,  believing  that  he  was  the  most  avail- 
able candidate,  gave  him  the  nomination,  which  he  reluctantly  accepted  several 
days  after,  and  made  a  creditable  campaign  against  Hon.  O.  B.  Ramey,  of 
Ottawa,  running  nearly  one  thousand  ahead  of  the  ticket,  but,  nevertheless, 
was  defeated.  In  justice  it  must  be  said  that  Mr.  Rorick  never  solicited  an 
office  or  accepted  a  nomination  except  with  reluctance.  He  is  an  independent 
thinker,  a  close  student,  and  has  acquired  a  local  reputation  as  a  newspaper 
writer  on  political,  theological,  and  scientific  subjects,  and  has  always  taken  a 
deep  interest  in  popular  education,  now  holding  the  position  of  president  of 
the  Wauseon  board  of  education. 

The  life  of  John  C.  Rorick  needs  no  comment  beyond  a  narration  of  its 
events ;  it  needs  no  eulogy,  no  praise.  The  facts  stand  out  clear,  and  the 
people  know  the  record.  His  sterling  worth  and  integrity,  his  progressiveness, 
his  generosity,  and  public-spiritedness  are  well  known  throughout  the  county, 
and  even  beyond  its  borders.  If  his  business  life  has  been  successful  that  suc- 
cess has  been  earned  and  deserved  ;  and  if  he  has  accumulated  a  comfortable 
fortune  that  condition  is  the  result  of  his  own  personal  effort,  industry,  and  per- 
severance. Not  wholly  alone  does  our  subject  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  labor. 
He  was  married  on  the  iSth  of  December,  1862,  to  Emma  J.  Whiting,  the 
daughter  of  Seth  F.  Whiting,  of  Elmira,  N.  Y. 

Dr.  F.  H.  Rorick,  a  young  physician,  who  has  acquired  considerable  prom- 
inence as  a  specialist,  an  inventor  of  surgical  instruments,  and  medical  writer, 
is  the  only  son  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch. 


6o6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

SCOTT,  Hon.  ROBERT  K.  These  pages  do  not  contain  the  space  requi- 
site for  a  detailed  narrative  of  the  events  of  the  life  of  this  man,  nor  is  it  in 
accord  with  his  desire  that  such  detail  should  be  given,  but  rather,  as  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  history  of  Henry  county,  for  his  life  during  the  last  thirty-five 
years  has  been  almost  inseparably  connected  with  it,  that  there  should  be  made 
some  reference  to  a  career  of  business  activity,  and  one  closely  associated  with 
the  civil,  social,  political  and  military  history  of  the  county,  more  closely,  per- 
haps, than  that  of  any  other  person.  Again,  there  lives  not  within  the  county's 
borders  a  single  person  that  has  risen  by  his  own  or  another's  effort  to  occupy 
the  honorable  and  distinguished  positions  that  have  been  assigned,  by  those  in 
authority,  to  Robert  K.  Scott. 

Governor  Scott's  residence  in  Henry  county  was  the  result  of  an  incident: 
rather  than  of  intent,  as,  at  that  time,  he  was  journeying  westward  over  the 
Miami  and  Erie  Canal  toward  the  Mississippi  River,  and  thence  intending  by- 
water  to  reach  California,  where  he  had  previously,  though  for  a  short  time, 
resided  ;  but,  on  reaching  the  town  of  Florida,  he  met  a  party  of  former  ac- 
quaintances, by  whom  his  baggage  was  taken  ashore  and  he,  vi  et  armis,  com- 
pelled to  accompany  them  ;  still,  this  whole  proceeding  was  altogether  friendl}r 
and  with  the  desire  that  young  Dr.  Scott  should  remain  with  them.  Robert 
Kingston  Scott  was  a  native  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  born  in 
Armstrong  county  on  the  8th  day  of  July,  in  the  year  1826.  His  parents  were 
John  and  Jane  (Hamilton)  Scott.  The  father  had  been  a  civil  engineer,  but 
at  the  time  of  Robert's  youth  was  a  farmer,  and  on  the  farm  our  subject  passed 
the  early  years  of  life,  at  work  and  in  attending  the  district  school.  Early  in 
life  Robert  determined  to  enter  some  profession  and  had  a  strong  inclination 
for  the  law,  but  subsequent  events  changed  his  course  and  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  medical  profession.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  left  home  and  came  to 
Stark  county,  in  this  State,  where  he  had  a  sister  residing  and  with  whom  he 
lived  and  attended  school,  the  facilities  for  an  education  being  much  better 
here  than  then  could  be  found  in  Armstrong  county.  Later  young  Scott 
began  teaching  school  and,  at  the  same  time,  boarded  with  the  family  of  Dr. 
Graves,  of  Navarre,  in  Stark  county.  Here  he  gradually  drifted  into  the  study 
of  medicine  and  afterward  supplemented  his  course  by  lectures  and  further 
study  at  the  Starling  Medical  College  at  Columbus.  He  went  to  California  just 
at  the  time  when  the  "gold  fever"  was  at  its  height.  This  was  in  1850,  one  year 
too  late  to  entitle  our  subject  to  the  distinction  of  having  been  a  "Forty-niner." 
Dr.  Scott  spent  one  year  in  the  Golden  State ;  he  first  went  to  digging,  or 
rather  making  preparations  for  digging ;  he  succeeded  in  turning  the  Middle 
Fork  of  the  American  River,  but  just  as  this  great  task  was  completed  and  a 
very  rich  deposit  of  mineral  discovered,  the  Doctor  awoke  one  morning  to  find 
no  less  than  forty  feet  of  water  over  his  claim  ;  but  his  work  was  not  wholly- 
lost  as  he  had  already  secured  some  valuable  dust,  and  he  was  the  only  person 


Biographical.  607 


engaged  in  this  work  that  gained  anything  except  disappointment.  After  this, 
in  company  with  eight  men,  our  subject  started  on  a  prospecting  trip  to  the 
locality  known  as  the  "  Secret  Diggings,"  where  they  worked  successfully  for 
a  time,  but  Scott  soon  left  the  mines  and  commenced  practice,  which  he  con- 
tinued for  some  months  with  marked  success ;  but,  following  his  inclination, 
he  started  for  a  return  journey  to  his  home.  On  the  way  he  visited  several 
places  of  interest  along  the  coast  of  Mexico  and  South  America. 

After  what  seemed  to  him  a  visit  of  sufficient  length  among  friends  and 
relatives.  Dr.  Scott  again  set  his  face  westward,  intending  to  return  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  it  was  while  carrying  out  this  determination  that  he  journeyed 
across  Henry  county,  where  "circumstances  "  changed  his  purpose,  as  has  been 
heretofore  narrated. 

Having  decided  to  remain  in  Florida,  Dr.  Scott  resumed  his  professional 
work  and  soon  acquired  a  remunerative  practice.  He  had  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  medicine,  and  his  reputation  as  a  physician  soon  became  estab- 
lished throughout  the  county,  and  even  beyond  its  borders.  For  five  years 
he  was  actively  engaged  here,  but  after  that  became  interested  in  a  successful 
mercantile  business,  which  he  continued  for  something  like  one  and  one-half 
years,  when  he  disposed  of  it  and  came  to  reside  at  the  county  seat.  This  was 
in  the  year  i860.  Here  he  formed  a  business  partnership  with  Samuel  M. 
Heller,  but,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  sold  his  interest  to  that  gentleman 
and  devoted  his  own  time,  attention  and  means,  unselfishly  and  without  hope 
of  reward,  to  recruiting  and  sending  companies  to  the  front.  In  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Fourteenth  and  Thirty-eighth  Regiments  he  bore  an  active  part, 
traveling  throughout  the  county  and  vicinity,  raising  men  and  perfecting  these 
military  organizations ;  this  being  done  he  commenced  recruiting  the  Sixty- 
eighth  Infantry,  which  regiment  has  ever  been  known  as  the  pride  of  Henry 
county,  it  being  composed  largely  of  young  men  from  the  several  townships  of 
that  county.  In  this  work  Dr.  Scott  was  acting  under  orders  from  Governor 
Dennison,  and  upon  the  full  organization  of  the  command,  he  was  entitled  to, 
and  offered  the  commission  of  colonel,  but  declined  and  accepted  that  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, while  Harry  Steedman  was  made  regimental  commander.  Soon 
after,  however,  Scott  succeeded  to  the  command,  and  so  continued  until  the 
fall  of  Vicksburg,  where  by  every  military  consideration,  coolness  in  action, 
bravery,  and  above  all,  meritorious  services,  he  honestly  earned,  and  received 
a  commission  as  brigadier- general  of  United  States  Volunteer  Infantry,  the 
instrument  conferring  this  rank  bearing  the  date  of  December  1 2, 1 863.  Again, 
in  March,  1865,  General  Scott  was  brevetted  major-general,  which  rank  he 
did  not  resign  nor  was  he  mustered  out  of  service,  but,  on  the  15th  of  Decem- 
ber following,  he  was  ordered  by  the  secretary  of  war  to  report  to  General  O. 
0.  Howard  at  Washington  ;  which  order  being  complied  with,  he  was  sent  to 
relieve  General  Saxton,  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  as  commissioner  of  freedmen, 
refugees  and  abandoned  lands. 


6o8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

In  this  capacity  General  Scott  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  soon 
after  the  first  of  January,  1866;  he  satisfactorily  adjusted  the  diflScuIties  ex- 
isting between  the  whites  and  blacks  ;  protected  the  interests  of  the  loyal  white 
residents  and  controlled  the  disposition  of  the  abandoned  lands  in  the  State. 
He  was  vested  with  wide  discretionary  powers  and  much  latitude  in  the  trans- 
action of  the  business  of  his  office  ;  many  abuses  were  corrected  and  the  affairs 
of  the  State  were  placed  on  a  firm  basis.  Notwithstanding  the  scope  of  his 
duty  and  the  many  opportunities  that  were  presented  for  self  advancement 
and  gain,  General  Scott  was  never  charged  either  with  malfeasance  or  mis- 
feasance in  office,  and  in  this  regard  he  was  almost  the  only  officer  so  invested 
with  power  against  whom  no  charge  of  corrupt  practice  was  made,  or  against 
whom  no  word  of  suspicion  was  uttered.  While  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties  here,  at  the  1  equest  of  many  citizens  of  Charleston  and  of  the  State  gen- 
erally, the  muster  out  of  General  Scott  from  the  service  of  the  United  States 
was  suspended,  but  in  July,  1868,  his  resignation  was  accepted.  In  the  same 
year,  having  gained  a  residence  in  the  State,  General  Scott  was  placed  in  nom- 
ination by  the  Republican  State  Convention  for  the  office  of  governor,  and  at 
the  polls  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  45,000.  Two  years  later  he  was  re- 
elected to  the  same  office,  although  by  a  less  majority  of  votes. 

This  was  a  period  of  reorganization.  During  his  first  official  term  Governor 
Scott  was  ably  assisted  by  the  most  capable  of  the  financiers  and  statesmen  of 
the  Commonwealth  ;  and  there  was  but  little  political  opposition  to  his  admin- 
istration; but  during  his  latter  term  of  service  his  administration  was  con- 
stantly hampered  and  embarrassed  by  the  designs  of  unscrupulous  money- 
getters,  carpet  baggers  and  other  obstructing  elements  against  whom  he  had 
to  contend.  Still  further,  the  Democracy  of  the  State  again  became  organ- 
ized and  sought,  by  all  schemes  and  measures,  to  overrun  the  Republican  or- 
ganization, which  was  eventually  accomplished. 

It  would  be  a  useless  task  to  attempt  to  set  forth  the  every  act  that  marked 
the  official  life  in  the  South  of  Governor  Scott,  nor  is  it  considered  an  impor- 
tant feature  of  this  sketch.  Suffice  it,  therefore,  to  say  that  his  administration 
was  a  success  ;  his  duty  lay  plainly  before  him  and  faithfully  and  fearlessly  did 
he  fulfill  it ;  and  notwithstanding  the  clamor  of  certain  of  the  chivalric  opposi- 
tion, the  governor's  efforts  toward  building  up  a  safe  governmental  structure 
for  the  State  were  materially  assisted  by  a  large  contingent  of  the  honest  and 
conscientious  residents  of  the  city  of  Charleston  and  elsewhere. 

For  a  period  of  some  six  years  after  his  retirement  from  official  life  Gov- 
ernor Scott  continued  to  reside  in  Columbia,  where  he  was  engaged  in  busi- 
ness, mainly  in  dealing  in  stocks  and  bonds,  besides  giving  some  attention  to 
farming,  but  in  July,  1878,  he,  with  his  family,  returned  to  Napoleon,  and  his 
long  neglected  real  estate  interests  in  this  locality.  From  that  until  the  pres- 
ent time  he  has  been  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  successful  dealers  in  lands 


Biographical.  609 


of  Northwestern  Ohio,  and  even  beyond  the  State,  for  his  investments  in  the 
west  are  known  to  be  large.  Within  a  few  years  past  he  has  purchased  a  tract 
of  over  two  hundred  acres  of  land  lying,  nearly  all,  within  the  limits  of  the  city 
of  Toledo,  but  after  the  purchase  was  completed  he  took  partners  in  the  en- 
terprise. The  development  and  sale  of  this  in  lots  is  now  occupying,  in  the 
main,  the  attention  of  our  subject,  but  his  other  vast  interests,  ramifying  as 
they  do  throughout  this  whole  section,  demand  some  portion  of  his  time  and 
care. 

Such,  then,  is  a  brief  resume  of  some  of  the  principal  business  and  other 
operations  of  Robert  K.  Scott.  If  it  indicates  anything  it  is  that  he  is  a  re- 
markable man  in  his  capacity  to  grasp  and  successfully  direct  large  enterprises. 
In  such  undertakings,  the  detail  of  which  would  distract  and  paralyze  the  powers 
of  men  less  favorably  constituted  for  such  operations.  General  Scott  has  seemed 
to  see  the  end  from  the  beginning.  He  looks  over  his  ground,  forms  his  own 
judgment  with  rapidity  and  almost  unerring  accuracy,  and  after  that  proceeds 
to  the  execution  of  his  plans  with  the  serene  confidence  that  the  result  will  be 
in  accord  with  his  expectation.  He  has  been,  and  is  as  must  be  seen,  a  very 
busy  man ;  but  his  manifold  interests  never  worry  him  ;  in  all  these  his  power 
has  proved  sufficient  for  any  emergency  and  his  time  adequate  for  all  require- 
ments. And  he  has  found  time,  too,  for  other  duties  than  those  confined  to 
his  business  operations ;  indeed,  to  every  improvement  that  has  promised  to 
add  to  the  welfare  or  beauty  of  his  village  and  county  he  has  been  a  generous 
contributor. 

During  his  years  of  residence  in  Henry  county  he  has  been  an  active  worker 
in  the  political  field,  on  the  Republican  side,  though  never  for  his  own  advance- 
ment ;  he  has  not  sought  or  accepted  office,  but  his  time  and  means  are  al- 
ways ready  for  the  good  of  the  party,  and  when  the  government  was  threat- 
ened by  internecine  foes,  none  was  more  active  and  hberal  in  its  support  than 
he.  Though  not  personally  connected  with  the  church  all  religious  organiza- 
tions receive  of  his  sympathy  and  material  aid.  In  short,  General  Scott  has 
not  only  succeeded  in  erecting  a  business  and  financial  fabric  of  large  propor- 
tions, but  has  been,  in  all  respects  a  useful  citizen,  to  whom  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  his  townsmen  are  not  the  least  appreciated  of  his  rewards. 

It  was  during  his  residence  at  Florida,  in  this  county,  that  Robert  K.  Scott 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Rebecca  J.,  the  daughter  of  John  Lowry,  a  pio- 
neer and  prominent  resident  of  the  county.  Two  children,  a  son  and  a  daugh- 
ter, were  the  fruits  of  this  union.  The  daughter  died  during  the  parents'  resi- 
dence in  the  South.  A  curious  fact  is  that  ever  since  the  Revolutionary  War 
one  male  member  of  every  generation  of  the  Scott  family  has  held  some  mili- 
tary title.  The  son  (R.  K.,  jr.)  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch  holds  the  title  of 
captain,  and  according  to  the  Adjutant-General's  report  is  the  youngest 
captain  in  the  United  States. 

77  


6io  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

BROWN,  Hon.  L.  W.  When  Levi  W.  Brown  entered  upon  the  discharge 
of  his  duties  as  probate  judge  of  Fulton  county,  it  is  said,  and  with  much 
truth,  that  he  brought  into  that  office  as  thorough  a  knowledge  of  its  legal 
points  as  any  incumbent  that  has  occupied  the  position  since  the  county's  erec- 
tion. Judge  Brown  is  not  a  member  of  the  legal  profession,  save  ex-officio,  but 
before  he  was  called  to  fill  the  office  referred  to,  he  had  studied  the  law,  and 
had  an  excellent  understanding  of  its  maxims,  principles  and  application,  and 
these  are  the  elements  upon  which  those  "learned  in  the  law"  most  largely  de- 
pend for  success;  therefore  it  can  be  no  exaggerated  statement  on  the  part  of 
the  members  of  the  profession  in  giving  utterance  to  these  thoughts. 

Judge  Brown  was  a  native  of  Fulton  county,  a  son  of  one  of  its  early  set- 
tlers, and  one  of  its  highly  respected  citizens,  Benjamin  Brown,  a  former  resi- 
dent of  Addison  county,  Vt.,  from  which  place  he  came  to  Ohio  in  the  year 
1837,  and  took  up  his  abode  in  the  wild  and  sparsely  settled  region  of  country 
that  was  subsequently  erected  into  this  county. 

Levi  Walter  Brown,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  Franklin  town- 
ship on  the  2ist  of  December,  in  the  year  1841.  Of  the  four  children  born  to 
Benjamin  and  Ruth  (Reynolds)  Brown,  he  was  the  youngest.  The  father  was 
a  farmer,  and  Levi  was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  where  he  worked  during  the 
spring  and  summer,  and  in  attending  school  in  the  winter,  until  he  became 
eighteen  years  old.  He  then  commenced  teaching  in  season,  and  was  thus  en- 
gaged, alternating  between  the  farm  and  the  school- room,  for  a  period  of  about 
four  years.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  having  accumulated  a  small  sum 
of  money,  the  result  of  his  industry,  Mr.  Brown  embarked  in  the  mercantile 
business  at  Elmira,  this  county,  having  a  small  stock  at  the  outset,  but  gradu- 
ally enlarging  it  as  his  means  permitted  and  the  increasing  trade  required,  un- 
til he  became  known  as  one  of  the  most  successful  and  reliable  country  mer- 
chants of  the  county.  For  about  seven  years  Mr.  Brown  was  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business,  when  a  partnership  was  formed  only  to  continue  for  a 
brief  time,  when  Mr.  Brown  again  became  sole  proprietor,  and  so  continued  un- 
til about  1872,  when  he  sold  out  and  moved  to  his  parents'  farm,  they  then  be- 
ing in  impaired  health  and  strength  on  account  of  their  advanced  years.  Up- 
on their  death  Mr.  Brown  became  owner  of  the  farm,  he  paying  legacies  to 
the  other  heirs  to  abundantly  compensate  them  for  interests  in  the  property. 
He  continued  his  residence  on  the  farm  until  February,  1879,  when  he  moved  to 
Wauseon  to  assume  the  office  of  probate  judge. 

As  a  farmer  Mr.  Brown  was  as  successful  as  in  mercantile  life,  and  in  con- 
nection with  agriculture  he  engaged  extensively  in  stock  growing,  both  cattle 
and  sheep,  and  in  this  department  he  was  among  the  largest  stock  growers  of 
Northwestern  Ohio,  and  from  this  branch  of  industry  Judge  Brown  has  not  re- 
tired, as  he  is  now  the  owner  of  a  large  and  well-appointed  stock  farm,  situate 
south  of  and  near  Wauseon,  and  has  thousands  of  dollars  invested  in  fine  stock, 


J.LaJ^ 


Qry-tAyyv 


Biographical.  6ii 


and  in  which  he  takes  great  delight.  While  our  subject  has  for  many  years 
taken  an  active  interest  in  the  political  welfare  of  the  country,  he  did  not  be- 
come engaged  therein  to  any  considerable  extent  prior  to  his  advancement  to 
the  judgship  of  the  Probate  Court ;  he  had,  however,  held  the  office  of  clerk 
of  the  township  in  which  he  lived.  As  has  already  been  stated,  he  took  his 
seat  as  probate  judge  in  February,  1879,  and  was  twice  thereafter  re-elected. 
Since  his  residence  at  the  county  seat  Judge  Brown  has  been  one  of  the  ac- 
knowledged leaders  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  county,  and  his  ability  as 
such,  and  as  an  organizer  as  well,  has  made  him  a  prominent  figure  in  the  pol- 
itics of  the  State.  In  1886  he  was  a  candidate  for  nomination  for  the  office  of 
representative  in  Congress,  but  was  defeated  in  the  nominating  convention, 
Hon.  M.  M.  Boothman  being  the  successful  aspirant.  He  was  subsequently 
elected,  and  his  success  was  largely  due  to  the  effijrts  of  Judge  Brown,  who  so 
throughly  organized  the  district  as  to  make  his  election  possible,  there  being 
in  the  district  a  standing  Democratic  majority  of  not  less  than  one  thousand. 
In  the  year  1887  Judge  Brown  was  made  chairman  of  the  Republican  State 
Central  Committee,  a  position  that  called  forth  his  greatest  effort  as  an  organ- 
izer; but  that  this  trust  was  well-placed  is  shown  by  the  result  of  the  recent 
election  and  needs  no  comment  in  this  place. 

The  gallant  Governor  Foraker  and  his  friends  fully  appreciate  the  work  of 
the  campaign,  a  campaign  almost  nationalin  the  interest  taken  by  both  parties 
throughout  the  country  and  the  results  likely  to  follow  therefrom.  A  recog- 
nized factor  in  the  politics  of  Ohio,  the  judge  naturally  takes  a  deep  interest  in 
national  politics,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  organization  of  the  National  Re- 
publican League,  being  a  delegate  in  attendance  and  member  of  the  executive 
committee,  representing  Ohio  in  the  first  national  convention  held  in  New 
York  city  December  15,  1887. 

While  Judge  Brown  has  always  been  a  pronounced  Republican,  active  in 
the  councils  and  work  of  party  organization,  and  his  fighting  qualities  recog- 
nized and  felt  by  his  political  opponents,  yet  each  time  he  has  been  a  candidate 
before  the  people,  he  has  secured  a  large  number  of  Democratic  votes,  and  no 
personal  warfare  has  ever  been  made  against  him. 

It  would  seem,  under  ordinary  circumstances  that  a  man  whose  time  was 
so  fully  occupied  with  the  cares  and  duties  that  have  been  allotted  to  him  would 
give  but  little  heed  to  matters  pertaining  to  the  church,  but  in  this  instance, 
such  is  not  the  case.  Judge  Brown  was  born  of  parents  who  were  humble  and 
devoted  worshipers  and  members  in  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  in  the  teachings 
and  faith  of  that  denomination  has  our  subject  been  educated.  For  the  last 
twenty- five  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  church.  He  has,  moreover, 
been  a  member  of  each  lay  conference  that  has  assembled  since  that  feature  of 
the  church's  government  was  adopted,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  last  General 
Conference  held  at  Philadelphia  during  the  month  of  May,  1884.     In  other  so- 


6i2  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

cietiesand  orders  he  has  also  been  prominent;  in  the  Masonic  fraternity  he 
has  risen  to  the  degree  of  a  knight  templar.  His  membership  in  the  order  is 
of  twenty  years'  standing.  He  is  also  prominently  connected  with  the  society 
known  as  Knights  of  Pythias. 

Levi  W.  Brown  has  been  thrice  married.  His  first  wife,  Nancy  A.  Ames,, 
he  married  June  14,  1863.  Four  children  were  born  of  this  marriage.  His 
wife  died  in  1874.  On  the  14th  of  September,  1875,  Mr.  Brown  married  Ehz- 
abeth  Gigax,  of  which  marriage  one  child  was  born.  The  second  wife  died 
February  14,  1881.  On  the  i6th  of  January,  1882,  he  married  Esther  Stone, 
of  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.  Of  this  marriage  one  child  has  been  born.  Mrs. 
Brown  is  a  lady  of  fine  cnlture  and  an  able  second  in  all  her  husband's  pub- 
lic enterprises,  both  church  and  State. 


CANFIELD,  HEMAN  A.  On  an  island  of  several  hundred  acres  area,  in 
the  Tiffin  River,  or,  as  it  is  more  generally  known.  Bean  Creek,  stands  the 
comfortable  residence  and  excellent  farm  of  Heman  A.  Canfield.  In  Gorham 
township,  which  has  been  his  residence  for  the  last  twenty-five  and  more  years, 
this  man  is  well  known  and  highly  respected  for  his  moral  integrity  and  sterling 
worth  ;  a  man,  who,  by  thrift  and  untiring  energy,  has  built  for  himself  and 
his  family  a  comfortable  fortune. 

But  the  time  of  residence  on  this  island  by  no  means  represents  the  dura- 
tion of  his  residence  in  the  county,  for  in  this  regard  he  antedates  the  county's 
existence  by  a  dozen  or  more  years.  He  first  came  to  the  territory  embraced 
by  the  present  township  of  Chesterfield  while  its  lands  formed  a  part  of  Lucas 
county. 

Heman  Arza  Canfield  was  a  native  of  New  York  State,  born  in  the  town 
of  West  Bloomfield,  Ontario  county,  on  the  25th  day  of  January,  in  the  year 
18 1 6.  His  parents  were  Titus  and  Orpha  Canfield,  and  they  lived  on  a  farm 
in  Ontario  county,  and  there  brought  up  a  family  of  five  children,  of  which  our 
subject  was  the  second. 

Soon  after  arriving  at  the  age  of  twenty- one  years  Heman  came  to  Ohio 
and  took  up  a  tract  of  land,  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  in  extent,  for  which 
he  paid  $1.25  per  acre.  This  land  is  located  in  Chesterfield  township,  and 
was  a  part  of  what  has  been  styled  the  "Oak  Openings."  Here  Mr.  Canfield 
built  a  log  cabin,  but,  being  unmarried,  boarded  one  summer  with  the  family 
of  Azariah  Shapley,  a  pioneer  of  the  region. 

After  ten  acres  were  cleared,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1838,  corn  and  pota- 
toes were  planted  and  cared  for  until  fall,  when  Mr.  Canfield  returned  to  On- 
tario county  and  was  married  to  Amanda  G.  Brown,  a  most  excellent  young 
woman,  a  resident  at  that  time  of  West  Bloomfield.  This  devoted  husband 
and  wife  have  lived  in  the  most  agreeable  companionship  for  a  period  of  nearly 
a  half  century.     They  have  raised  to  maturity  a  family  of  six  children,  three 


Biographical.  613 


sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  still  living  and  well  situated  in  life. 
They  are  as  follows:  Delia  S.;  who  married  John  Smith,  now  living  in  Massa- 
chusetts ;  Henry  T.,  now  engaged  in  the  agricultural  implement  business  in 
Texas ;  Ellen  L.,  who  became  the  wife  of  Daniel  A.  Bennett,  and  now  lives  at 
San  Jose,  Cal.;  Clara  G.,  who  married  Henry  T.  Kurtz,  of  AUentown,  Pa.;  Ed- 
ward T.,  a  progressive  farmer  of  Dover  township,  and  Arthur  B.,  who  resides 
near  the  parental  home  on  the  island. 

As  a  farmer  of  Chesterfield  township  Mr.  Canfield  was  thrifty,  thorough 
and  practical ;  his  farm,  when  first  purchased,  was  of  such  land  as  abounded  in 
the  region,  forest  lands  and  oak  openings,  but,  through  his  persevering  efforts 
it  was  made  one  of  the  best  and  most  productive  of  the  locality.  In  connection 
with  his  agricultural  pursuits  he  is  remembered  as  having  been  an  extensive 
cattle  dealer  and  drover  at  an  early  day,  taking  Hve  stock  as  far  east  as  Syra- 
cuse, in  New  York  State,  and  to  other  markets  in  that  State.  At  a  later 
period,  being  found  capable  and  worthy  of  confidence,  he  has  been  entrusted 
with  the  management  of  several  estates,  and  in  each  and  every  trust  reposed 
in  him  he  has  answered-  fully  and  faithfully  its  requirements. 

In  the  matter  of  the  drainage  of  the  Carroll  swamp  Mr.  Canfield  was  a 
prime  mover,  and  although  a  long  and  tedious  litigation  followed,  he  held 
firmly  to  the  project  and  became,  eventually,  successful.  In  this  and  every 
measure  looking  to  the  advantage  of  his  locality  he  has  been  among  the  fore- 
most advocates,  and  has  cheerfully  contributed  of  his  means  and  personal 
endeavor  to  their  accomplishment.  In  the  political  history  of  the  county,  and 
of  his  township,  too,  Mr.  Canfield  has  been  an  influential  though  not  con- 
spicuous person.  He  never  asked  for  or  sought  an  office,  but  has  held  nearly 
every  position  within  the  gift  of  his  townspeople.  From  1871  to  1874  he 
filled  the  position  of  county  commissioner,  and  performed  his  part  with  ex- 
ceedingly good  judgment  and  to  good  purpose. 

For  a  period  of  twenty-two  years  Mr.  Canfield  was  a  resident  of  Chester- 
field township,  but  in  i860  he  sold  his  lands  there  situate  and  moved  to.Gor- 
ham  township,  on  the  island  in  the  river,  as  mentioned  heretofore  in  this 
sketch. 

Our  subject  is  now  beyond  the  three  score  and  ten  years  allotted  to  man, 
but  still  is  he  in  the  enjoyment  of  health  and  strength,  conscious  of  having 
performed  well  his  part  in  the  battle  of  life,  and  content  now  to  remain  in  com- 
fort and  domestic  peace  and  happiness,  awaiting  the  Master's  call. 


DEYO,  Hon.  ALBERT.  In  the  northern  part  of  Chesterfield  township, 
about  two  and  one-half  miles  east  from  Morenci,  .stands  a  large  and  elegant 
brick  residence,  and  within  a  few  rods  "from  it  are  standing  as  commodious  and 
well-appointed  farm  buildings  as  can  be  found  in  northwestern  Ohio.  The 
owner  and  occupant  of  this  comfortable  home  is  known  as  one  of  the  most 


6i4  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

stirring,  progressive,  and  capable  business  farmers  of  Fulton  county — one 
whose  name  has  been,  perhaps,  as  prominently  before  the  people  of  this  county 
as  can  be  found  within  its  borders. 

Albert  Deyo  is  remembered  as  the  recently  retiring  member  of  the  State 
Legislature,  having  served  therein  with  honor  to  himself  and  to  his  county 
two  terms.  He  was  first  elected  in  1883,  and  again  in  1885,  and  his  majority 
at  the  polls  was,  to  say  the  least,  very  flattering.  Still  earlier  he  is  remembered 
as  having  held,  for  six  years,  or  two  terms,  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  being  first  elected  in  1872,  and  re-elected  in  1875.  As  early 
as  1863  he  was  elected  township  clerk  of  Chesterfield,  and  was  the  incumbent 
of  that  office  for  nine  consecutive  years. 

Again,  Albert  Deyo  is  remembered  as  a  man  closely  identified  with  the 
growth,  development,  and  improvement  of  Fulton  county.  Especially  has  his 
effijrts  been  directed  toward  the  graveling  of  the  roads  of  the  county,  which 
efforts,  although  not  yet  accomplished,  certainly  show  commendable  enterprise 
on  his  part.  In  this  he  has  met  with  much  opposition  from  certain  quarters, 
but  he  is  still  confident  that  the  improvements  advocated  and  publicly  urged 
by  him  upon  all  proper  occasions  will  be  finally  adopted  and  fully  carried  out. 
His  fine  farm  and  its  improvements  shows  his  thrift,  enterprise,  and  determina- 
tion. From  a  very  early  day  he  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  educational 
advancement  of  the  township,  has  insisted  upon  establishing  a  uniformity  of 
text  books,  and  the  erection  of  better  school-houses. 

Albert  Deyo  was  not  born  in  Ohio.  He  is  a  native  of  New  York  State, 
born  in  the  town  of  Windham,  in  Greene  county,  on  the  21st  day  of  August, 
1828  ;  but  the  ravages  of  time  and  almost  ceaseless  toil  scarcely  show  upon 
him,  and  he  might  readily  be  taken  as  a  man  of  fully  fifteen  years  less  than  he 
in  fact  bears.  In  the  family  of  his  parents,  Aaron  and  Anna  (Ford)  Deyo, 
were  five  children  that  grew  to  maturity,  and  of  these  Albert  was  the  youngest. 
When  he  was  but  six  years  of  age  his  father's  family  left  New  York  and  came 
to  Seneca  county,  in  this  State,  where  he  worked  a  farm  for  four  years,  after 
which  he  moved  to  Huron  county  and  resided  there  until  his  death,  in  the 
year  1842.  Aaron  Deyo  was  an  honest,  hard-working  farmer,  who,  by  his 
toil  had  acquired  some  means,  but  by  circumstances  beyond  his  control,  he 
was  stripped  of  his  property,  and  that,  too,  at  an  age  in  life  when  further  labor 
could  not  repair  the  loss.  After  his  death  the  mother,  with  Albert  and  two 
other  of  her  sons,  kept  the  family  together  for  three  years. 

About  this  time,  or  when  he  became  eighteen  years  of  age,  Albert  com- 
menced teaching  school  in  the  winter,  and  did  carpenter  work  during  the  work- 
ing season,  and  so  continued  most  of  the  time  until  his  marriage,  in  1854,  and 
even  later,  for  we  find  that  during  the  winter  succeeding  his  marriage,  he 
taught  school  in  Huron  county. 

It  was   on  the  i8th  of  October,  1854,  that  Albert  Deyo  was  married  to 


Biographical.  615 


Margaret  Kishpaugh,  the  daughter  of  Henry  Kishpaugh,  of  Huron  county. 
The  succeeding  spring  with  his  wife  and  a  hired  conveyance,  Mr.  Deyo  came  to 
Fulton  county  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  then  wild  region  of  Chesterfield 
township,  on  a  tract  of  land  situate  within  a  half-mile  from  where  he  now 
resides.  He  had  here  purchased  a  tract  of  unimproved  land  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres,  making  a  payment  of  about  eight  hundred  dollars,  money 
that  he  had  previously  earned,  and  encumbering  the  property  for  the  balance. 
He  built  a  log  house  in  the  woods  and  commenced  an  improvement.  The 
clearing,  however,  was  not  wholly  done  by  him,  as  he  worked  at  his  trade  as  a 
carpenter  during  the  summer,  hiring  the  necessary  work  of  the  farm  to  be  done. 
On  this  farm  our  subject  lived  until  1863,  when  it  was  sold,  and  he  pur- 
chased the  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  acre  tract  now  occupied  and  so  greatly 
improved  by  his  labor  and  industry.  This  occurred  during  the  time  of  the  late 
war,  in  the  events  of  which  Mr.  Deyo  took  more  than  a  civilian's  interest.  He 
was  the  captain  of  a  militia  company,  receiving  a  commission  from  Governor 
Todd  ;  but  desiring  a  more  active  service  than  that  of  home  guard,  he  enlisted 
for  the  hundred-day  service  as  a  private  of  Company  D.  He  was  afterward 
promoted  to  orderly  sergeant.  The  command  was  attached  to  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Thirtieth  regiment,  and  served  therewith  until  the  expiration  of  the 
term  of  enlistment.  Subsequently  the  company  was  reorganized  and  he  was 
unanimously  elected  its  captain. 

The  interest  taken  by  our  subject  in  the  civil,  social,  and  political  affairs  of 
the  county  are  well  evidenced  by  the  early  part  of  this  narrative,  and  need  no 
further  comment  in  this  sketch.  The  record  made  by  him  in  the  Legislature 
of  the  State  was  wholly  satisfactory,  both  to  the  man  and  his  constituents. 
During  the  first  term  of  his  service  there,  the  Democratic  party  was  in  the 
majority,  and  not  being  a  member  thereof  Mr.  Deyo  expected  no  favors ;  he 
received  none,  he  asked  none ;  yet  he  did  his  duty  fearlessly  and  well.  The 
next  term  found  his  own— the  Republican  party— in  the  ascendency,  and 
with  that  came  work  and  responsibility,  for  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  Fees 
and  Salary  Committee,  second  on  Agriculture,  second  on  the  Soldiers'  and 
Sailors'  Home,  besides  performing  important  service  on  special  committees 
selected  on  various  occasions. 

Now  having  reached  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  life,  Albert  Deyo  is  content  to 
yield  the  a<5tive  participation  in  the  arena  of  politics  to  younger  aspirants,  and 
to  retire  to  the  quiet  and  comforts  of  his  home,  where,  surrounded  by  family 
and  friends,  he  enjoys  the  fruits  of  early  toil  and  labor.  Still,  not  infrequently, 
does  he  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  travel,  learning  more  and  seeing  more  of  this 
broad  and  progressive  country.  Mr.  Deyo's  family,  besides  himself  and  wife, 
consists  of  three  children— one  daughter,  the  wife  of  a  promising  young  physi- 
cian, of  Wauseon,  and  two  sons,  the  elder  in  business  in  Nebraska,  the  younger 
possessing  the  same  habits  of  industry  and  energy  that  characterized  his  father. 


6i6  History  ov  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

resides  at  home  and  has  charge  of  the  farm,  stock,  etc.,  thus  relieving  his  father 
of  the  entire  charge  of  the  same. 


ELY,  LA  FAYETTE  G.  In  the  western  part  of  Franklin  township,  near  the 
Williams  county  line,  is  the  excellent  farm  and  elegant  home  of  La  Fay- 
ette G.  Ely,  a  man  well  known  throughout  this  county  as  a  successful  farmer, 
a  thorough- going  business  man,  a  trusted  public  servant,  and  a  man  of  strict 
integrity  and  moral  worth.  All  this  is  said  of  him  by  persons  whose  acquaint- 
ance with  Mr.  Ely  is  of  long  standing. 

The  father  of  our  subject,  and  the  mother  as  well,  were  natives  of  the  Key- 
stone State,  Pennsylvania,  but  at  the  time  of  their  marriage,  were  residents  of 
Knox  (now  Morrow)  county,  O.,  and  our  subject  was  born  in  Knox  county,  a 
part  of  which  afterward  became  Morrow  county.  In  his  father's  family  were 
eleven  children,  and  of  these  La  Fayette  Gilbert  Ely  was  the  oldest,  he  be- 
ing born  on  the  3d  day  in  April,  1834.  Of  these  children  but  seven  grew  to 
manhood  and  womanhood,  the  others  having  died  during  childhood.  George 
Ely  was  the  youngest  of  those  that  reached  man's  estate.  He  is  well  and  favor- 
ably remembered  in  the  western  part  of  Fulton  county ;  he  was  a  member  of 
Company  C  of  the  One  Hundredth  Ohio  Infantry,  and  was  killed  at  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  during  Sherman's  memorable  campaign. 

George  Ely,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  the  son  of  Asher  Ely,  and  of  the 
fifth  generation  from  Joshua  Ely,  one  of  the  Puritans  of  New  Jersey,  and  who 
died  at  an  advanced  age  in  the  year  1 704.  Asher  Ely  was  born  in  New  Jersey 
in  1788,  and  moved  with  his  parents  to  Pennsylvania  in  1795.  He  was  a 
soldier  and  engaged  in  the  War  of  1812-15.  In  1826  he  moved  to  Knox 
county  (now  Morrow),  where  George  Ely  was  married  and  where  our  subject 
was  born. 

In  the  year  1835,  the  father,  George  Ely,  his  wife,  Elizabeth  (Folck)  Ely,  and 
their  child.  La  Fayette  G.,  then  about  one  year  old,  became  residents  of  Will- 
iams county ;  and  among  the  pioneers  of  that  locality,  none  was  more  promi- 
nent in  every  measure  looking  to  the  improvement  and  development  of  the 
county  than  George  Ely.  He  assisted  largely  in  the  organization  of  the  town- 
ship, and  to  him  belongs  much  of  the  credit  of  its  early  improvement  and  hav- 
ing laid  the  foundation  for  its  subsequent  growth. 

George  Ely  still  lives  in  the  enjoyment  of  good  health  for  a  man  of  his  years, 
being  now  aged  seventy-five,  andj  his  wife,  too,  aged  two  and  a  half  years  less 
than  her  husband. 

The  life  of  La  Fayette  G.  Ely,  up  to  the  age  of  about  twenty- three,  was  spent 
on  his  father's  farm,  and  in  attending  school,  but  on  attaining  his  majority  he 
rented  the  farm  of  his  father,  which  he  worked  in  season,  and  taught  school 
during  the  winter.  The  early  education  of  the  children  of  George  Ely  was  by 
no  means  neglected,  and  while  their  father  could  not  provide  each  with  a  home 


Biographical.  617 


when  at  man's  estate,  he,  nevertheless,  saw  that  the  means  of  earning  that  home 
was  furnished  in  teaching  them  industry,  frugaHty  and  economy.  How.  well 
this  instruction  was  received  is  shown  in  the  life  of  our  subject. 

On  the  1 2th  of  November,  1857,  La  Fayette  G.  Ely  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Sarah  S.  Masters,  the  daughter  of  Hon.  Ezekiel  Masters,  of  Franklin  town- 
ship, and  in  this  same  year  the  young  couple  came  to  reside  in  that  township. 
From  that  time  Mr.  Ely  became  a  resident  of  Fulton  county,,  and  his  associa- 
tion with  its  civil  and  political  growth  is  so  well  known  as  to  require  but  a 
brief  mention  in  these  pages ;  and  in  the  township  of  his  residence  there  lives 
no  man  but  that  enjoys  his  acquaintance.  His  beginning  here  was  necessarily 
small,  for  his  means  were  limited,  but  the  visitor  at  his  present  home  is  at  once 
struck  not  only  with  the  attractiveness  of  its  surroundings,  the  large  and  com- 
fortable dwelling  and  out-buildings,  but  with  the  evidence  of  thrift  and  pros- 
perity that  everywhere  prevail.  His  farm  is  known  as  one,  of  the  best  and  most 
productive,  not  alone  of  the  township,  but  of  the  county,  and  in  area  it  extends- 
over  some  two  hundred  and  ten  acres.  From  here  can  be  seen  the  residence 
of  his  parents  in  Williams  county,  to  the  west. 

The  devoted  wife  of  Mr.  Ely  shared  with  her  husband  in  the  toil  and  econ- 
omy that  made  this  comfortable  home ;  she  bore  him  four  children,  all  of  whom 
are  yet  living.  For  their  son  and  daughter  that  have  married  an  abundant 
provision  was  made  upon  the  happening  of  that  event.  After  a  pleasant  mar- 
ried life  of  nearly  thirty  years,  Mrs.  Sarah  Ely  answered  the  Master's  call  on^ 
the  1 6th  day  of  May,  1885.  She  was  a  loving  and  devoted  mother,  a  kind  and' 
affectionate  wife,  an  excellent  neighbor,  a  faithful  worker  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  which  she  had  long  been  a  member,  and  in  the  teaching* 
of  which  she  had  reared  her  children.  For  more  than  a  year  Mr.  Ely  lived 
a  widower,  and,  on  the  30th  of  December,  1886,  was  married  to  Mrs.  Mary 
H.  Wood,  a  most  worthy  woman,  and  a  prominent  teacher  in  the  Fremont 
schools. 

La  Fayette  G.  Ely  has  been  a  successful  farmer  of  Franklin  township  for 
upwards  of  thirty  years,  and  while  his  time  has,  in  the  main,  been  devoted  to 
the  care  of  his  farm,  he  has  found  time  to  participate  in  the  events  of  the  polit- 
ical world,  although  he  has  by  no  means  been  an  office  seeker  or  politician. 
There  are  but  few  of  the  offices  of  the  township  that  the  people  thereof  have 
not  asked  and  elected  him  to  fill.  In  1859  he  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace 
and  subsequently  re-elected,  holding  in  all  twelve  years.  For  six  years  he  was 
auditor  of  the  county,  first  taking  the  position  in  187 1,  but  was  twice  re-elected, 
having  been  renominated  in  convention  by  acclamation,  and,  upon  his  third 
candidacy  his  majority  at  tfae  polls  was  greater  than  upon  either  prior  occasion. 
This  indicates  that  Mr.  Ely's  strength  did  not  lie  wholly  within  the  Republican 
party,  and  that  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  auditor's  office,  together 
with  the  popularity  of  its  incumbent,  were  sufficient  to  call  to  his  support  his 

78 


'6i8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

party's  full  vote,  added  to  which  was  a  large  complimentary  following  from  the 
opposition  party.  And  it  is  proper  to  remark  that  Mr.  Ely  was  re-elected  at  a 
time  when,  over  the  whole  land  there  was  a  great  outcry  against  all  third  term 
■candidates. 

During  the  six  years  in  which  Mr.  Ely  was  the  fiscal  officer  of  the  county 
he  maintained,  temporarily,  a  domicile  at  the  county  seat,  but  other  than  this, 
he  has  been  a  constant  resident  of  Franklin  township. 

The  farm  and  the  political  station  which  he  has  been  chosen  to  fill,  have 
not  wholly  engaged  the  time  and  attention  of  our  subject,  for,  in  his  own,  his 
family's,  and  his  people's  spiritual  welfare,  he  has  made  an  earnest,  honest  en- 
deavor. From  boyhood  he  was  instructed  in  the  teachings  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  to  that  faith  has  ever  since  strongly  inclined,  although 
he  is  no  strict  sectarian,  as  his  contributions  to  many  worthy  causes  outside 
his  own  society  will  fully  attest.  All  share  of  his  bounty,  and  all  enjoy  the 
benefits  of  his  liberality  and  generosity.  No  worthy  charity  has  ever  appealed 
1:0  him  in  vain.  Again,  Mr.  Ely  has  always  taken  a  great  interest  in  the 
agricultural  advancement  of  his  county,  and  has,  for  the  last  thirty  years,  and 
^rom  its  first  organization,  been  an  active  member  of  the  County  Agricultural 
Society;  he  has  been  on  the  board  of  directors  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
-the  president  of  the  society  for  the  past  three  years,  which  latter  office  he 
mow  holds.  Among  those  who  have  labored  to  elevate  the  standard  of 
agriculture,  and  sought  to  instill  into  the  minds  of  the  farmers  and  their 
families,  a  true  and  commendable  pride  in  and  love  for  their  occupation  and 
calling,  Mr.  Ely  has  always  been  in  the  front  rank ;  and  to  his  earnest  and 
conscientious  endeavor  in  this  direction  must  be  ascribed  a  no  small  share  of 
the  credit  for  the  high  standard  to  which  agricultural  education  and  develop- 
ment have  attained  in  Fulton  county. 

He  has,  likewise,  always  been  a  friend  of  education,  and  shown  a  deep  in- 
terest in  the  welfare  of  the  young  people  around  him  ;  his  library,  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  complete  in  the  county,  has  always  been  open  to  the  free  ac- 
cess of  his  numerous  warm  friends  among  the  young. 


FINNEY,  Dr.  S.  B.  It  may  be  seen  a  somewhat  remarkable  assertion  to 
say,  that  any  physician  possesses  the  power  of  analyzing  disease  by  intui- 
^tion,  yet  such  cases  are  not  wholly  unknown,  although  they  may  be  infrequent. 
IHowever  this  may  be,  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  Dr.  Finney  possesses  a  rare 
'gift  in  diagnosing  and  successfully  treating  physical  disease,  whether  or  not  he 
has  had  an  opportunity  of  a  personal  interview  with  the  subject  for  treatment ; 
and  the  throngs  that  constantly  visit  his  laboratory,  and  the  still  greater  amount 
.of  communications  by  letter,  that  call  for  his  professional  skill,  attest  the  won- 
iderful  success  of  his  method  of  treatment.  And  it  is  not  alone  the  rich  people 
of  this  world  that  receive  substantial  cures  at  his  hands,  but  the  poor,  as  well ; 


/  s    \ 


/, , 


S.  B.  Finney,  iM.D. 


Biographical.  6ig 


for  it  is  a  fact,  that  Dr.  Finney  dispenses  and  distributes  among  all  classes, 
many  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  his  medicines,  each  year.  At  home  and 
abroad,  among  all  nations,  are  his  wonderful  healing  remedies  sent,  carrying 
joy  and  comfort  into  tens  of  thousands  of  homes,  and  bringing  to  this  kind  bene- 
factor the  gratitude  of  as  many  hearts.  But  it  will  be  asked :  Who  is  this 
man  ;  and  whence  comes  he  ?  S.  B.  Finney  was  born  in  Holmes  county,  O., 
in  the  year  1834,  and  passed  the  years  of  boyhood  and  youth  on  his  father's 
farm,  in  that  county,  and  in  attending  the  common  district  schools  of  the 
neighborhood.  From  early  youth  he  had  a  natural  love  for  botanical  studies, 
and  applied  himself  diligently  therein  until  he  attained  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  this  science,  as  well  as  a  complete  understanding  of  the  healing  and  curative 
properties  of  the  plant  creation.  But  for  a  time  he  gave  up  this  pleasant  pur- 
suit in  response  to  his  country's  call  for  help.  Young  Finney  enlisted  as  a  pri- 
vate in  Company  K,  of  the  I52d  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  with  which  com- 
mand he  went  to  the  front  in  August,  1862,  and  thenceforth  shared  the  viscis- 
situdes,  privations,  hardships  and  successes  of  the  army,  until  at  the  battle  of 
Chariton  Bridge,  where  he  fell.  He  was  honorably  discharged  from  the  service 
in  September,  1864,  and  returned  home  to  family  and  friends. 

Early  in  the  month  of  April,  1865,  our  subject  came  to  Fulton  county, 
and  took  up  his  abode  in  the  then  unsettled  and  uncultivated  region  of  Dover 
township,  that  has  ever  been  known  to  the  people  as  the  "  Oak  Openings." 
Here,  assisted  by  his  devoted  wife,  he  built  a  log  cabin,  and  at  once  com- 
menced the  cultivation  of  the  naturally  fertile  soil,  and  was  compelled  to  live 
frugally,  as  he  had  but  little  means.  Here  he  had  an  opportunity  of  again 
pursuing  his  favorite  study  of  botanical  specimens,  with  which  the  region  was 
abundantly  supplied,  until,  at  last,  having  watched  carefully  their  effects  and 
results,  and  combined  those  elements  that  proved  productive  of  the  greatest 
good,  this  soldier  physician  announced  to  the  world  his  healing  remedies,  that 
have,  from  that  day,  been  of  inestimable  value  to  mankind ;  a  panacea  for  the 
many  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  and  he  has  used  them  with  such  skill  and  judg- 
ment that  his  crowded  rooms  are  no  longer  wondered  at  by  the  good  people 
of  the  vicinity.  It  is  now  more  than  twenty  years  since  Dr.  Finney  became  a 
resident  of  Fulton  county,  and  during  that  time  he  has  achieved  unbounded 
success;  and  who  is  there  to  say  that  he  has  not  deserved  success?  His 
home,  laboratory  and  offices  are  at  Winameg,  a  small  hamlet  about  three  miles 
north  from  the  old  county  seat,  Ottokee,  and  about  ten  miles  from  Wauseon. 


JORDON,  AMOS  H.     But  few  comparatively,  of  the  old  settlers  of  this  re- 
gion were  of  New  England  birth,  but  there  is  found  occasionally  a  substan- 
tial progressive  resident  who,  among  people  unacquainted  with  the  New  Eng- 
landers,  are  called  "  regular  downeasters."     However  this  may  be,  it  is  no  less 
a  fact  that  among  the  few  families  of  "Yankees"  of  Fulton  county,  there  is 


€20  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

found  as  much  enterprise,  thrift  and  determination  as  exists  in  any  class  of  her 
residents.  The  person  whose  name  entitles  this  brief  sketch  is  a  fair  represen- 
tative of  the  class  just  mentioned,  although  a  majority  of  his  years  have  been 
passed  in  this  country  of  Northwestern  Ohio  and  Southeastern  Michigan. 

Amos  Hosmer  Jordon  was  born  near  Bellows'  Falls,  Windsor  county,  Ver- 
mont, on  the  9th  day  of  September,  in  the  year  1 8 13,  therefore  at  this  time  he 
is  in  the  seventy- fifth  year  of  his  life.  In  the  year  1830,  when  our  subject  was 
seventeen  years  of  age,  his  father's  family  left  the  Green  Mountain  State  and 
came  to  Michigan,  locating  at  a  point  near  the  present  city  of  Adrian,  where  Amos 
lived  until  he  attained  his  majority.  He  then  came  over  to  the  "  disputed  ter- 
ritory "  and  commenced  the  improvement  of  a  quarter  section  of  land,  on  sec- 
tion twenty-three  near  Phillips  Corners.  After  much  hard  work  in  this  wild 
and  sparsely  settled  country,  Mr.  Jordon  succeeded  in  making  a  fine  farm,  and 
about  time,  1836,  he  married  Rebecca  Livesay,  the  daughter  of  Gershom  Live- 
say,  of  Chesterfield  township.  This  faithful  and  devoted  wife  shared  the  trials, 
hardships  and  subsequent  success  of  her  husband  for  sixteen  years  ;  she  bore 
him  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living.  She  died  on  the  4th  day  of 
December,  1852.  For  about  two  years  Mr.  Jordon  remained  a  widower,  when 
in  1854  he  married  Elizabeth  Miller,  daughter  of  Lewis  and  Rachel  Miller,  of 
WiUiams  county.  One  child  was  the  fruit  of  this  union,  but  his  wife,  Elizabeth, 
died  in  a  very  few  days  after  its  birth.  From  that  time  Mr.  Jordon  has  been  a 
widower. 

Amos  H.  Jordon  is  well  known  throughout  the  county  as  a  man  of  sterling 
worth  and  integrity ;  a  man  whose  thrift  and  energy  have  made  his  life  suc- 
cessful, and  whose  social  relations  have  always  been  pleasant  and  agreeable. 
He  is  not,  however,  a  man  whose  name  has  been  frequently  before  the  people 
asking  for  political  preferment,  as  he  has  never  been  an  aspirant  for  these  hon- 
ors, save  once,  and  upon  that  occasion  he  became  a  candidate,  at  his  party's 
request,  and  not  his  own  desire.  The  party  to  which  he  has  pinned  his  faith 
for  many  years  past,  has  not  been  the  dominant  power  of  the  county,  and  its 
candidates  have  learned,  generally,  to  expect  defeat  at  the  polls  ;  and,  although 
this  resulted  when  Mr.  Jordon  was  the  Democratic  nominee  for  the  office  of 
sheriff  he,  nevertheless,  held  the  full  strength  of  his  own  party  in  the  county, 
and  received  a  good  support  from  his  friends  in  the  opposition  party.  Prior 
to  the  defeat  of  General  Scott  as  a  presidential  candidate,  Mr.  Jordon  affiliated 
with  the  Whig  party,  but  after  that  event  occurred  he  found  a  home  in' the 
Democratic  camp. 

Mr.  Jordon  became  well  known  and  acquainted  with  the  county's  people 
in  the  year  1857,  at  which  time  he  was  the  contracting  builder  of  the  first  court 
house  at  Ottokee.  This  was  during  the  infant  days  of  Fulton  county,  and  any 
person  then  in  any  manner  connected  with  the  events  of  the  time,  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly important  personage.     This  work  Mr.  Jordon  performed  faithfully 


Biographical.  621 


and  well.  At  another  time  he  held  the  position  of  district  land  appraiser  for  the 
townships  of  Pike,  Dover  and  Franklin. 

For  a  period  of  nearly  forty  years  Mr.  Jordon  has  been  a  member  of  the 
order  of  Free  Masons,  his  membership  thereof  dating  back  to  about  the  year 
1850.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  at  least  an  honorary  member  of  each  lodge 
or  chapter  organized  in  the  county.  He  is  also  a  member  of  Toledo  Com- 
mandery. 

Amos  H.  Jordon,  of  whom  this  sketch  is  written,  was  the  son  of  Samuel 
and  Sivel  (Hosmer)  Jordon.  In  their  family  was  seven  children,  six  boys  and 
one  girl,  and  of  these  children  Amos  H.  was  the  oldest  but  one. 


MILLER,  JOSEPH  H.  Nearly  a  half  century  has  passed  since  Mr.  Miller 
located  upon  the  land  now  covered  by  the  village  of  Swanton,  and  dur- 
ing that  time  the  most  surprising  changes  have  been  made  in  the  vicinity,  and 
it  may  be  said  truthfully  that  no  one  man  has  been  more  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing about  these  changes,  these  improvements,  and  evidences  of  prosperity  and 
growth  than  he  whose  name  entitles  this  sketch.  ■-:*.% 

Joseph  Henry  Miller  was  born  at  Cherry  Valley,  Otsego  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
the  2 1st  of  November,  18 12.  He  was  the  second  of  six  children,  sons  and 
■daughters  of  Lewis  and  Sally  (Tennent)  Miller,  the  latter  of  whom  died  at  the 
age  of  thirty-two  years.  Of  these  children,  but  two — Joseph  H.  and  Mary 
{Miller)  Harriott — are  now  living.  Lewis  Miller  was  a  shoemaker,  and  at  the 
bench  he  labored  hard  for  his  family's  support,  but  misfortune  came  upon  him 
and  took  away  his  greatest  helper — his  wife — leaving  to  their  father  the  addi- 
tional burden  of  the  care  of  several  small  children.  Joseph  was  one  of  the 
older  of  these,  and,  upon  his  mother's  death,  he  was  "bound  out"  to  learn  the 
shoemaker's  trade ;  but  it  seems  that  the  lad  had  no  liking  for  such  work,  as 
he  soon  ran  away,  only  to  be  captured,  returned,  and  "  bound  out  "  for  a 
■second  time  ;  but  a  second  opportunity  for  escape  (for  to  him  it  seemed  like 
•escape  from  captivity)  was  offered,  which  he  at  once  accepted  and  took  his 
■departure  from  that  region  and  went  to  Ohio,  and  subsequently  to  Illinois. 

To  attempt  to  fpUow  the  fortunes  of  Mr.  Miller  for  the  ten  or  more  years 
that  passed  after  he  went  to  Illinois,  would  be  absolutely  impossible  for  the 
biographer,  and  would  seriously  tax  the  memory  of  the  subject  himself;  suffice 
it  to  say  then,  that  for  a  number  of  years  he  traveled  over  the  country,  west 
and  south,  working  at  various  employments — now  on  the  Mississippi  River 
boats,  again  on  the  rail,  then  crossing  and  recrossing  the  mountains,  earning 
and  spending  money,  and  gaining  nothing  of  lasting  value  beyond  experience 
and  a  knowledge  of  men  and  States.  While  in  Illinois  he  suffered  from  an 
attack  of  small-pox,  but  recovering,  a  later  time  found  him  in  New  Orleans, 
where  he  was  "  pressed"  into  service  in  a  small-pox  hospital  in  that  city  and 
remained  there  six  months. 


622  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

At  last,  becoming  tired  of  the  vicissitudes  of  a  roaming  life,  and  possess- 
ing an  earnest  desire  to  settle  down  to  some  established  vocation  or  business, 
Mr.  Miller  returned  to  Ohio  in  the  year  1840,  where  he  found  employment  on 
the  Miami  and  Erie  Canal,  which  was  then  being  constructed.  He  drove  team, 
towing  boats  loaded  with  stone,  up  the  Maumee  for  a  time,  but  finally  settled 
at  the  point  whereon  was  afterward  built  the  pretty  and  flourishing  village  of 
Swanton. 

After  having  lived  here  three  years,  Mr.  Miller  married  on  April  4,  1 843, 
Lydia  Cass,  a  most  estimable  young  woman,  a  native  of  Canada,  but  then 
residing  in  Ohio.  She  bore  him  four  children,  viz.  :  JuHa  Ann,  born  May  24, 
1844,  married  James  White  and  now  lives  in  Swanton;  Lydia  Ann,  born  May 
12,  1847,  married  Wood  HamHn,  died  August  22,  1868;  Sylvia  L.,  born 
March  25,  1851,  married  Cyrenus  Sanderson,  and  now  living  at  Swanton;  and 
Olive  L.,  born  July  10,  1854,  died  May  19,  1886.  Lydia  (Cass)  Miller,  the 
devoted  wife  and  mother,  shared  the  hardships  and  successes  of  her  husband 
for  upwards  of  forty  years,  and  died  on  the  23d  of  July,  1884.  Two  years 
later,  July  27,  1886,  Mr.  Miller  was  married  to  Ann  Cass,  a  sister  of  his  former 
wife. 

To  the  building  of  the  Air  Line  division  of  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan 
Southern  Railroad  Mr.  Miller  undoubtedly  owes  much  of  his  success  in  busi- 
ness life,  although,  to  his  excellent  judgment  and  foresight,  is  also  due  a  no 
small  portion  of  that  success,  for,  by  his  effort  and  his  donation  of  lands  to  the 
railroad  company,  they  were  induced  to  locate  a  station  upon  his  land,  at  the 
point  where  it  is  now  situated.  When  the  building  of  the  road  in  this  locality 
was  commenced,  Mr.  Miller  was  engaged  on  the  work,  receiving  the  modest 
compensation  of  seventy- five  cents  per  day.  A  little  later  we  find  him  deal- 
ing, in  a  small  way,  in  butter  and  eggs,  but  although  seemingly  small,  he  saved 
$500  in  a  single  year.  With  this  he  started  a  store  in  Swanton,  and  to  his 
credit  be  it  said  that  no  matter  how  short  of  ready  cash  he  may  have  been,  he 
was  never  denied  credit  for  any  amount  of  goods  he  desired  to  purchase. 
These  principles  have  characterized  his  every  transaction  in  life — straightfor- 
ward honesty,  and  integrity. 

Mr.  Miller  continued  merchandising  from  1856  to  about  1872  or  1873. 
On  the  completion  of  the  railroad  he  was  made  station  agent,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  about  six  months,  held  that  position  for  sixteen  years.  In  con- 
nection with  his  other  business  interests,  he  has  bought  and  sold  much  land; 
and  whereon  now  stands  the  village  of  Swanton,  nearly  all  of  the  tract  has,  at 
some  time,  been  owned  by  him.  He  has  given  not  only  land  but  large  cash 
contributions  for  various  enterprises.  The  land  given  the  railroad  company 
cost  him  three  hundred  dollars.  To  the  company  that  built  the  grist-mill  he 
offered  a  tract  of  land  or  four  hundred  dollars  in  cash  ;  they  took  the  land. 
He  donated  two  hundred  dollars  worth  of  land  for  school  purposes,  and  to  the 


Biographical.  623 


society  of  each  of  the  churches-  Methodist,  Baptist,  and  Christian— he  donated 
lands  worth  two  hundred  dollars  each  ;  for  the  saw,  planing,  and  lath-mill  he 
leased  land  at  three  dollars  per  acre,  annual  rent,  to  run  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
occupants.  Added  to  these  gifts  may  be  mentioned  the  bountiful  provision 
made  by  Mr.  Miller  for  the  various  members  of  his  family,  retaining  to  himself 
only  a  small  portion  of  his  extensive  estates,  and  the  rental  of  a  part  of  his 
buildings.  Still  retaining  his  full  mental  vigor  and  strength,  although  his 
physical  structure  has  been  somewhat  impaired  by  the  ravages  of  time,  Mr. 
Miller  continues  to  reside  at  his  fine  hotel  in  Swanton,  and  has  now  passed  the 
seventy- fifth  year  of  his  life. 


MURBACH,  M.  D.,  ANDREW  J.  At  Gachlingen,  Switzerland,  on  the 
15th  day  of  December,  in  the  year  1838,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born,  and  in  that  country  his  life,  up  to  age  of  sixteen,  was  passed.  In  the 
spring  of  1855  his  parents,  Jacob  and  Catharine  Murbach,  with  their  children, 
came  to  this  country  and  settled  in  Lucas  county.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  came  to  Lucas  county  when  its  lands  were  in  a  comparatively  undeveloped 
state.  He  and  his  wife  still  live  there,  highly  respected  people,  and  both  well 
•advanced  in  years. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  Andrew  came  to  board  in  the  family  of  Dr. 
Marcus  H.  Schnetzler,  who  was  then  a  practicing  physician  at  Burlington,  in 
this  county,  and  with  whom  he  read  medicine,  his  course  of  study  covering  a 
perid  of  some  six  years.  During  the  later  years  of  his  study  young  Murbach 
became  sufficiently  well  informed  that  his  instructor  permitted  him  to  practice 
in  the  locality,  and,  with  the  means  thus  acquired  he  determined  to  take  a  med- 
ical course  at  some  thorough  institution.  To  this  end  he  entered  the  Starling 
Medical  College,  at  Columbus,  where  he  attended  lectures  during  the  terms  of 
1862-3,  and  1863-4,  ^^'^  was  regularly  graduated  in  the  spring  of  the  year  last 
named. 

In  the  year  1862,  about  the  time  of  the  completion  of  his  medical  studies 
with  Dr.  Schnetzler,  Andrew  J.  Murbach  was  married  to  Ann  Janette,  the 
daughter  of  Jonathan  Barnes,  of  German  township.  One  child  that  died  in  in- 
fancy was  the  only  fruit  of  this  marriage. 

Having  been  graduated  from  Starling,  and  received  that  highly  cherished 
prize,  a  diploma,  more  commonly  known  as  "sheepskin,"  Dr.  Murbach  located 
for  practice  at  Archbold,  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1864.  Here  he  has  resided  to 
the  present  day.  During  these  years  he  has  built  up  a  practice  second  to  none 
in  the  county;  in  fact,  his  ride  comprehends  a  greater  territory  than  is  con- 
•  fined  by  the  county's  limits,  and  while  his  practice  has  been,  and  still  is,  very 
large,  it  has  also  brought  to  its  possessor  a  handsome  return,  as  his  elegant  home, 
.  his  store  building  and  its  stock  fully  shows.  No  man  is  jealous  of  Dr.  Mur- 
bach's  success  in  practice ;  he  has  earned  it,  and  he  has  deserved  it.     More- 


624  History  of  Henry  and  1^'ulton  Counties. 

over,  there  is  not  in  Archblod,  a  citizen  more  public  spirited  or  more  liberal  in 
all  that  tends  to  the  welfare  of  the  community,  than  he. 

In  1 87 1,  in  connection  with  his  practice.  Dr.  Murbach  established  a  drug- 
store at  Archbold,  which  is  now  conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Murbach  & 
Schnetzler,  the  partner  therein  being  the  present  capable  treasurer  of  the  coun- 
ty, and  a  brother  of  Dr.  M.  H.  Schnetzler,  the  former  instructor  of  our  subject. 

In  his  professional  occupation,  in  September,  1885,  in  order  to  somewhat 
lessen  its  cares  and  responsibilities,  a  medical  partnership  was  formed  between 
Dr.  Murbach  and  Dr.  George  W.  Hartman,  a  graduate  from  the  department 
of  medicine  of  the  University  of  Michigan. 

In^this  sketch  reference  has  been  made  to  the  marriage  of  Dr.  Murbach  to 
Ann  Janette  Barnes.  She  died  in  August,  1866,  after  a  pleasant  married  life 
of  about  four  years.  On  the  1st  of  December,  1869,  Dr.  Murbach  was  mar- 
ried to  Lizzie  Tanner,  daughter  of  Martin  Tanner,  of  Sandusky.  Of  this  mar- 
riage three  children  have  been  born,  all  of  whom  are  now  living. 

In  the  affairs  of  the  municipality  of  Archbold,  and  of  German  township,  Dr. 
Murbach  has  been  a  somewhat  prominent  figure,  although  he  has  never  as- 
pired to  the  honors  of  any  county  office.  Like  a  majority  of  the  county's  peo- 
ple he  leans  toward  the  Republican  party.  In  the  village  he  has  held  the  of- 
fices of  councilman  and  treasurer,  and  was  also  treasurer  of  the  township.  His 
interest  in  politics  is  well  known  as  he  is  perfectly  frank  in  the  expression  of  his 
opinions,  but  his  time  is  too  much  occupied  by  professional  duties  to  devote 
any  considerable  attention  to  politics  in  general,  or  beyond  the  limits  of  his 
township. 


BASSETT,  Dr.  L.  A.  Lyman  Augustus  Bassett  was  born  in  Lyme  town- 
ship, Huron  county,  O.,  on  the  2Sth  of  October,  1825.  He  was  the  old- 
est of  eleven  children  of  Smith  and  Huldah  (Lee)  Bassett.  His  father  was  a 
farmer  of  Huron  county,  and  on  the  farm  our  subject  was  brought  up,  attend- 
ing school,  summer  and  winter,  until  old  enough  to  do  farm  work,  when  his 
school  days  were  confined  to  the  winter  months. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  young  Bassett  was  apprenticed  to  learn  the 
trade  of  harness  making,  which,  at  that  time,  meant  more  than  simply  the  mak- 
ing of  a  harness,  as  he  also  learned  to  make  saddles,  trunks,  bags,  and  trim  car- 
riages. At  this  occupation  he  worked  three  years  and  eight  months,  but,  ow- 
ing to  ill  health,  was  compelled  to  give  up  the  trade,  and,  in  or  about  the  year 
1846,  commenced  to  study  medicine  under  the  instruction  of  Dr.  John  R.  Os- 
born,  of  Wood  county,  to  which  county  Mr.  Bassett  had  gone,  and  located  a 
tract  of  land.  He  continued  reading  and  studying  medicine,  but  not  continu- 
ously, for  some  four  or  five  years,  not,  however,  with  the  intention  of  becom- 
ing a  physician,  but  rather  that  he  might  have  a  knowledge  of  homeopathy ; 
but  gradually  he  found  himself  drifting  into  its  practice,  in  the  neighborhood  in 


Biographical.  625 


which  he  lived.  He,  in  order  to  perfect  himself,  then  attended  lectures,  and 
the  year  1857  found  him  actively  engaged  in  a  successful  and  growing  practice. 
About  this  time,  or  soon  after,  Dr.  Bassett  established  himself  in  Fulton  county, 
at  a  point  south  of  and  near  the  village  of  Swanton,  where  he  continued  his 
professional  labors,  and  engaged  in  other  branches  of  business.  He  started  a 
general  store  at  Swanton,  and  managed  it  about  six  years,  but  prior  to  that  he 
was  in  the  drug  business,  which  could  be  conveniently  carried  on  in  connection 
with  his  professional  work.  At  Swanton  his  stock  comprised  groceries,  staple 
dry  goods  and  drugs,  and,  as  his  mercantile  interests  increased,  he  gradually 
went  out  of  his  medical  practice.  The  store,  except  the  drug  stock,  was  sold 
about  the  year  1 872,  but  the  latter  he  continued  nearly  five  years  longer. 

In  his  business  and  professional  life  Dr.  Bassett  was  quite  successful,  and 
accumulated  considerable  property.  He  has  also  engaged  in  handling  real  es- 
tate in  his  vicinity,  and  this  has  been  a  source  of  profit  in  a  rapidly  growing 
town,  as  Swanton  has  proved  to  be.  In  the  affairs  of  this  village,  its  improve- 
ment and  development,  the  doctor  has  been  a  prominent  figure.  Upon  its  in- 
corporation he  was  elected  mayor,  and  subsequently  re-elected  to  the  same 
office,  serving  in  all,  four  years.  For  the  last  twelve  years  he  has  filled  the  of- 
fice of  justice  of  the  peace.  In  1887  he  was  a  candidate  for  nomination  in  the 
county  convention,  for  the  office  of  probate  judge,  and  in  that  convention  he 
developed  considerable  strength.  He  was  defeated,  however,  a  compromise 
candidate  being  chosen.  As  is  a  well  known  fact.  Dr.  Bassett  has  been  iden- 
tified with  the  Republican  party  since  its  organization,  and  prior  to  that  was 
an  ardent  Whig. 

Lyman'  A.  Bassett  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Cornelia 
Elizabeth  Farrand,  of  Sandusky  county,  whom  he  married  January  i,  1850. 
Three  children  were  born  of  this  union,  only  one  of  whom  is  now  living.  From 
his  wife  Dr.  Bassett  was  divorced  by  a  decree  of  date  October  23,  1867.  In 
1870,  on  the  9th  day  of  December,  he  married  Laura  A.  Grover,  daughter  of 
Girden  Grover,  and  step-daughter  of  George  H.  Hollis,  of  Swan  Creek  town- 
ship. 


GROSCHNER,  Hon.  H.  C.  Herman  Christian  Groschner,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  born  in  Baddelaben,  Prussia,  on  the  4th  day  of  February, 
in  the  year  1844.  He  was  one  of  the  younger  children  of  Jacob  C.  and  Dor- 
othy Groschner,  who  will  be  remembered  among  the  highly  respected  Ger- 
man families  of  Napoleon.  The  family  emigrated  from  Prussia  when  Herman 
was  but  seven  years  of  age,  and  took  up  their  residence  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
where  the  father  found  employment  at  his  trade,  that  of  a  blacksmith  and  car- 
riage maker.  They  lived  in  that  city  but  one  year,  when  they  moved  to  De- 
fiance county,  O.,  only  to  remain  there  six  months ;  thence  to  Florida,  in  this 
county,  and,  a  little  later,  to  the  county  seat  of  Henry  county,  at  which  place 

79 


626  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

he  lived  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  Herman  C.  was  employed  in  assisting- 
his  father  in  the  shop.  He  proved  an  apt  helper,  and  soon  became  conversant 
with  the  English  language.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  became  clerk  in  a 
hardware  store  at  Defiance,  and  remained  there  four  years,  during  which  time 
he  learned  the  detail  of  the  business,  and,  being  able  to  speak  both  German  and 
English,  soon  became  a  valuable  employee.  When  about  twenty-one  he  ac- 
cepted a  managing  position  in  the  hardware  store  of  Henry  Kahlo,  a  pioneer 
merchant  of  Napoleon,  with  whom  young  Groschner  remained  until  the  pro- 
prietor sold  to  Imber  &  Gillis,  when  the  young  man  was  given  the  manage- 
ment of  the  business.  Soon  afterward  Mr.  Groschner  became  an  actual  part- 
ner, being  for  two  or  three  years  associated  with  the  junior  member  of  the 
former  firm  ;  and  from  that  until  the  present  time  he  has  held  an  interest,  either 
as  part  or  sole  owner.  He  was  connected  with  the  business  under  the  several 
firms  of  Gillis  &  Groschner,  Groschner  &  Hellers,  and  Groschner  &  Redder- 
son,  but  in  May,  1887,  he  purchased  his  partner's  interest  in  the  stock  and  be- 
came sole  proprietor. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  when  our  subject  commenced  his  business  life 
he  was  wholly  without  means,  and  whatever  of  success  has  attended  his  efforts 
has  been  the  result  of  his  own  personal  energy  and  industry.  His  position,  for 
some  years,  was  that  of  a  clerk,  but  by  the  interest  he  showed  in  the  welfare  of 
his  employer's  business,  he  gradually  became  entitled  to  more  than  a  clerk's 
position.  Of  course,  with  advancement,  there  came  increased  salary  and 
greater  responsibility  on  his  part ;  step  by  step  has  he  advanced,  until  now  he 
is  sole  proprietor  of  a  large  and  well- stocked  hardware  establishment,  added  to 
which  are  special  branches,  and  all  requiring  close  and  careful  attention.  Mr. 
Groschner's  store  on  Perry  street,  in  Napoleon,  is  in  the  business  center  of  the 
town,  and  his  trade  is  large  and  constantly  increasing. 

It  would  seem  that  a  man  whose  business  cares  are  so  great  would  find  but 
little  opportunity  to  indulge  in  the  worry  and  labor  of  politics  ;  nevertheless,  he 
is  not  wanting  in  political  zeal  and  ambition,  both  in  local  and  State  affairs.  In 
Napoleon  he  has  served  in  several  capacities :  first,  he  was  treasurer,  and  later 
a  member  of  the  board  of  education,  holding  in  the  last  named  office  for  nine 
years,  and  being  on  the  most  important  committees  of  that  body.  He  was  the 
successful  candidate  for  the  office  of  representative  in  the  Legislature  of  Ohio, 
and  took  his  seat  in  1879.  At  the  expiration  of  his  first  term  he  was  renomi- 
nated in  convention,  and  again  became  a  member  of  that  body,  serving  in  all, 
four  years.  Again,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  friends,  he  became  a  candidate 
for  senatorial  honors,  but  was  twice  defeated  in  convention  ;  but  in  1885,  he 
was  the  nominee  of  the  Democracy  of  the  33d  Senatorial  District,  comprising 
the  counties  of  Lucas,  Hancock,  Putnam,  Henry,  Fulton  and  Wood,  and  was 
elected  by  a  good  majority. 

As   a   member   of  each  branch  of  the  Ohio  Legislature,    Mr.    Groschner 


Biographical.  627 


served  with  credit  to  himself  and  with  satisfaction  to  his  people  ;  he  originated 
no  special  measures,  but  identified  himself  with  such  acts  as  seemed  for  the 
general  welfare.  It  was  his  policy  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  duties  of  his  po- 
sition, and  then  act  understandingly.  During  his  two  years  in  the  Senate  he 
was  a  member  of  the  following  important  committees  :  Finance,  board  of  pub- 
lic works,  labor,  roads  and  highways  (chairman),  ditches  and  drainage,  fish  cul- 
ture and  game,  board  of  public  survey. 

In  the  fall  of  1887  Mr.  Groschner  was  renominated  by  the  District  Senato- 
'  rial  Convention,  but  owing,  in  a  measure,  to  the  extraordinary  efforts  of  the 
opposition  party  in  behalf  of  their  candidate,  he  was  defeated  at  the  polls. 

At  the  age  of  twenty- three  years,  in  1867,  soon  after  having  become  a  res- 
ident of  Napoleon,  Herman  C.  Groschner  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Caroline  Darrah,  of  Toledo.  Of  this  marriage  there  has  been  born  seven  child- 
ren, six  of  whom  are  still  living — two  girls  and  four  boys. 


HORNUNG,  CHARLES.  Of  all  the  classes  or  nationalities  of  people  that 
have  settled  in  and  developed  the  county  of  Henry,  none  have  been  more 
prominent,  more  active,  more  thrifty,  or  more  enterprising  than  the  Bavarian 
Germans;  and  of  this  class  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  county  the  family 
name  of  Hornung  is,  perhaps,  the  most  conspicuous. 

The  pioneer  of  Pleasant  township  was  John  Peter  Hornung,  who,  with  his 
family,  came  to  this  locality  and  settled  among  the  Indians,  in  the  year  1837. 
Here  he  had  a  tract  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  wild,  uncultivated  land, 
the  improvement  of  which  he  commenced  and  completed,  except  such  further 
development  as  was  made  after  his  death ;  he  built  up  a  fine  farm  with  build- 
ings suitable  for  the  times.  Both  John  Peter  Hornung  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth, 
died  within  the  township,  but,  at  the  time  of  their  coming  to  the  place.  Pleas- 
ant, as  a  township,  was  unknown.  Charles  Hornung,  one  of  the  younger 
children  of  this  family,  seems  to  have  been  the  person  upon  whom  fell  the  duty 
of  making  the  subsequent  improvements  in  this  locality ;  he  built  up  the  little 
hamlet  of  New  Bavaria ;  he  has,  at  various  times,  established  manufacturing 
industries  here,  cleared  large  tracts  of  land,  had  a  post  office  established,  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  business,  and  done  and  performed  all  the  acts  needful  to 
entitle  him  to  the  honor  of  being  the  founder  of  the  town,  which  he,  in  fact, 
was. 

Mr.  Hornung  was  born  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  on  the  i6th  of  May,  1823, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  parents  coming  to  this  country,  in  1837,  he  was  fourteen 
years  old.  He  was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  and  in  1844  he  commenced  work 
for  himself  On  the  14th  of  July,  in  this  same  year,  he  was  married  to  Catha- 
rine Desgranges  of  Pleasant  township.  Of  this  marriage  there  have  been  born 
eleven  children,  of  which  number  but  six  are  now  living. 

For  the  ten  years  succeeding  his  marriage  Mr.  Hornung  was  devoted  to 


628  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

farm  work,  clearing  and  cultivating,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  commenced 
selling  goods,  in  a  small  way  at  first,  but  gradually  enlargfng  his  store  and  stock, 
keeping  step  with  the  growth  of  the  township,  until  his  business  has  assumed 
large  proportions.  In  1855  he  commenced  the  manufactnre  of  pearlash  and 
continued  it  with  fair  success  until  about  1870. 

It  was  in  1844  that  he  laid  out  and  started  the  little  town  of  New  Bavaria, 
naming  it  in  honor  of  his  native  country.  Here  about  this  time,  through  his 
efforts,  a  post-office  was  established.  His  mercantile  business  had  so  grown, 
that  in  1882  he  built  the  large  and  commodious  brick  store  building  that  he 
now  occupies,  and  about  the  same  time  or  soon  afterward,  he  started  the  ex- 
tensive hoop  and  stave  factory  which  is  now  in  successful  operation. 

These,  then,  are  the  enterprises  that  have,  in  the  main,  occupied  the  time 
of  Mr.  Hornung  during  the  last  forty  and  more  years  of  his  residence  in  Henry 
county ;  and  they  have  been,  through  his  untiring  industry,  energy,  thrift,  and 
last,  but  by  no  means  least,  his  straightforward  honesty  in  every  transaction, 
the  source  of  goodly  fortune  to  him.  But  he  has  found  time  also  for  matters 
outside  of  strict  business,  which  show  his  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  county  in 
general,  and,  furthermore,  attest  his  business  capacity,  and  the  appreciation  of 
his  efforts  by  his  fellowmen.  During  his  early  residence  in  the  county  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  county  surveyor.  In  1854  he  was  elected  county  com- 
missioner, serving  one  term,  and  then  re-elected  for  the  succeeding  term.  The 
same  office  was  held  by  him  at  still  later  period,  from  1874  to  1880,  making  in 
all  twelve  years  of  service  in  this  important  position.  He  has  been  post- 
master since  1844,  with  exception  of  one  year  (i860).  He  has  been  justice 
of  the  peace  forty-two  years. 

From  these  several  political  holdings  it  will  be  seen  that  our  subject  has 
been  a  somewhat  prominent  figure  in  the  affairs  of  the  county,  and  while  he 
has  been  thus  favored  he  has,  during  these  years,  been  elected  upon  choice  of 
each  of  the  great  political  parties  of  the  day.  His  political  career  dates  from 
the  time  of  Mr.  Buchanan.  Twice  upon  the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Lincoln  he  voted 
for  his  electors,  and  upon  General  Grant's  first  canvass  he  was  his  warm  sup- 
porter ;  but  when  Mr.  Greeley  became  the  nominee  of  the  Democracy  and  the 
Liberal  Repubhcans,  Mr.  Hornung  was  found  among  his  admirers.  From  that 
time  he  has  been  identified  with  the  Democratic  party  of  the  county,  and  one 
of  its  strongest  men. 


KILPATRICK,  Mrs.  MARY  I.  The  subject  of  this  sketch,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Mary  Isabelle  Patrick,  is  a  daughter  of  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
the  Maumee  Valley,  John  Patrick,  who  made  a  settlement  in  this  county  in 
1825.  John  Patrick  was  a  native  of  Canaan,  Mass.,  and  his  wife  Esther  (Tift) 
Patrick,  was  born  in  Providence,  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island.  They  were 
married  in  Oneida  county.  New  York  State,  whither  their  parents  had  removed 


Mary  Kilfatkick. 


Biographical.  629 


before  the  happening  of  that  event.  Soon  after  the  young  couple  left  for  the 
then  western  country,  intending  to  locate  in  Indiana,  near  Vincennes,  to  which 
place  the  wife's  parents  had  emigrated.  John  Patrick  and  his  wife  lived  here 
some  three  or  four  years,  after  which  they  went  to  Michigan,  but  on  account 
of  the  severity  of  the  winter  months,  they  returned  to  Ohio,  and  on  the  17th 
of  October,  1825,  settled  upon  a  tract  of  land  in  the  Maumee  Valley,  in  what  is 
now  Liberty  township,  this  county,  the  same  land  now  owned  by  George  E. 
Patrick. 

On  this  farm  Mary  Isabelle  Patrick  was  born;  on  the  4th  day  of  November, 
in  the  year  1827.  She  lived  with  her  parents  until  October  28,  1852,  when  she 
was  united  in  marriage  to  David  Kilpatrick,  a  native  of  Ireland,  but  who  came 
to  Ohio  in  or  about  1840.  After  their  marriage  they  moved  to  the  farm  the 
first  below  that  now  occupied  by  our  subject  in  Harrison  township,  and  oppo- 
site to  the  place  first  settled  by  her  father.  Of  this  marriage  one  child,  Ralph, 
was  born,  but  died  in  infancy. 

David  Kilpatrick  was  a  soldier  in  the  army,  and  served  early  in  the  war, 
but  died  on  the  19th  of  October,  1863,  from  diseases  contracted  in  the  South. 

The  struggles,  hardships  and  privations  of  early  life  in  the  valley  are  so  fully 
recorded  through  various  portions  of  this  work,  that  it  is  not  important  to  re- 
cite all  of  those  endured  by  the  Patrick  family.  John,  the  pioneer,  died  on  the 
15th  day  of  December,  1868,  aged  seventy-three  years;  his  wife,  Esther,  died 
on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1879,  aged  seventy-nine  years.  In  their  family  was 
a  number  of  children,  viz.:  Sarah,  who  died  in  infancy;  Kennath,  who  died  in 
infancy ;  Ralph,  who  died  in  November,  1 848 ;  Mary  Isabelle,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  now  a  widow,  and  living  in  Harrison  township  ;  Asenath,  who  died 
May  15,  1851  ;  Jane,  who  married  George  W.  Hoskinson,  and  who  died  at  Na- 
poleon, July  20,  1887  ;  George  E.,  now  residing  on  the  old  home  farm  in  Lib- 
erty township ;  Hester  Ann,  who  married  Samuel  C.  Hanna,  and  lives  in  In- 
dianapolis, Ind.;  Almira,  who  died  in  infancy;  Mahala,  who  died  in  infancy; 
and  Augusta,  who  died  in  infancy.  It  will  be  seen  from  this  record  that  of  a 
family  of  eleven  children,  but  three  are  now  living,  and  one  of  these  is  a  resi- 
dent of  Indiana. 


RORICK,  Hon.  E.  H.  At  the  growing  village  of  Fayette,  in  the  north- 
western part  of  Fulton  county,  is  the  residence  of  Dr.  Rorick,  of  which 
place  he  has  been  a  citizen  for  something  like  fifteen  years.  Here  he  enjoys 
the  reputation  of  being  a  leading  physician  and  surgeon,  and  this  is  shown  not 
only  in  his  extensive  and  lucrative  practice,  but  also  by  the  fact  that  his  lei- 
sure time  is  largely  devoted  to  study  with  a  view  of  further  improving  his  mind 
in  his  most  honorable  calling.  In  many  respects  the  life  of  Dr.  Rorick  dis- 
proves the  frequent  remark  that  self-made  men  do  not  exist  in  these  times,  as 
every  one  of  his  acquaintances  knows  that  for  many  years  the  early  life  of  Dr. 


630  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Rorick  was  one  of  hardships,  struggles  and  misfortunes,  but  they  also  know 
that  his  energy,  perseverance  and  strong  determination  overcame  every  mis- 
fortune and  surmounted  every  obstacle,  and  has  made  his  later  life  one  of  the 
most  gratifying  success. 

This  much  of  comment  on  the  part  of  the  biographer  will  certainly  be  par- 
donable, as  it  is  demonstrated  by  the  events  of  Dr.  Rorick's  life,  and  is,  furth- 
ermore, thoroughly  understood  by  his  most  intimate  friends  ;  nor  is  it  the  pur- 
pose of  this  sketch  to  dwell  upon,  or  even  to  narrate  the  various  accidents,  in- 
cidents or  misfortunes  that  have  happened  to  our  subject,  but  rather  to  present, 
in  a  general  way,  a  brief  outline  of  his  life,  together  with  some  of  the  impor- 
tant events  that  have  made  him  so  prominent  among  the  people  of  the  county, 
and  further  to  present  an  example  in  life,  notwithstanding  its  drawbacks,  that 
is  worthy  of  emulation. 

Estell  H.  Rorick  was  born  near  Morenci,  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  on  the 
first  day  of  September,  in  the  year  1842.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  and  on  the 
farm  young  Rorick  was  brought  up,  rendering  such  assistance  as  a  boy  could, 
and  attending  school  in  the  vicinity.  He  afterward  attended  school  at  the  Me- 
dina Academy,  and  a  school  of  higher  grade  at  Kalamazoo,  but  his  expenses 
here  were  paid  with  money  that  he  himself  had  earned.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years  he  commenced  teaching  and  so  continued  for  about  two  years,  after 
which  he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  under  the  instruction  of  Dr.  Weeds, 
a  prominent  physician  of  Medina,  Mich.  During  the  last  year  of  the  war  he 
accompanied  Dr.  Weeds  to  Nashville,  Tenn.,  where  he  acted  as  his  assistant  in 
the  army  hospital  in  that  city,  and  here  he  acquired  valuable  knowledge  and 
experience  in  surgery. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Rorick  returned  home  and  worked  on  the 
farm  for  about  two  years,  after  which  he  attended  the  medical  department  of  the 
University  of  Michigan  at  Ann  Arbor,  from  which  institution  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  the  spring  of  1869.  Then  not  seeing  a  favorable  opening  for  practice, 
he  found  employment  on  a  brick  yard  in  Lenawee  county,  where  he  worked 
for  some  months,  and  in  the  fall  of  1869  he  established  himself  for  practice  at 
Spring  Hill,  Dover  township,  in  this  county.  At  this  place  Dr.  Rorick  prac- 
ticed with  a  fair  degree  of  success  for  a  period  of  about  three  years,  when,  in 
the  spring  of  1872,  he  left  that  place  and  came  to  Fayette. 

Of  his  success  in  his  professional  labors  at  this  place  the  people  are  well 
aware,  and  of  his  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  village,  and  of  the  valuable  ser- 
vices rendered  by  him  in  his  lectures  at  the  Fayette  Normal  School  there  is 
abundant  evidence  which  needs  no  setting  forth  in  this  place. 

But  with  his  graduation  from  the  university  at  Ann  Arbor  the  studies  of 
our  subject  by  no  means  ceased  ;  his  life  thus  far  has  been  one  of  constant  study 
and  constant  advancement  in  his  profession.  After  locating  at  Fayette,  Dr. 
Rorick  attended  a  course  of  medical  lectures  at  Detroit ;  he  was  there  for  a 


Biographical.  631 


term  of  six  months  and  graduated  March  2,  1875.  Still  later  he  visited 
Scotland,  and  for  a  period  of  six  months  attended  lectures  at  the  University 
of  Edinburgh.  Again,  while  spending  a  winter  in  the  South,  he  took  a  course 
of  lectures  and  graduated  from  the  Alabama]  Medical  College  at  Mobile, 
March  15,  1883. 

It  is  quite  apparent  from  this  narrative  that  Dr.  Rorick's  time  has  been  de- 
voted almost  wholly  to  matters  pertaining  to  his  profession,  but  notwithstand- 
ing this  fact,  he  has  found  opportunity  to  show  a  commendable  zeal  and  patri- 
otism in  the  political  welfare  of  his  county.  In  1885  he,  at  the  solicitation  of 
friends,  became,  or  rather  allowed  his  name  to  go  before  the  people  as  a  candi- 
date, in  the  Republican  convention  for  nomination  for  the  office  of  representa- 
tive in  the  State  Legislature,  but  he  was  defeated  in  convention.  In  the  year 
1887  he  again  became  a  candidate  for  the  same  preferment,  this  time  with  suc- 
cess, for  he  was  nominated  and  at  the  polls,  on  November  8th,  was  elected  by 
a  good  round  majority. 

From  one  of  the  newspapers  of  Fulton  county  some  extracts  are  made  show- 
ing the  position  our  subject  occupies  among  his  own  people.  In  commenting 
upon  his  professional  career  it  says:  "From  the  start  he  never  claimed  to 
know  more  than  his  superiors,  and  frequently  called  in  council  such  well- 
known  physicians  as  Doctors  Hollister  and  Bennett,  and  securing  the  confi- 
dence-of  the  public,  his  practice  has  been  from  that  time  to  the  present,  very 
successful."  And  further,  in  speaking  of  the  interest  he  has  taken  in  educa- 
tional and  other  matters,  the  paper  continues:  "Dr.  Rorick  has  always  been 
identified  with  educational  interests  and  has  spared  neither  time  nor  money  to 
make  the  Normal  School  of  Fayette  a  success.  He  has  furnished  a  room  in 
that  institute  and  fitted  it  up  with  manikins,  models,  charts  and  suitable  appa- 
ratus, entirely  at  his  own  expense,  and  delivers  regular  courses  of  lectures  in 
anatomy,  physiology  and  hygiene,  free  of  charge.  He  is  practically  acquainted 
with  every  feature  of  agricultural  enterprise  and  runs  a  good  farm  himself, 
which  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  best  managed  in  his  section  of  country.  Being, 
therefore,  a  man  of  broad  views  and  wide  experience,  whose  integrity  has  never 
been  questioned,  he  can  safely  be  trusted  with  every  legitimate  interest  of  his 
constituency  and  no  jobs  or  class  legislation  will  ever  secure  his  support." 

The  domestic  and  home  life  of  our  subject  has  been  as  fully  pleasant  and 
agreeable  as  his  association  with  people  outside  these  sacred  precincts.  In  the 
year  1868,  while  a  resident  of  Lenawee  county,  Estell  H.  Rorick  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Mary  Acker,  the  daughter  of  George  Acker,  of  Morenci,  Mich. 
Of  this  marriage  there  have  been  born  three  bright  children,  and  of  these  two 
are  now  living. 


632  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

^ 

SCOFIELD,  JAMES  E.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1833,  a  number  of 
pioneers  and  their  families  ascended  the  Maumee  River  in  rudely  con- 
structed boats.  Among  these  was  the  family  of  Jared  Scofield,  a  former  resi- 
dent of  Delaware  county,  N.  Y.,  who  settled  on  lands  in  that  part  of  Henry 
county  that  was  known  as  Flat  Rock  township.  Here  he  had  a  tract  of  for- 
est land,  ninety  acres  in  extent,  that  required  the  attention  of  himself  and  sons 
for  some  months  before  it  was  fit  for  tillage.  , 

After  a  residence  at  this  place  of  only  three  years  Jared  Scofield  died.  His 
first  wife  died  two  years  before  this,  but  he  had  remarried.  In  the  family  were 
nine  children,  of  whom  James  Edwin  Scofield,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
the  third.  He  was  born  near  Unadilla,  Delaware  county,  N.  Y.,  on  the  13th 
day  of  May,  1821,  therefore  at  the  time  of  his  father's  settlement  in  this  county 
he  was  but  twelve  years  old.  He  lived  at  home  until  his  father  died,  after 
which  a  guardian  was  appointed  for  him,  and  he  was  put  to  work  on  farms,  at 
which  he  continued  faithfully  until  about  nineteen  years  of  age,  when  he  went 
to  Lancaster,  Fairfield  county,  and  took  up  his  residence  with  an  uncle,  where 
he  remained  one  summer  attending  school.  He  then  returned  to  this  county 
and  resumed  general  work  on  the  farm  and  the  canal,  which  was  then  in  course 
of  construction,  and  so  continued  until  the  fall  of  1 846  when  he  was  elected 
surveyor  of  Henry  county.  In  this  office  he  served  two  terms  of  three  years 
each.  During  these  years  Mr.  Scofield,  with  his  earnings,  started  a- general 
merchandise  business  at  Florida,  in  Flat  Rock  township. 

Mr.  Scofield,  on  the  i6th  day  of  September,  1849,  took  to  himself  a 
wife  in  the  person  of  Catharine  Elizabeth  Loesch,  daughter  of  George  A. 
Loesch,  of  Flat  Rock  township.  Of  this  marriage  seven  children  have 
been  born,  six  of  whom  are  still  living.  In  1850  Mr.  Scofield  was  appointed 
postmaster  at  Florida,  and  continued  in  office  until  1856,  at  which  time  he 
was  officially  decapitated  for  not  supporting  Mr.  Buchanan  as  a  presidential 
candidate;  he  was,  however,  reappointed  in  1861  and  held  the  position 
until  1864,  when  he  resigned  and  moved  to  Okolola,  where  he  again  en- 
gaged in  trade,  and  when  a  post-office  station  was  established  at  that  place,  in 
1865,  Mr.  Scofield  was  made  postmaster,  and  so  held  until  1869,  at  which  time 
he  ceased  the  mercantile  business,  resigned  the  office  and  returned  to  his  farm ; 
he,  however,  continued  to  hold  his  commission  as  postmaster  until  1872,  as  his 
resignation  was  not  accepted  prior  to  that  time.  From  that  to  the  present 
time  Mr.  Scofield  has  been  numbered  among  the  thrifty,  persevering  and  suc- 
cessful farmers  of  Flat  Rock.  In  the  affairs  of  the  township  and  county  he  has 
always  taken  an  active  interest,  and  has  frequently  been  chosen  by  his  towns- 
men to  fill  some  of  the  important  offices  in  their  gift ;  in  1 846  he  was  elected 
county  surveyor,  as  the  nominee  of  the  Democracy,  and  affihated  with  that  par- 
ty until  1856,  when  he  supported  John  C.  Fremont,  but  since  that  campaign 
he  has  been  an  active,  earnest  Republican.     Since  about  1852  Mr.  Scofield  has 


Biographical.  633 


held  some  office  within  the  township  of  Flat  Rock,  and  rarely  has  he  been  de- 
feated, although  at  no  time  in  all  these  years  has  there  been  a  Republican  ma- 
joriry  therein  ;  first  he  was  elected  township  clerk  and  justice  of  the  peace,  and 
held  the  last  named  office  for  three  terms  ;  he  has  been  township  treasurer  one 
term  ;  assessor  two  or  three  terms ;  road  supervisor,  school  director,  and,  at 
the  present  time  is  school  director,  township  trustee  and  justice  of  the  peace. 
These  several  and  long-continued  political  holdings  in  a  Democratic  township 
attest  the  honesty,  integrity  and  faithfulness  in  the  discharge  of  duty,  of  James 
E.  Scofield,  and  place  him  in  the  enviable  position  of  possessing  the  confidence 
of  his  fellowmen. 


SCRIBNER,  A.  B.  In  the  year  1818  there  came  to  the  Maumee  Valley 
the  family  of  Elisha  Scribner,  a  native  and  former  resident  of  Onondaga 
county,  N.  Y.  The  family  did  not,  however,  come  directly  to  this  locality 
upon  leaving  the  Empire  State,  but  went  to  Cincinnati,  thence  to  Greeneville, 
Darke  county,  and  from  the  last  named  place  came  to  that  part  of  the  Maumee 
Valley  that  was,  two  years  later,  erected  into  the  county  of  Henry,  and  at  the 
point  then  known  as  Prairie  du  Masque. 

Elisha  Scribner  was  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  The 
pioneer  lived  only  ten  or  twelve  years  in  this  county  when  he  was  taken 
away  by  the  hand  of  death. 

Edwin  Scribner,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  one  of  the  younger  children 
of  Elisha,  and  was  some  ten  or  twelve  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  family's 
settlement  in  this  valley.  At  about  the  age  of  twenty-one  Edwin  Scribner 
married  Lucinda  Bucklin,  of  which  marriage  seven  children  were  born,  and  of 
these  children,  Allen  Bawher  Scribner,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  next  to 
the  oldest.  That  Edwin  Scribner  was  one  of  the  most  enterprising  men  of  the 
county  is  fully  shown  by  the  following  narrative  of  the  events  of  the  life  of  his 
son  during  the  days  of  young  manhood.  He  was,  moreover,  deeply  interested 
in  all  that  pertained  to  the  welfare  and  education  of  his  own  family  and  the 
people  of  the  county  as  well.  For  many  terms  he  was  a  teacher  of  the  schools 
of  his  vicinity,  and  among  those  who  were  his  pupils  can  be  named  some  of 
the  most  prosperous  business  men  and  farmers  of  the  county. 

Allen  B.  Scribner  was  born  on  the  25th  day  of  March,  in  the  year  1835,  in 
what  was  then  Damascus  township,  but  is  now  included  within  the  boundaries 
of  Washington  township.  He  was  brought  up  on  the  farm,  performing  such 
work  as  could  be  done  by  a  boy,  and  on  every  occasion  possible  attending 
school,  with  the  desire  of  acquiring  an  education  more  extended  than  was 
given  in  the  schools  of  the  locality;  but  it  seems  that  much  of  his  time  was  re- 
quired by  his  father  in  the  work  on  the  farm  and  at  the  saw-mill,  where  he  was 
chief  assistant,  not  only  at  the  work,  but  in  keeping  the  books  and  attending 
generally  to  the  business.     When  about  twenty- three  years  of  age  young 

80 


634  History  of  Henry  and  Fuuton  Counties. 

Scribner  obtained  his  father's  consent  for  a  course  of  collegiate  study,  and 
although  the  son  had  devised  a  plan  whereby  the  necessary  expense  could  be 
defrayed  without  parental  assistance,  nevertheless  the  father  insisted  upon 
paying  the  same,  and  made  that  the  only  condition  of  his  son's  action. 

In  the  year  1859  Mr.  Scribner  entered  Heidelberg  College,  at  Tiffin,  O., 
where  he  remained  but  a  single  year,  and  then,  in  the  fall  of  i860,  entered  the 
Ohio  Wesleyan  University  at  Delaware,  taking  a  classical  course.  From  this 
institution  he  did  not  graduate,  but  left  during  his  senior  year  to  accept  a 
traveling  situation  with  a  large  publishing  house  of  New  York  city.  This 
action  was  in  part  induced  by  one  of  the  college  faculty,  by  whom  young 
Scribner  had  been  highly  recommended  to  the  firm  as  a  young  man  of  supe- 
rior qualifications. 

In  the  same  year  in  which  he  left  college  Mr.  Scribner  was  married  to 
Mary  Catharine  Potter,  daughter  of  John  Potter,  of  Delaware  county,  O.  Of 
this  marriage  five  children  have  been  born,  three  of  whom  are  still  living. 

For  a  period  of  four  years  Mr.  Scribner  was  connected  with  the  publishing 
house,  performing  satisfactorily  every  duty  to  which  he  was  assigned,  and  the 
experience  acquired  by  him  during  these  years  was  of  benefit  equal  to  his 
salary,  as  he  was  brought  constantly  into  association  with  men  of  under- 
standing and  recognized  ability,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  readily  judge  of 
men  and  men's  natures,  which  has  proved  of  great  value  to  him  in  business 
life. 

After  having  severed  his  connection  with  this  firm  Mr.  Scribner  returned 
home,  and  for  five  years  thereafter  managed  his  father's  farm.  This,  too,  was 
a  successful  venture,  and  a  source  of  profit.  In  1871  he  left  the  farm  and 
moved  to  Napoleon,  and  engaged  in  manufacture  connected  with  a  foundry 
and  machine  shop,  ,under  the  firm  style  of  Scribner  &  Badeau,  and  was  so 
continued  for  about  one  year  when  the  firm  became  Scribner  &  James ;  but, 
still  later,  was  entirely  owned  and  managed  by  our  subject  until  it  was  finally 
closed.  In  1875  he  started  a  fire  insurance  business  at  Napoleon,  and  con- 
tinued it  about  two  years,  when  he  retired,  and,  in  i877,.estabHshed  an  agri- 
cultaral  implement  business,  which  he  has  since  successfully  managed.  To 
this,  in  1880,  was  added  a  general  and  extensive  hardware  stock,  the  com- 
bined interests  requiring  Mr.  Scribner's  whole  time  and  attention. 

In  all  his  business  relations  and  associations  with  men  Mr.  Scribner  has 
been  governed  and  actuated  by  principles  of  entire  fairness,  honesty  and  per- 
severance, and  in  his  multitude  of  transactions  no  word  is  spoken  against  his 
integrity,  and  no  man  can  well  say  to  the  contrary.  These  qualities  have  not 
only  made  him  a  leading  business  man  of  the  county,  but  one  who  possesses 
the  confidence,  respect  and  esteem  of  his  fellow- men. 


BlOGKAPHICAL.  635- 


TROWBRIDGE,  LYMAN.  In  the  town  of  Pike,  Wyoming  county,  State 
of  New  York,  on  the  3d  day  of  December,  1822,  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born.  His  parents  were  Asahel  and  Betsey  (Murray)  Trowbridge.  He 
is  descended  from  a  highly  respected  family  named  Trowbridge,  that  have  for 
more  than  a  century  past  lived  in  Connecticut,  where  the  name  is  more  com- 
mon than  in  the  west.  The  father  of  our  subject  was  a  farmer,  and  on  the 
farm  Lyman  lived,  attending  school  in  season,  and  working  during  other 
months  until  he  was  about  fifteen  years  old  when  the  family  moved  to  Niagara 
county.  From  this  time  until  he  was  twenty-two  years  old  Lyman  worked 
out  by  the  month,  except  for  a  period  of  about  three  years,  during  which  time 
he  was  too  sick  to  perform  ordinary  farm  work.  But  notwithstanding  his  early 
sickness  he  managed  to  save  some  money  while  working,  most  of  which  was 
sent  to  his  parents,  they  being  in  modest  circumstances. 

In  1845  01  the  30th  day  of  January,  Lyman  Trowbridge  married  Olive 
Gushing,  a  daughter  of  Charles  Cushing,  of  Niagara  county.  This  devoted 
wife  and  most  estimable  woman  shared  the  trials  and  successes  of  her  husband 
for  nearly  forty  years,  and  died  surrounded  with  all  of  the  comforts  of  life  on 
the  29th  day  of  May,  1884.  Two  children  were  born  of  this  marriage,  one  of 
whom  died  in  infancy,  the  other,  Cora,  became  the  wife  of  Maximus  Eugene 
Loose,  a  business  man  now  residing  at  Napoleon. 

In  the  year  next  succeeding  his  marriage  Mr.  Trowbridge  became  superin- 
tendent of  the  Niagara  county  poor  house  and  farm,  which  property  is  known 
in  Ohio  as  the  Infirmary.  After  a  year  on  the  county  farm  he  moved  to  Lock- 
port  and  engaged  with  his  brother  in  the  manufacture  of  shingles  by  machinery, 
using  horse  power.  This  they  continued  some  three  or  four  years,  when  they 
changed  to  the  manufacture  of  barrel  staves,  which  was  successfully  continued 
for  twelve  years,  and  then,  in  1864,  moved  to  Toledo,  O.  In  the  fall  of  1866, 
Mr.  Trowbridge  came  to  Napoleon  and  erected  a  stave-mill,  but  did  not  make 
that  point  his  residence  until  1867.  The  business  relations  with  his  brother 
were  continued  until  the  latter  part  of  1870,  when  Lyman  became  sole  propri- 
etor of  the  Napoleon  factory,  the  brother  taking  that  at  Toledo. 

The  manufacture  of  staves  and  heading  has  been  the  recognized  business  that 
has  engaged  the  attention  of  Trowbridge  for  many  years,  and  in  it  he  has  been 
remarkably  successful.  Incidental  to  the  business,  and  connected  with  it,  he 
has  handled  large  tracts  of  land,  clearing  off  the  timber  and  making  fine  farm- 
ing lands.  During  his  twenty  years  of  residence  in  Henry  county  he  has  here 
paid  out  for  material  and  labor  the  gross  sum  of  eight  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

In  addition  to  his  business  interests  at  Napoleon,  in  the  year  1878,  Mr. 
Trowbridge  established  a  stave  factory  at  North  Baltimore,  and  another  at  De- 
fiance, which  were  run  by  him  for  several  years,  but  subsequently  sold.  After 
the  sale  of  the  North   Baltimore   factory,  he  purchased  a  large  tract  of  wood- 


'636  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

land  at  Jewell,  Defiance  county,  where  he  built  extensive  works  and  erected 
thirteen  dwellings  for  employees.  Again,  in  1 882,  in  company  with  his  brother, 
he  bought  the  stave  works  at  Freeland,  Mich.,  but  after  about  two  years  be- 
came sole  proprietor  and  still  conducts  it.  In  1886  the  Napoleon  factory  was 
removed  to  Henry  township.  Wood  county,  and  its  management  given  over 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Loose.  It  will  be  seen  from  these  facts  that  Lyman 
Trowbridge  has  not  been,  in  any  sense,  a  public  man ;  he  haS  had  neither  the 
disposition  nor  the  time  to  indulge  in  the  worry  of  political  life ;  he  has  sought 
no  office  nor  station  other  than  that  to  which  he  was  clearly  entitled — that  of 
a  leading  business  man  of  the  community ;  nevertheless,  any  enterprise,  any 
public  project  that  has  seemed  likely  to  promote  the  general  welfare,  has  found 
in  him  a  generous  and  efficient  helper.  For  the  erection  and  support  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  at  Napoleon,  he  appears  as  one  of  the  most  liberal  cash 
contributors,  but  his  donations  for  charitable  and  church  purposes  have  been 
by  no  means  limited  to  these  gifts  alone,  as  many  other  similar  institutions 
have  been  the  recipients  of  his  bounty  and  his  generosity.  While  not  a  man 
claiming  a  finished  education  or  exceptional  brilliance,  his  fund  of  general 
knowledge  is  shown  to  be  comprehensive  and  useful,  and  is  underlaid  by 
sound  common  sense  and  excellent  judgment  of  men  and  affairs.  Behind 
all  of  this  a  character  noted  wherever  his  name  is  known  for  sterling  integrity 
and  worth. 


TYLER,  Hon.  J.  H.  Justin  Howard  Tyler,  the  fourth  child  and  third  son 
of  Peter  and  Eunice  (Hebard)  Tyler,  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  born 
at  Leyden,  in  Franklin  county,  on  the  isth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  18 15. 
When  Justin  was  but  one  year  old  the  family  moved  to  Oswego  county,  N. 
Y.  Here  our  subject  passed  the  days  of  boyhood  and  youth,  attending  the 
common  district  schools  and  the  academy,  laying  the  foundation  for  an  edu- 
cation that  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  later  years.  After  passing  his  eight- 
eenth year,  Justin  found  employment  on  the  farm  during  the  summer  months, 
and  in  teaching  during  the  winter.  In  the  year  1839,  then  being  arrived  at 
the  age  of  twenty-four  years,  young  Tyler  left  Oswego  county,  and  came  to 
Circleville,  Pickaway  county,  O.,  where  an  elder  brother  was  engaged  in  teach- 
ing, and  by  whom  he  was  induced  to  come  to  that  locality.  For  a  period  of 
about  three  years  he  was  enployed  in  teaching  school,  devoting  his  leisure  time, 
however,  to  the  study  of  the  law  under  the  instruction  of  Daniel  Lord  Smith,  a 
leading  lawyer  of  the  place,  and  in  the  fall  of  1841,  at  Mt.  Vernon,  O.,  he  was 
regularly  admitted  to  the  bar,  but  he  continued  teaching,  and  was  so  engaged 
more  or  less  of  the  time  until  the  year  1845. 

Although  Mr.  Tyler  had  formed  a  determination  to,  and  did  prepare  himself 
for  and  enter  the  legal  profession,  he  was,  however,  prevented,  for  a  time  at 
least,  from  engaging  in  active  practice ;  his  means  were  limited,  and  the  pro- 


Biographical.  637 


fession  at  that  time  gave  but  little  promise  of  abundant  remuneration.  In  1843 
he  was  called  back  to  the  home  of  his  parents  in  Oswego  county,  by  a  serious 
accident  to  his  father.  Here  he  remained  for  about  one  year,  when  the  prop- 
erty was  sold,  after  which,  accompanied  by  his  father  and  mother,  he  returned 
to  Ohio,  and  made  for  them  a  home  at  Huron,  where  he  established  his  father 
in  a  business  which  proved  quite  successful,  and  enabled  them  to  live  comforta- 
bly during  the  remainder  of  their  lives.  In  1844  Justin  moved  to  Huron,  Erie 
county,  and  continued  to  reside  there  until  1852,  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law. 

In  1847  Mr.  Tyler  returned  to  Oswego  county,  and,  on  the  9th  day  of  June, 
of  that  year,  was  married  to  Miss  Alice  Olmsted.  Of  that  marriage  seven 
children  were  born,  five  of  whom  died  during  infancy.  Romaine  Tyler,  one  of 
the  children  that  survived,  was  well  and  popularly  known  in  this  locality.  He 
served  four  months  in  the  army,  and  died  at  Napoleon,  in  the  year  1879.  Jus- 
tin Arthur  Tyler,  the  other  son,  is  now  engaged  in  a  successful  business  at  Fort 
Wayne.  Mr.  Tyler's  first  visit  to  Napoleon  was  made  in  the  year  1844,  but 
was  of  only  a  few  days'  duration,  and  while  on  his  way  to  Indiana,  where  he  in- 
tended to  locate,  and  where  he  had  some  property.  He  remained  there  but 
about  two  months,  when  in  deference  to  his  wife's  wishes,  he  returned  to  Hu- 
ron, and  resumed  his  practice.  Here  he  continued  with  moderate  success  until 
the  latter  part  of  the  year  1852,  when  he  determined  to  locate  at  the  county 
seat  of  Henry  county,  to  which  place,  with  his  family,  he  immediately  moved, 
and  took  his  place  among  the  members  of  the  Henry  county  bar. 

Then  being  a  young  man,  in  the  enjoyment  of  excellent  health,  possessing 
a  good  understanding  of  the  law,  and  being,  withal,  an  able  advocate  before 
the  court  and  jury,  Mr.  Tyler  at  once  took  a  front  rank  among  the  leading  law- 
yers of  Northwestern  Ohio  ;  a  position  to  which  he  was  justly  entitled  by  every 
professional  consideration,  and  one  that  he  maintained  so  long  as  he  was  en- 
gaged in  active  practice.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  cautious  and  methodical.  It  has 
always  been  his  policy  to  discountenance  rather  than  to  promote  litigation,  and 
in  his  intercourse  with  his  clients  mature  deliberation  always  precedes  counsel. 
In  presenting  a  case  to  the  jury  he  addresses  himself  to  the  understanding  of  his 
hearers,  rather  than  appealing  to  their  passions,  and  approaches  the  subject  in 
hand  with  dignity,  self-possession,  and  in  the  light  of  principle  and  common 
sense.  A  noticeable  feature  in  his  professional  life  has  been  the  interest  he  has 
taken  in  fitting  young  men  to  become  lawyers,  and  it  is  a  conceded  fact  that 
more  attorneys  have  obtained  their  early  legal  education  in  his,  than  in  the  office 
of  any  other  practitioner  in  the  county ;  and  among  the  many  who  may  be  said 
to  have  been  graduates  from  the  office  of  Justin  H.  Tyler,  there  may  be  named 
some  of  the  brightest  legal  minds  in  Henry  county.  Naturally  enough  being 
possessed  of  much  personal  and  professional  popularity,  Mr.  Tyler  could  not 
well  avoid  being  drawn  somewhat  into  the  arena  of  politics,  but  he  has  by  no 
means  been  an  office-seeker,  as  his  nature  is  directly  the  opposite  of  whatever 


638  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

constitutes  that  character.  In  1854,  after  a  residence  of  but  two  years  in  the 
county,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  prosecuting  attorney,  and  re-elected  at 
the  expiration  of  his  first  term.  In  1881  he  was  chosen  to  represent  the  county 
in  the  State  Legislature,  being  nominated  and  elected  by  the  Republican  party, 
and  receiving  a  majority  of  six  hundred  and  sixty-five,  while  the  standing  ma- 
jority of  the  opposition  party  in  the  county  reached  about  twelve  hundred. 

On  all  the  political  questions  of  the  times  Mr.  Tyler  entertains  clear  and  well 
settled  convictions,  and  is  perfectly  frank  and  open  in  the  expression  of  them ; 
still  he  is  inclined  to  adhere  to  the  established  order  of  things,  and  not  easily  led 
by  any  of  the  isms  of  the  day.  As  the  county's  prosecutor  he  was  elected  upon 
the  Democratic  ticket,  but,  with  the  general  disintegration  of  parties,  about  the 
time  of  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  old 
Whig  party,  he  found  an  acceptable  candidate  in  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  has  since 
been  identified  with  the  Republican  party,  and  was  elected  representative  as 
the  nominee  of  that  party  in  1881,  being  the  only  Republican  ever  elected  to 
that  office  from  Henry  county.  Prior  to  that  organization's  coming  into  ex- 
istence he  was  a  liberal  Whig. 

In  every  measure  looking  to  the  advancement  and  progress  of  the  village  of 
Napoleon,  and  the  county  as  well,  Mr.  Tyler  has  taken  an  active  interest,  and 
contributed  of  his  means  to  every  worthy  cause.  In  the  proceedings  that  re- 
sulted in  the  incorporation  of  Napoleon  he  engaged  actively,  and  was  elected 
the  first  mayor  of  the  village,  and  was  subsequently  re-elected  to  the  same 
office.  F"or  some  years  he  was  president  of  the  local  board  of  education,  and 
did  his  full  share  in  advancing  the  schools  of  the  village  to  their  present  high 
standing.  In  matters  pertaining  to  the  church,  and  to  the  erection  of  church 
edifices  generally  throughout  the  entire  county,  he  has  contributed  liberally  of 
his  means,  without  regard  to  denomination.  The  lot  on  which  stands  the 
Presbyterian  Church  edifice  at  Napoleon,  was  his  free  gift  to  the  society,  and 
added  thereto  was  a  goodly  cash  donation. 

In  connection  with  his  extensive  law  practice  he  has  made  many  invest- 
ments in  real  estate,  and  profited  by  the  gradual  increase  in  values,  until  now, 
having  passed  the  seventieth  year  of  his  life,  he  has  given  his  law  practice  into 
the  charge  of  his  son,  and  devotes  himself  to  the  care  of  his  other  business  in- 
terests, still  retaining,  however,  an  advisory  position  among  his  old  clients. 

While  the  professional  and  business  life  of  our  subject  have  been  entirely 
successful,  his  home  and  fireside  have  been  invaded  by  the  destroyer,  death. 
Of  the  seven  children  born  of  his  first  marriage,  one  only  now  survives.  His 
wife,  Alice  (Olmsted)  Tyler,  died  on  the  2d  day  of  January,  i860,  leaving  to  the 
father  the  care  of  two  children.  After  living  a  widower  for  more  than  a  year, 
Mr.  Tyler  in  February,  1861,  married  Hattie  M.  Peck,  of  Franklin  county,  Mass. 
Of  this  marriage  four  children  have  been  born,  viz.:  Julian  Howard,  a  young 
and  active  attorney  of  Napoleon;  Willie  Peck,  now  a  law  student  in  his  brother's 


Biographical.  639 


office ;  Nathaniel    Pickens,  now  living  at  home,  and   George  Hebard,  now  in 
Boston,  Mass. 


VAUGHAN,  JAMES  C.  There  are  but  few,  if  any,  of  the  residents  of 
Fulton  county  that  have  a  more  extended  and  favorable  acquaintance 
therein  than  the  present  member  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners,  whose 
name  appears  in  the  heading  of  this  sketch.  Mr.  Vaughan  was  born  at  Ai,  in 
Fulton  township  of  this  county,  on  the  30th  day  of  August,  1835.  His  father, 
Alexander  Vaughan,  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  that  locality,  having  settled 
here  in  April,  1835,  on  lands  then  in  the  State  of  Michigan,  or,  as  will  be  more 
clearly  understood,  on  the  "  disputed  strip."  Alexander  Vaughan  was  a 
Pennsylvanian  by  birth,  being  a  native  of  Westmoreland  county,  but,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  years,  came  to  Holmes  county,  this  State,  and  from  thence  to 
Fulton  in  1835.  In  his  family  were  nine  children,  of  whom  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  the  fourth,  in  the  order  of  seniority. 

In  the  year  1 847,  when  James  was  but  twelve  years  old,  his  father  died,  but 
about  one  year  later  his  mother  married  again.  James  continued  to  live  at 
home  until  he  attained  his  fifteenth  year,  at  which  age  he  started  out  to  make 
his  own  way  in  life.  He  w^orked  on  a  farm  during  the  summer,  and  attended 
the  district  school  in  the  winter  until  about  twenty  years  old,  when  he  went 
to  Toledo  and  filled  the  position  of  turnkey,  and  one  year  thereafter  that  of 
deputy  sheriff,  at  the  county  jail.  After  three  years  he  returned  to  Ai  and  be- 
gan improvements  on  the  land  that  came  to  him  through  his  father's  death, 
and  also  cleared  and  improved  other  lands  that  he  had  purchased  here. 

About  this  time,  and  on  the  20th  day  of  March,  i860,  Mr.  Vaughan  was 
married  to  Harriet  A.,  daughter  of  William  Taylor,  of  Lucas  county.  Of  this 
marriage  eight  children  were  born,  and  six  of  them  are  still  living.  After  a 
pleasant  married  life  of  over  seventeen  years,  Harriet  A.  Vaughan  was  taken 
away  by  the  hand  of  death.  Some  two  years  later,  and  on  the  iSth  day  of 
January,  1879,  Mr.  Vaughan  married  Julia  Turney,  of  Lucas  county.  Two 
children,  both  of  whom  are  living,  were  the  fruit  of  this  marriage. 

In  1862  Mr.  Vaughan  established  a  mercantile  business  at  Ai,  in  partner- 
ship with  Ozias  Merrill,  and  continued  for  about  two  and  one-half  years,  when 
Mr.  Merrill  succeeded  to  the  proprietorship  thereof,  and  our  subject  moved  to 
a  farm,  or  tract  of  wild  land  in  Fulton  township,  which  he  cleared  and  made 
valuable  for  agricultural  purposes.  Here  he  resided  until  the  fall  of  1884, 
when  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  county  commissioner,  and  in  March  fol- 
lowing moved  to  the  village  of  Swanton,  where  he  has  since  resided. 

Having  held  this  important  county  office  for  three  years,  and  performed  its 
duties  with  entire  satisfaction  to  the  people,  and  with  credit  to  himself,  Mr. 
Vaughan  was  renominated  for  a  second  term,  and  in  November,  1887,  was 
again  re-elected  by  a  good  majority. 


640  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

In  the  political  affairs  of  the  county  Mr.  Vaughan  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  the  interest  of  an  honest  and  faithful  administration  of  public  trusts.  In  his 
preferences  he  adheres  to  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party,  although  not 
radical  in  his  views,  or  loud  in  his  advocacy  of  party  theories.  As  a  resident 
of  Fulton  township  he  has  been  equally  interested  in  its  affairs,  and  frequently 
held  township  offices;  from  1858  to  i860  he  was  postmaster  at  Ai.  It  is  no 
flattery  to  say  in  concluding  this  sketch,  that  among  the  people  of  Fulton 
county  James  C.  Vaughan  is  a  man  highly  respected  for  straightforward  hon- 
esty and  integrity ;  and  one  whose  every  transaction  in  life,  both  public  and 
private,  will  bear  the  closest  investigation  and  scrutiny. 


VERITY,  Hon.  O.  B.,  was  descended  from  parental  stock  who  emigrated  to 
Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  in  the  reign  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  of  England.  James 
Verity,  on  the  paternal  side,  was  a  Frenchman  born  in  the  north  of  France, 
and  belonged  to  the  French  army  on  the  confines  of  Turkey,  in  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV  of  France.  He  was  a  prisoner  upon  Turkish  soil.  While  a  pris- 
oner he  had  formed  an  attachment  with  a  Turkish  woman,  and  by  some  means 
got  away  from  the  Turks,  and  with  this  woman  came  back  to  France,  where 
they  were  married,  and  soon  afterward  came  to  Long  Island,  as  above  stated. 
The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  James  Verity,  was  born  in  1760,  in  Queens 
county,  L.  I.,  and,  in  1781,  was  married  to  one  Hannah  Gritman,  of  German 
descent,  and  born  in  the  same  county.  James  G.  Verity,  father  of  O.  B. 
Verity,  was  the  third  child  of  this  union,  and  was  born  in  Queens  county  Jan- 
uary 21,  1786.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  Quaker, 
a  weaver  by  trade,  living  at  Nine  Partners,  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y,  at  which 
trade  he  worked  until  the  age  of  twenty-  one  years,  when  he  went  to  Rensselaer 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  worked  in  the  cotton  factories  then  running  at  Schaghticoke 
Valley,  on  the  Hoosick  River,  in  said  county,  for  several  years.  In  the  year 
181 1  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Miss  Eunice  Banker,  of  Pittstown,  Rensse- 
laer county,  and  was  married  to  her  February  12,  18 12.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  the  youngest  child  of  Adolphus  and  Ruth  Banker,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Ruth  Oakley,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  but  of  English  parentage. 
Oliver  B.  Verity,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  the  first  child  of  this  union, 
and  was  born  in  Pittstown,  Rensselaer  county,  January  8,  1815.  He  may  be 
called  a  St.  Jackson  man,  having  been  born  on  the  day  and  in  the  year  that 
Andrew  Jackson  fought  and  whipped  the  British  at  New  Orleans.  In  1830 
his  parents  moved  from  Lansingburgh,  and  lived  for  a  short  time  in  the  town 
of  Sempronius,  Cayuga  county,  between  Skaneateles  and  Owasco  Lakes,  and, 
in  1831,  again  moved  to  the  town  of  Lysander,  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y., 
where  his  mother,  Eunice  Verity,  died  in  1834,  and  his  father,  James  G., 
in  1840.  Both  were  buried  in  the  cemetery  at  Plainville,  in  the  town  of 
Lysander. 


Biographical.  641 


Oliver  B.  Verity  was  married  to  Celome  Scofield,  at  PlainviUe,  town  of 
Lysander,  Onondaga  county,  February  28,  1838.  In  1843  they  came  to  Gor- 
ham  township,  Lucas,  afterwards  Fulton  county,  O.,  and  first  settled  on  section 
nine,  but  later  upon  section  sixteen.  In  the  fall  of  1857  Mr.  Verity  was  elected 
to  the  office  of  probate  judge,  and  moved  to  Ottokee,  then  the  county  seat  of 
Fulton  county,  on  February  17,  1858,  where  he  now  resides.  There  were  six 
children  born  of  their  marriage,  only  two  of  whom  are  living:  Amasa  B. 
Verity,  at  Bay  City,  Mich.,  and  Oliver  A.  Verity,  at  Toledo,  O.  Celome,  the 
wife  of  Judge  Verity,  was  the  daughter  of  Amasa  B.  and  Polly  (Lee)  Scofield, 
both  from  Connecticut,  who  were  married  in  18 17,  at  Marcellus,  Onondaga 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  who,  in  1819,  moved  to  Plainville,  town  of  Lysander,  in 
that  county. 

Oliver  B.  Verity  was  elected  school  examiner  for  the  town  of  Lysander,  in 
April,  1838,  and  served  one  year.  He  held  the  office  of  township  clerk  in 
Gorham  nine  years  in  succession;  in  1855  he  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace, 
but  resigned  the  office  to  accept  the  position  of  probate  judge.     In  the  fall  of 

1857  he  was  elected  probate  judge  of  the  county,  taking  his  seat  February  9, 

1858  ;  he  was  three  times  re-elected  and  served  the  people  of  the  county  twelve 
years  ending  February  9,  1870.  In  the  fall  of  1852  he  was  elected  land 
appraiser  for  the  district  composed  of  the  townships  of  Gorham,  Chesterfield 
and  Royalton,  and  made  the  tour  of  said  townships  in  1853,  and  reported  to 
the  auditor  of  the  county. 

In  1846,  under  the  old  constitution,  and  when  it  was  Lucas  county,  he  was 
appointed  a  sub-school  examiner  to  examine  applicants  for  teaching  in  Gorham 
township  alone,  which  he  held  until  Fulton  county  was  organized,  April  i 
1850.  Under  the  new  constitution  of  1851  he  was  appointed  by  Samuel  Gillis 
to  the  office  of  county  school  examiner,  which  he  held  until  he  took  his  seat  as 
probate  judge.  The  same  year,  after  leaving  the  probate  office,  he  was  chosen 
as  assistant  marshal  for  the  purpose  of  taking  the  census  for  the  year  of  1870, 
of  Dover,  Chesterfield,  Royalton,  and  Amboy,  which  was  completed  in  August 
of  that  year.  In  April,  1874,  he  was  chosen  superintendent  of  the  newly 
■erected  county  infirmary,  and  held  that  position  until  March  i,  1880.  He  has 
held  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  from  April,  1870,  to  the  present  time, 
■except  six  years  in  the  county  infirmary ;  has  been  two  years  township  clerk, 
and  one  year  as  trustee  of  Dover  township.  Since  1 870  he  has  been  a  juror  in 
the  United  States  District  Court  for  the  northern  district  of  Ohio  six  times. 
On  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  presidency  of  the  United  States, 
April  9,  1 86 1,  he  was  chosen  as  postmaster  at  Ottokee,  and  held  the  same 
until  May,  1885,  a  trifle  over  twenty-four  years. 

81 


BRIEF    PERSONALS 


ABBS,  SQUIRE  WILLIAM,  Ridgeville,  Ridgeville  Corners,  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Cambridge- 
shire, England,  in  1837,  and  was  a  son  of  Adua  and  Elizabeth  CWilson)  Abbs,  who  emi- 
grated to,  and  settled  in  Saratoga  county,  N.  T.,  in  1851,  where  Adna  died  in  1871  leaving  a 
widow  and  eight  children.     William  enlisted  in  the  13th  New  York  Marine  Artillery,  Company 

F,  January  4, 1864: ;  was  mustered  out  of  the  6th  New  York  Heavy  Artillery,  Company  H,  Aug- 
ust 26,  1865,  at  Washington.  He  settled  in  Ridgeville  in  1866  and  became  engaged  in  the  lum- 
ber business  and  in  1873  he  turned  his  attention  toward  farming.  He  was  married  December 
20, 1866,  to  Mrs.  Polly  (Welder)  Thompson.  They  had  one  child,  Lizzie  Ann.  Mrs.  Polly's  first 
husband  was  Mr.  Isaac  Thompson,  who  was  born  in  Bangor,  Maine,  in  1832  and  died  in  1865,  leav- 
ing four  children :  R.  A.,  M.  J.,  L.  0.  and  Ida  B.  Isaac  enlisted  in  the  12th  Ohio  Cavalry  in 
1863,  was  taken  prisoner  at  Richmond,  wounded,  and  died  April  14,  1865.  Polly  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  George  and  Catharine  Welder,  of  Ashland  county,  who  settled  in  Ridgeville  in  1852, 
where  they  died  leaving  five  children.  William  has  been  constable,  supervisor,  treasurer  from 
1872-79,  school  director  and  justice  of  the  peace. 

Ackley,  Calvin,  G-orham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  retired  pioneer  farmer,  was  born  in  Winfield,  Her- 
kimer county,  N.  Y.,  in  1815,  and  was  a  son  of  Sterling  and  Lydia  (Bronson)  Ackley,  of  Con- 
necticut. Lydia  died  in  Fairfield  county,  0.,  in  1837.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  but 
two  of  whom  are  now  living,  Nancy  and  Calvin.  Calvin  was  married  in  1837  to  Gertrude 
Walker,  who  was  born  in  New  Jersey.  She  died  in  1854,  leaving  a  family  of  five  children : 
Leman,  Ellen,  Winfield,  Edward  and  Josephine.  He  married  for  his  present  wife,  BUen  Van 
Arsdalen,  in  1868.  She  was  born  in  Fairfield  county,  0.  Mr.  Ackley  settled  in  Fairfield  coun- 
ty in  1836,  and  in  1837  he  purchased  a  farm  of  one  hundred  acres  for  which  he  paid  two  and  one- 
half  dollars  per  acre.  In  1840  he  settled  with  his  family  in  Mill  Creek  township,  which  was 
then  Williams  county,  but  now  Gorham,  Fulton  county,  where  he  now  resides.  He  purchased 
one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  for  three  hundred  dollars  in  1842,  which  he  has  now  cleared  and 
under  cultivation.  He  was  the  first  postmaster  of  the  town  and  held  that  office  for  several 
years;  was  also  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  a  member  of  the  school  board  for  many  years.  He 
was  agent  for  the  Greenland  Company  of  several  thousand  acres  and  was  one  of  the  active,  in- 
fluential men  of  the  town.  His  father  resided  with  him  until  1855  when  died.  Ellen  Ackley 
married  William  Acker  and  Josephine  Ackley  C.  A.  Snow. 

Aldrich,  Anson  Mason,  Gorham,  Ritters  p.  o.,  was  a  son  of  David  and  Freelove  (Mason)  Al- 
drich  who  were  born  and  married  in  Farmington,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.  They  had  a  family  of 
€ight  children,  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  George,  Anson  M. 
(born  August  5,  1820),  Harriet  and  Eliza.  One  son,  WiUiam,  enhsted  from  Illinois,  served  dur- 
ing the  war  and  died  at  the  close ;  AngeHne  (Mrs.  James  Baker),  Laura  (Mrs.  PhiUip  Clapp) 
and  Homer  are  deceased.  David,  the  father,  died  in  1859,  and  his  wife  in  Cayuga  county,  N. 
Y.,  in  1861.  Anson  Mason  Aldrich  was  married  in  1847,  to  Mary  Holbrook,  who  was  born  in 
Wayne  county,  N.  Y.     They  have  had  a  family  of  three  children :  Huldah  S.,  William  B.,  Frank 

G.  Mrs.  Aldrich  was  a  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Martha  Holbrook,  who  died  when  Mary  was 
an  infant.  She  was  brought  up  by  Samuel  Paul,  of  Sodus,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Aldrich  settled  in  Gor- 
ham, coming  there  from  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1854,  and  became  engaged  in  manufacturing 
lumber.  He  erected  a  steam  saw-mill  in  company  with  James  Baker,  and  in  1856  purchased 
his  present  homestead  of  eighty  acres  for  which  he  paid  $1,601),  and  which  is  now  finely  im- 
proved and  well  tilled. 

Allen,  Arthur,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  member  of  the  firm  of  J.  0.  Allen  &  Co.,  proprietors 
of  the  Fayette  Roller  Mills  which  were  erected  in  1858,  and  now  have  all  the  modern  improve- 
ments and  improved  mill  machinery,  was  born  in  Clarkson,  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1842,  and 


644  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

was  a  son  of  Isaac  and  Mary  (Terry)  Allen,  who  were  born  in  Enfield,  Conn.,  married  in  1818, 
and  settled  in  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  where  they  died,  she,  in  1876,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine 
years  and  her  husband,  Isaac,  in  1884,  at  the  age  of  ninety  years.  They  had  a  family  of  ten 
children :  Ohauncy,  Isaac,  Mrs.  Harriet  Little,  Mrs.  Mary  Hobbie,  Mrs.  Julia  Aldridge,  Mrs.  Em- 
ily Phillips,  Henry,  Charles  L.  and  Arthur.  Arthur  Allen  spent  a  portion  of  the  year  1862  in 
Fulton  county,  0.,  but  returned  to  assist  his  parents  in  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.  In  1865  he 
joined  his  brother,  Charles  L.,  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Fayette.  The  year  1866  he  spent 
in  Bloomington,  111.,  and  in  1867  returned  to  Payette  where  he  purchased  an  interest  in  the  flour- 
mills.  He  was  married  in  1869,  to  Frances  Dubois.  They  have  had  four  sons :  G-eorge,  born 
1872  ;  Harry,  born  1875 ;  Edwin,  born  1877 ;  Terry,  born  in  1884,  and  one  daughter,  Delia  Ma- 
rie, who  died  in  infancy.  Prances  was  a  daughter  of  George  F.  and  Amelia  (Deming)  Dubois. 
George  was  born  in  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  and  Ameha  in  Litchfield,  Conn.  They  .settled  in 
Gorham,  in  1847.  Mr.  Allen  has  held  most  of  the  township  offices.  He  has  been  justice  of  the 
peace,  township  clerk  for  a  number  of  terms  and  a  member  of  the  school  board  and  council.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Perry  &  Allen,  now  engaged  in  the  general  hardware  business. 

Amsbaugh,  Relmon  D.,  Gorham,  Payette,  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Richland  county,  in  1855  and 
was  a  son  of  George  I.  and  Lavina  (Hopp)  Amsbaugh,  who  were  born  in  Richland  county. 
Their  parents  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  George  settled  in  Gorham  in  1855,  as  a  farmer. 
He  had  a  family  of  five  children :  Rissa,  Relmon  D.,  Prances  L.,  Cassius  0.,  Jannie  D.  George 
and  Lavina  were  married  May  3,  1851.  George  was  born  October  15,  18,25,  and  was  a  son  of 
Adam  and  Tenia  Amsbaugh,  who  were  from  Indiana  county,  Penn.  Relmon  D.  was  married 
March  16,  1881,  to  Estella  E.  Gay,  who  was  born  in  Gorham  township,  in  1858.  They  have 
two  children  :  Willard  Mace  and  George  L.  Estella  was  a  daughter  of  Willard  E.  and  Adelia 
(Mace)  Gay.  Adelia  was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1823,  and  her  husband  in  Herki- 
mer county,  N.  Y.,  March  27,  1815.  They  were  married  in  1842.  Mr.  Gay  settled  in  Ohio,  in 
1841  and  purchased  his  farm  and  was  married  in  Gorham  township.  They  had  two  children: 
Theodore  L.  and  Estella  E.  Mr.  Gay  died  December  2,  1880,  and  his  wife,  June  16, 1883.  Mr. 
Gay  was  an  influential  citizen.  His  parents  settled  in  Gorham  township  in  1839.  His  father 
was  born  in  1778  and  died  in  1840,  and  his  mother  was  born  in  1785  and  died  in  1867. 

Andre,  Adam,  Franklin,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Frankhn,  Fulton  county,  was 
born  in  Luzerne  county,  Penn.,  in  1815,  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Mary  (Bridinger)  Andre, 
of  Pennsylvania.  They  were  of  German  parentage  and  settled  in  Seneca  county,  0.,  in  1834, 
with  a  family  of  ten  children,  where  the  parents  died.  Six  of  the  children  are  now  living  :  Ad- 
am, Jacob,  Elizabeth,  Edward,  Susan,  and  Rebecca.  Those  deceased  are  Catharine,  Peter,  John 
and  Mary.  Adam  settled  in  Franklin  township  in  1845  and  purchased  a  farm  of  eighty  acres, 
for  which  he  paid  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  He  now  owns  two  hundred  acres  of  the  best 
farm  land,  and  one  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  well  improved.  He  was  married  in  1848  to  Sa- 
rah Jane  Provines,  who  died  in  1850,  leaving  one  son,  Thomas  J.  He  was  married  the  second 
time,  August  12,  1852,  to  Laura  B.  Rogers,  of  Elmira.  They  have  had  one  son.  Valorous  P. 
Mr.  Andre  has  held  all  of  the  township  offices ;  was  justice  of  the  peace  for  six  years,  treasurer, 
trustee,  supervisor,  etc.  His  brother,  Edwin,  served  in  the  late  war  as  a  first  lieutenant.  Mr. 
Andre  is  a  grower  of  graded  stock  and  makes  a  specialty  of  registered  hogs.  He  was  an  early 
carpenter  and  builder  but  has  now  retired. 

Atkinson,  Stephen  S.,  Dover,  Ottokee  p.  o.,  superintendent  of  the  county  infirmary,  was 
born  in  Piscataquis  county.  Me.,  in  1824,  and  was  a  son  of  Amos  and  Dorcas  Ann  Atkinson, 
who  settled  in  Medina  county,  0.,  in  1841,  where  they  died,  Amos  in  1884,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
six  years.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living:  Stephen  S.,  Amos 
G.,  Celia  A.,  Sarah  J.  and  Olive  0.  Stephen  S.  was  married  in  1853  to  Nancy  Bachelor,  of 
Milan,  Erie  county.  They  had  a  family  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living ;  Mary 
Jane  and  Fred  Nathaniel.  Mr.  Atkinson  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1860,  came  to  Swan  Creek 
and  served  as  justice  of  the  peace  for  one  term,  and  settled  in  Dover  in  1886. 

Ayers,  David,  Dover,  Tedrow  p.  c,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Dover  township,  was  born  in 
Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1828  and  settled  in  Dover  in  1836  with  his  parents,  Moses  and  Elizabeth 
(Chrisman)  Ayers.  EHzabeth  was  born  in  Maryland  and  her  husband,  Moses,  in  Pennsylvania. 
They  were  married  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1826,  and  had  a  family  of  seven  children:  Solo- 
mon C,  David,  Saphrona,  Isabel,  Gideon,  Isaac  and  James  P.  David  and  Gideon  are  the  only 
ones  now  living.  Solomon  C.  was  a  physician  and  died  January  18,  1885,  leaving  a  widow  and 
two  children.  Gideon  enlisted  and  served  through  the  war,  was  wounded  in  an  Indian  engage- 
ment. The  mother,  Elizabeth,  died  in  1855,  and  Moses  died  in  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1884, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-nine  years.  Moses  was  »  justice  of  the  peace  for  many  years  and  also 
held  other  town  offices.  His  second  wife  was  Altha  Southworth.  David  Ayres  was  married 
in  1858  to  Elizabeth  Ann  Bayes,  who  was  born  in  Holmes  county,  in  1835.  They  have  had 
three  children :  Aylett  W.,  Nettie  0.  and  Merritt.     BUzabeth  was  a  daughter  of  WilUam  and 


Brief  Personals.  645 


Mary  (Tedrow)  Bayes.  Mr.  Ayers  has  been  county  treasurer  four  years,  justice  of  the  peace 
for  seventeen  years,  town  clerk,  town  treasurer  and  also  held  other  minor  offices.  He  is  en- 
gaged in  general  farming  and  now  has  a  farm  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  acres  purchased  on 
settlement  in  1838,  at  one  dollar  twenty-five  per  acre. 

Back,  William,  Flat  Rock,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Oanajoharie,  Montgomery  county,  IST. 
Y.,  m  1820,  and  was  a  son  of  William  and  Lucy  Back,  William  was  married  in  1851,  to  Mrs. 
Eunice  Lucretia  (Back)  Gunn,  widow  of  L.  Back.  They  have  a  family  of  five  children  living, 
Lucy,  Francis  H.,  Maria,  Jennie  L.,  Joseph  E.,  and  one  son,  Lyman,  died  leaving  a  widow  and  two 
children;  and  one  son,  William  E.,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  single.  Mr.  Back  settled 
in  Flat  Rook,  Henry  county,  in  1861  and  settled  on  his  present  homestead.  Eunice  L.  was  a 
daughter  o£  the  old  pioneer,  Elijah  and  Eleanor  (Grant)  Gunn,  who  came  to  Henry  county  from 
Lucas  county  in  1827.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Cath- 
arine, Lucretia,  William  and  Julian.  The  grandfather,  Elijah,  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  who 
was  born  in  Scotland,  and  served  in   Washington's  army.     Eljiah  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of 

Ballard,  Doctor  Philip,  Harrison,  Grelton  p.  o.,  a  physician,  and  surgeon,  of  Harrison  town- 
ship, was  born  in  Franklin  county,  Mass.,  in  1817.  He  read  medicine  with  his  brothers.  Doc- 
tors Thomas  and  Horace  Ballard.  He  settled  in  Wood  county,  0.,  in  1856,  and  there  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery.  He  was  married  in  1841  to  Esther  Fuller,  who  was  born 
in  Connecticut  and  married  in  Portage  county,  O.  They  have  had  a  family  of  seven  children  : 
Maria  J.,  Albert  W.,  P.  U.,  J.  G,  L.  E.,  S.  P.  and  Cora  D.  Doctor  Philip  enlisted  in  Company 
I,  Sixty -eighth  Regiment,  December  24,  1863,  was  detailed  as  field  hospital  surgeon  and  was 
discharged  at  the  close  of  the  war.  Doctor  Philip  was  a  son  of  Oren  and  Margaret  Ballard  who 
settled  in  Trumble  county,  in  1820  coming  there  from  Massachusetts. 

Baringer,  John  W.,  Pleasant,  Holgate,  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Mahoning  county,  0.,  in  1843,  and 
was  a  son  of  Absalom  and  Sarah  (Rakestraw)  Baringer.  She  was  born  in  New  Jersey  and  her 
husband  was  a  native  of  Germany.  They  were  married  in  Mahoning  county.  Absalom  died 
in  Defiance  county  in  1866.  They  had  twelve  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living.  Two 
sons  enhsted.  Levy  R.  and  John  W.  John  W.  lost  his  right  arm  in  an  engagement  at  Atlanta, 
while  serving  in  Company  D,  lOOth  Ohio  Volunteers.  He  enlisted  August  4,  1862,  and  was 
discharged  May  17,  1865,  from  the  Cleveland  hospital.  He  now  receives  a  pension  of  thirty- 
six  dollars  per  month.  Levy  served  in  the  111th  to  the  close  of  the  war.  The  other  children 
were  Benjamin  R.,  Esther  J.,  Lydia,  Sophia  and  Caroline.  John  W.  was  married  in  1868  to 
Charity  Povenmire,  of  Defiance  county,  in  1868.  They  have  seven  children;  Mary  E.,  OUve 
R.,  Luther  B.,  Ernest  E.,  Harriet  E.,  Charles  P.  and  Sarah  V.  John  W.  settled  in  Holgate  and 
was  appointed  postmaster  in  July,  1874,  and  served  until  1885.  He  was  made  ticket,  express 
and  freight  agent  of  the  railroad  and  resigned  in  1880.  He  was  justice  for  two  terms  and  is 
now  assessor. 

Barnes,  Francis  M.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  veteran  soldier,  was  born  in  Holmes  county, 
in  1843,  and  enlisted  in  Company  F,  68th  Ohio,  in  1861,  under  Colonel  Steadman,  served  for 
three  years  and  one  month.  He  was  wounded  and  discharged  and  receives  a  pension  for  inju- 
ries received.  He  was  married  in  1863  to  Nancy  F.  Ditto.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  chil- 
dren :  Clara  Etta,  Jennie  0.,  Minnie  M.,  Mary  C.  F.,  Carrie  E.  and  Emma  Gertrude.  Nancy  F. 
was  a  daughter  of  Solomon  and  Mary  Jane  (Dever)  Ditto,  who  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1847. 
They  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living.  Francis  M.  Barnes  was  a  son 
of  Leonard  P.  and  Mary  Ann  (Day)  Barnes  who  were  born  in  Harrisburgh,  Penn.,  and  settled 
in  Clinton  township,  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1849.  Leonard  P.  died  in  1880.  They  had  a  family 
of  twelve  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living.  Three  of  the  sons  enlisted  and  served  in  the 
late  war  of  the  Rebellion.     They  were  W.  C,  Ohver  P.  and  Frances  M. 

Barnes,  W.  C,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Holmes  county  in  1838,  and  settled  in 
Pulton  county  with  his  parents,  Leonard  and  Mary  Ann  (Day)  Barnes,  who  were  born  and 
married  in  Harrisburgh,  Penn.,  and  settled  in  Holmes  county  in  1846.  They  had  a  family  of 
twelve  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living.  Leonard  died  in  1880.  Three  of  his  sons  en- 
hsted and  served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  W.  C.  Enlisted  in  the  14th  Ohio  Regiment,  in 
1861  and  served  for  five  months.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he  was  discharged  and  enrolled  in 
the  home  guards,  furnished  a  substitute  for  the  one  hundred  day  call.  He  was  married  in  1862 
to  Mary  Jane  Scott.  They  had  a  family  of  three  children :  Henry  A.,  Anna  B.  and  Jennie  D. 
Mary  Jane  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Amy  (Graham)  Scott,  who  were  early  settlers  in  Clin- 
ton, Fulton  county,  0.  Leonard  Barnes  purchased  his  first  homestead  of  eighty  acres,  for  four 
hundred  dollars.     His  son,  W.  C,  now  resides  on  this  old  homestead. 

Barr,  John  H.,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  a  veteran  soldier  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  and 
owner  and  proprietor  of  the  Florida  steam  saw  and  planing-mill,  was  born  in  Fairfield  county, 
in  1840  and  enlisted  September  5,  1861,  in  Company  H,  15th  Ohio  Regiment,  under  Colonel 


646  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Moses  Dickey;  re-enlisted  and  served  until  November  21,  1865,  at  which  time  he  was  dis- 
charged at  San  Antonio,  Texas.  He  was  promoted  to  sergeant.  He  was  married  in  December, 
1869,  to  Prances  L.  Hard,  of  Lorain  county,  who  was  born  in  1851.  They  have  had  seven  chil- 
dren: Gertrude,  Sherman,  Luella,  Arthur,  Bessie,  Mable  and  George  W.,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  nine  J  ears.  John  H.  was  a  son  of  John  and  Barbara  (Lamott)  Barr,  of  Pennsylvania.  They 
were  married  in  Fairfield  county,  0.,  and  settled  in  Defiance  county  in  1846.  They  had  a  fam- 
ily of  nine  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living:  J.  M.,  J.  H.,  W.  J.,  L.  M.,  Nancy,  Sarah 
J.  and  Mary.  John  was  born  in  1804  and  died  July  6,  1883.  His  wife  Barbara,  died  in  1850. 
John  H.  became  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  in  1870,  and  settled  in  Flat  Rock  town- 
ship in  1875,  where  he  built  his  present  steam  saw-mill  in  1876.  He  is  now  engaged  iri  the 
manufacture  of,  and  dealing  in  pine  lumber,  lath,  shingles  etc. 

Barr,  William  J.,  Plat  Eock,a  veteran  soldier,  who  .lost  the  use  of  his  limbs  through  palsy, 
which  was  contracted  during  service,  on  July  3,  1865,  just  before  the  discharge  of  his  regiment 
which  occurred  July  18,  1865.  He  enlisted  October  5,  1861,  under  Captain  L.  Y.  Richards,  in  Com- 
pany A,  Sixty-eighth  Ohio,  under  Colonel  McCoy.  He  now  receives  a  pension  of  seventy-two 
dollars  per  month.  He  is  an  active,  ambitious  man  and  bears  his  affliction  without  a  murmur. 
He  was  married  September  10,  1867,  to  Catharine  I.  Miller.  They  have  had  two  children  :  Wil- 
liam Logan  (born  May  10,  1869)  and  Mary  Beatrice  (born  July  6,  1874).  William  J.  was  a  son 
of  John  and  Barbara  (Lamott)  Barr.  Catharine  was  a  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (Noggle) 
Miller,  who  were  early  settlers.  They  had  one  daughter,  Catharine  I.  Mary  had  by  her  third 
husband,  Washington  Lowry,  a  family  of  five  children :  Eobecca  J.,  who  married  Charles  G. 
ShuU ;  George  0. ;  Susan  C.  married  Isaac  Hersberger ;  Theresa  A.  married  William  H.  Gunn, 
and  Ellen.  Mr.  Lowry  died  in  1843.  She  married  her  third  husband,  John  Barr,  in  1858.  He 
died  July  6,  1883,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age. 

Bartlow,  Cornelius,  Barltow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  was  the  first  settler  in  Bartlow  township, 
andfrom  him  received  itsname.  He  was  born  in  Lycoming  county,  Penn.,  Oct.  5,  1811,  and  has 
been  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Sarah  McMahan.  They  had  four  children.  Only  one 
is  now  living,  Mary  A.  His  second  wife  was  Elizabeth  Medley.  They  have  had  one  child, 
John  T.  Mr.  Bartlow  has  held  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  for  nine  years,  and  township 
treasurer  for  twelve  years. 

Bayes,  Elliott,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  pioneer,  was  born  in  Clinton  township  in  1840  and 
was  a  son  of  William  W.  and  Mary  (Tedrow)  Bayes,  who  were  born  in  Somerset  county,  Penn., 
and  married  in  Holmes  county,  O.,  and  settled  in  Clinton,  Fulton  county,  in  1837  with  one 
daughter,  Bhzabeth.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living :  Eliza- 
beth A.,  Jane,  Elliott,  Isaac  P.,  Meek,  Mary  and  Melissa.  Two  of  the  sons,  Elliott  and  Isaac 
P.,  enlisted.  Mary  died  in  1869  aged  fifty-four  years  and  William  W.  died  in  1885  aged  seven- 
ty-six'years.  WiUiam  W.  purchased  farms  from  the  government,  one  of  160  acres,  he  paid 
$1.50  per  acre.  He  owned  240  acres  in  all.  William  W.'s  father  was  Thomas,  who  settled  in 
Clinton  and  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  also  held  other  minor  offices.  William  was  a  prom- 
inent and  influential  man,  very  active  in  all  church  affairs,  services  being  held  in  his  house  until 
they  could  find  larger  quarters.  The  town  elections  were  also  held  at  his  log  house  for  several 
years,  such  was  the  public  spirit  of  the  man.  Elliott  Bayes  was  married  in  1871  to  Frances  M. 
Praker,  a  daughter  of  Squire  William  and  Nancy  A.  (Krutzer)  Fraker,  of  Clinton  township. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  four  children  :  Nellie  Inez,  Harry  M.,  Blaine  G.  and  Mamie.  Mr. 
Bayes  has  a  farm  of  85  acres  and  owns  a  part  of  the  old  homestead  farm.  He  enlisted  in  the 
130th  Ohio  Regiment  on  the  one  hundred  days  call  and  served  for  five  months,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  his  regiment  was  discharged. 

Bayes,  Stephen,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  6.,  an  early  settler  in  Clinton  township,  was  born  in 
Holmes  county,  in  1829,  and  was  a  son  of  James  Wright  and  Elizabeth  (Zeigler)  Bayes.  Eliz- 
abeth was  born  in  Cumberland  county  and  her  husband  in  Somerset  county,  Penn.  They  were 
married  in  Holmes  county  in  1828,  and  with  a  family  of  five  children  settled  in  Clinton  in  1844. 
They  had  eight  children  in  all,  six  of  whom  are  now  living :  Stephen,  Harriet,  Sarah  S.,  Parker, 
Margaret  and  Philip.  James  died  in  1886  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine  years,  and  his  wife,  Ehza- 
beth,  died  the  same  year  aged  seventy-one  years.  James  was  township  treasurer  and  also  held 
other  minor  offices.  He  purchased  his  farm  of  160  acres  on  settlement  for  $1.25  per  acre,  and 
Stephen  now  occupies  110  acres  of  the  same,  and  which  is  one  of  the  best  farms  in  the  county. 
Stephen  was  married  in  1858  to  Margaret  Pocock  who  died  in  1868  leaving  a  family  of  three 
children :  James  A.,  Cora  and  Carrie.  He  married  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Phebe  (Cornell)  Tead- 
row  in  1867.  They  have  had  two  children,  Elizabeth  M.  and  Eliza  Jane.  Phebe  had  by  her 
first  husband,  Mr.  Teadrow,  two  sons,  Myron  B.  and  Reasin  I.  The  grandfather,  John  Bayes, 
died  in  Holmes  county ;  he  was  born  in  Somerset  county,  Penn. 

Bear,  CUnton  E.,  Ridgeville  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Ridgeville,  Henry  county,  in  1863,  and  was 
married  in  1884,  to  Mary  Graphius,  who  was  born  in  Pindley,  Hancock  county.     They  have  had 


Brief  Personals.  647 


one  daughter,  Estella.  Clinton  B.  Bear,  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Barbara  (Barstow)  Bear. 
Barbara  was  born  in  Germany,  in  1824,  and  her  husband,  Joseph,  was  born  in  Lancaster  county, 
Pa.,  in  1815,  and  was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Susan  Bear,  of  Pa.  Joseph  settled  in  Ohio,  Stark 
county,  in  1839,  and  came  to  Henry  county,  in  1844.  They  were  married  in  1845,  and  had  a 
family  of  eight  children:  Henry,  Susanna,  Mary,  Vianna,  Eliza,  John,! Clinton  E.,  and  Edward. 
Joseph  was  a  carpenter,  builder,  and  farmer,  but  has  now  retired.  Clinton  E.,  is  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  lumber,  and  erected  a  steam  saw-mill  in  connection  with  George  Harmon,  in 
1884.     He  also  owns  and  runs  an  improved  steam  thresher. 

Beard,  Charles  P.,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Manchester,  Eng.,  in  1837,  and  was  married  in 
1863,  to  Hannah  Edwards.  They  settled  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  in  1864.  His  wife  died  in  1870, 
leaving  two  sons,  Joseph  H.  and  William  A.  Charles  P.  married  his  second  wife,  Hannah 
Walker,  in  1873.  She  was  a  native  of  England.  They  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters;  two 
children  are  now  living :  George  W.  and  Walter  James.  Mr.  Beard  is  a  machinist  and  inventor, 
and  manufacturer  of  engines  and  boilers  from  three  to  ten  horse  power,  circular  and  wood  saw- 
ing machines,  emery  grinders,  vises,  steam  heating  fixtures,  and  does  a  general  custom  work. 
He  purchased  his  business  interest  in  1878,  and  has  been  constantly  increasing  the  business  until 
now  he  has  a  splendid  trade. 

Beaverson,  Frederick,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  resident  of  Holgate,  was  born  in 
Stark  county,  in  1844,  and  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Maria  (Weyber)  Beaverson.  Maria  was 
born  in  France,  and  her  husband,  Samuel,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1814.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  Stark  county,  and  settled  in  Fulton  county,  in  1850.  They  have  twelve  children :  John, 
.Frederick,  Samuel,  jr.,  Andrew,  Jacob,  Henry,  Eosanna,  Rebecca,  Maria,  Susan,  Elizabeth,  Sa- 
rah. Fred  enlisted  in  1863,  in  Company  G,  85th  Ohio,  served  for  three  months,  re-enlisted  in 
the  86th  Regiment  in  1863,  under  Colonel  Lemert,  and  was  discharged  at  Cleveland,  in  1864, 
being  at  that  time  third  corporal.  Fred  settled  in  Holgate.  in  1874,  and  became  engaged  in  the 
grocery  and  saloon  business.  He  was  married  in  November,  1874,  to  Mary  E.  Sapp,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Emanuel  Sapp,  of  Flat  Rock.  They  have  had  four  children,  three  are  now  living :  Walter, 
Samuel,  and  Ralph.     Mr.  Beaverson  built  his  present  residence  in  1882. 

Beilharz,  John  H.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1835,  and 
was  a  son  of  Tobias  and  Agatha  (Smith)  Bielharz,  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1846,  and  set- 
tled in  Fulton  county,  which  was  then  Williams.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  six  of 
whom  are  now  living:  Barbara,  Margaret,  Christina,  John  H.,  Eva  and  John  H.,  was  born  in 
Fulton  county.  They  buried  two  sons  at  sea.  They  were  seventy-five  days  making  the  voy- 
age over  on  a  sailing  vessel,  and  nine  deaths  occurred  on  board.  John  H.  was  married  in  1863, 
to  Amanda  Kingery,  who  was  born  in  Indiana,  in  1843.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three 
children :  James  I.,  Ninia  Eva,  and  William  T.  Amanda  was  a  daughter  of  John  H.  Kingery. 
James  I.  graduated  from  the  commercial  college,  and  Ninia  E.  is  a  student  at  the  Normal 
School.  Tobias  died  in  1881,  and  his  wife,  Agatha,  in  1882.  John  H.  now  resides  on  the  old 
homestead  farm  of  sixty  acres,  which  was  purchased  in  1856,  at  which  time  they  paid  |5  per 
acre  for  it. 

Belding,  Eugene  A.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Gorham  township,  in  1854,  and  was 
a  son  of  William  B.  and  Althea  W.  (Cottrell)  Belding.  She  was  born  in  Hampshire  county, 
Mass.,  and  settled  with  her  parents  in  Gorham  township,  in  1835.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Gor- 
ham and  Althea  (Whitmarsh)  Cottrell,  who  were  married  in  1810.  They  had  a  family  of  eight 
children.  Wilham  B.  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  and  was  a  son  of  Amos  and  Marion  (Fuller) 
Belding,  who  were  early  settlers  in  Gorham,  where  Amos  and  his  wife  died.  They  had  a  family 
of  eleven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  Uving :  Charlotte,  Arthur  W.,  Decatur,  Mortimer, 
Benjamin  F.  William  B.  was  married  in  1853  to  Miss  Cottrell,  who  died  in  1857,  leaving  two 
children,  Eugene  A.  and  Florence  I.,  now  Mrs.  Miller.  William  B.  settled  in  Gorham,  in  1846, 
and  died  in  1878,  leaving  a  widow  by  a  second  marriage.  Eugene  A.  was  married  in  1874,  to 
Melissa  M.  Sweatland,  who  was  born  in  1854.  They  have  had  four  children :  Althea  M.,  Leola 
E.,  Rial  B.,  and  Arlo  V.  Eugene  A.  now  owns  and  occupies  a  part  of  the  old  homestead  of 
40  acres,  which  was  purchased  in  1864.  They  purchased  a  farm  of  thirty  acres  in  1846.  Melissa 
was  a  daughter  of  Rial  and  Harriet  Sweatland,  early  settlers. 

Biddle,  Benjamin,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  general  hardware  merchant  and  dealer  in  farm 
tools  and  machinery;  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1840,  and  was  a  son  6f  George  and 
Nancy  (Biddle)  Lawrence,  who  were  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  married  in  Wayne  county,  0. 
They  settled  in  Fulton  county,  in  1861,  and  in  1865  went  to  Clinton  township,  where  George 
died  in  1877,  leaving  a  widow  and  eight  children :  Henry,  Benjamin,  Jacob,  John,  George  W., 
Nancy,  Rachel  and  Mary  B.  Benjamin  was  married  in  1863  to  Hester  A.  Trobridge,  of  Delta. 
They  had  a  family  of  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living :  Cora  and  Harry.  Mr.  Bid- 
dle served  two  terms  as  councilman.  He  settled  in  Wauseon  in  1879,  and  became  engaged  in 
the  hardware  business  in  1881.  He  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  in  Cleveland,  in 
1867  and  1868,  and  in  farming  from  1869  to  1880. 


648  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Bish,  0.,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Fairfield  county,  O.,  in  1849,  and  when  six  years 
of  age  moved  to  Hancock  county,  where  he  remained  until  the  winter  of  1876,  when  he  settled 
in  Bartlow  township.  He  was  married  in  1879  to  Mary  A.  Lansing.  They  had  a  family  of 
four  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living:  William  M.  (deceased),  Ida  M.,  David  S.,  and  G-ro- 
ver  S.     Mr.  Bish  is  now  engaged  in  farming,  and  owns  a  finely  cultivated  farm  of  120  acres. 

Benieu,  John  H.,  Okolona  p.  o.,  a  general  merchant,  grain  dealer  and  shipper  and  engaged 
in  farming  at  Okolona,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany  in  184:2.  He  emigrated  to  America  in 
1860,  and  settled  in  Henry  county,  where  he  became  engaged  in  teaching,  having  graduated  in 
G-ermany.  In  1869  he  took  charge  of  the  Okolona  post-office,  also  was  appointed  agent  of  the 
Wabash  Railroad  and  the  U.  S.  Express  Company  at  the  same  place,  in  connection  with  a  gene- 
ral store  business.  Complying  with  the  demands  of  the  citizens,  he  also  built  a  steam  elevator 
of  12,000  bushels  capacity,  which  is  as  yet  in  full  blast  under  his  management. 

Bishop,  Fletcher  J.,  Chesterfield,  Morenci,  Mich.  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Northumberland  county 
Pa.,  in  1837,  and  was  a  son  of  Cornelius  and  Catharine  (Jones)  Bishop.  They  had  a  family  of 
ten  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living:  William,  Jeanette  (now  Mrs.  Mansfield),  Fletcher 
J.,  Cordelia  (Mrs.  Baldwin).  Catharine  died  January  3,  1851.  Fletcher  enhsted  in  Co.  H,  3d 
Ohio  Cavalry,  in  1861,  under  Colonel  Zan,  and  served  three  years  and  six  months.  He  was 
married  August  22,  1865,  to  Julia  A.  Smith,  who  was  born  in  Suftolk  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1842. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  seven  children :  Arthur  C,  William  H.,  Charles  F.,  Birton  J.,  Blanch 
S.,  Ralph  C,  Ernest  B.  Juha  A.  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  L.  and  Eunice  W.  Smith,  of  New 
Jersey.  Henry  L.  died  in  1865,  leaving  a  widow  and  nine  children.  Mr.  Bishop  purchased  his 
present  homestead  farm  of  164  acres  for  which  he  paid  $40  per  acre,  and  has  erected  a  fine  resi- 
dence and  farm  buildings  thereon. 

Blackman,  Frank  G.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Adrian,  Mich.,  in  1847,  and  was  ^ 
son  of  Demmon  and  Jane  (Shepard)  Blackman,  of  Connecticut,  who  settled  in  Michigan,  where 
they  died,  leaving  a  family  of  six  children  :  Luther,  Mary,  Electa,  Wilbur,  Emma  and  Frank  G. 
Frank  G.  Blackman  was  married  in  1881  to  Mary  Woodward,  who  was  born  in  Liberty  town- 
ship. They  have  had  two  children.  Wave  and  June.  Mr.  Blackman  acquired  the  photographer's 
art  and  became  engaged  in  the  business,  settling  in  Wauseon  in  1879,  where  he  opened  his  art 
gallery. 

Blair,  Alfred  H.,  Washington,  Texas  p.  o,,  was  bjrn  in  Portage  county,  O.,  in  1825,  and  set- 
tled in  Henry  county,  in  1863,  He  was  engaged  in  the  stock  business  in  1845,  frequently  pass- 
ing through  Henry  county  on  his  way  to  Indiana,  he  became  familiar  with  the  county  at  an 
early  date.  He  was  a  son  of  Alfred  and  Julia  (Miller)  Blair.  Julia  was  born  in  Vermont  and 
her  husband  in  Massachusetts,  They  were  married  in  Portage  county,  in  1824,  and  had  a  family 
of  six  children,  four  of  whom  arenowhving:  Alfred  H,,  Blston,  Henry  M.,  and  Samantha,  The 
father  died  in  1835,  and  the  mother  in  February,  1882,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years.  Alfred 
H,  Blair,  was  married  in  1853,  to  Clarissa  Vaughn,  of  Vermont.  She  died  in  1854,  and  he  then 
married  Jane  Silvernail,  in  1863.  She  was  born  in  G-reene  county,  N.  Y,  They  have  had  a  family 
of  three  children,  Mary,  Carlos  and  John.  Alfred  H.  Blair  has  been  township  trustee,  assessor, 
and  now  resides  on  a  homestead  of  80  acres. 

Blake,  Angelo  W.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o,,  was  born  in  Portage  county,  C,  in  1836,  and  was 
a  son  of  Orrin  and  Caroline  (Thomas)  Blake,  who  were  , married  in  Connecticut,  and  settled  in 
Portage  county,  in  1826.  Orrin  was  born  in  1802,  and  CaroUne  was  born  in  18 — ,  and  died  in 
1846,  leaving  a  family  of  six  children.  Orrin  on  settlement  here  purchased  a  farm  of  160  acres, 
and  in  1859  Angelo  W,  Blake  settled  in  Clinton  township  on  80  acres  of  the  tract,  and  which  is 
now  one  of  the  pleasant  home  farms  in  the  county,  being  well  improved  and  having  fine  farm 
buildings.  He  was  married  in  1861  to  Esther  Goodrich,  who  was  born  in  Lenawee  county,  in 
1840.     They  have  had  four  children:  Adah,  Hudson,  Alice  and  Ella. 

Bockelman,  Lewis,  Freedom,  Napoleon  p.  o,,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  in  1831,  and 
was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Catharine  Bockelman,  who  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  six  of  whom 
emigrated  to  America:  they  were  Lewis,  Mary,  Fred,  Frederick,  Henry  and  August.  August 
enlisted  and  died  at  the  Fairfax  Court-House.  Catharine  and  William  remained  in  G-ermany. 
Lewis  emigrated  to  America  in  1860,  and  settled  in  Adams,  Defiance  county,  0.  He  enlisted  in 
August,  1862,  ,in  Co.  IC,  I07th  Ohio  Regiment,  under  Colonel  Meyers,  and  served  to  the  close  of 
the  war,  after  which  he  was  discharged  at  Cleveland.  He  returned  to  Adams,  and  became  en- 
gaged in  the  carpenter  and  builder  trade.  He  was  married  in  1867  to  Anna  Eggers,  who  was 
born  in  1849.  She  was  a  daughter  of  John  H.  and  Mary  (Shuette)  Eggers.  They  have  had  a 
family  of  eight  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Emma,  Anna,  Mary  and  Charles.  He 
purchased  his  first  farm  in  1866,  and  in  1876  came  to  Napoleon  to  reside,  where  he  became  en- 
gaged in  the  mercantile  business.  In  1880  he  purchased  and  removed  to  his  present  fine  farm ' 
of  120  acres,  all  of  which  he  has  improved,  and  on  which  he  has  erected  some  model  farm  build- 
ings. He  has  been  trustee  for  four  terms,  and  is  secretary  of  the  Farmers  Insurance  Company, 
which  became  a  fully  reliable  institution  under  his  able  management. 


Brief  Personals.  649 


Borton,  Arthur  W.,  Franklin,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  a  farmer  and  brick  and  tile  manufacturer,  of 
Franklin,  was  born  in  Stark  county  in  1842  and  was  a  son  of  Asa  and  Elizabeth  (Hazen)  Bor- 
ton. Asa  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1802  and  settled  with  his  parents,  Samuel  and  Mary  (Owen) 
Borton  in  Fulton  county.  Elizabeth  was  born  in  1803.  They  were  married  in  1826  and  had 
a  family  of  ten  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living:  Debora,  Ahimaz  L.,  Luoinda,  Mary  A., 
Sarah,  Ruth,  Mercy,  Roland,  Arthur  and  Asa,  jr.  Mr.  Borton  settled,  with  his  family,  in  1848. 
Arthur  W.  was  married  in  1869  to  Catharine  Freldmeyer,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  in  1846. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children:  Edward  H.,  Allen,  Henna,  Cora,  Frank.  Arthur  W. 
enlisted  in  Company  A,  67th  Ohio  Volunteers,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  being  dis- 
charged in  June,  1865,  at  Richmond.  His  brother,  Asa  jr.,  served  in  the  60th  Ohio,  to  the  close 
of  the  war.  Mr.  Borton  erected  his  factory  in  1880  and  became  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
tile  and  brick  and  now  gives  employment  to  six  men.  His  homestead  of  eighty-five  acres,  he 
has  under  fine  cultivation. 

Borton,  Nathan,  Franklin,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Burlington  county,  N.  J.,  in  1810.  and 
was  a  son  of  Bethuel  and  Rebecca  (Clifton)  Borton.  He  died  in  New  Jersey  in  1831,  leaving  a 
widow  and  nine  children.  Nathan  W.  with  his  mother  and  four  of  the  children  settled  in  G-er- 
man  township,  Ohio,  in  1836  where  his  mother  died.  Of  her  nine  children,  five  are  now  living. 
Nathan  Borton  was  married  November  22,  1839,  to  Mary  T.  Ayres,  who  was  born  in  Richland 
oounty.  She  died  April  17,  1850,  leaving  two  children,  Rebecca  and  Emily  A.  He  married  his 
second  wife,  Mary  G.  Butcher  Borton,  widow  of  Bethuel  Borton,  jr.,  December  21,  1850.  She 
was  born  in  1816.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three  children  :  Hattie  P.,  Mary  L.  and  Prisoilla. 
Hattie  married  David  Stoner  in  1869.  He  died  in  1885  leaving  one  son,  Clarence  B.  Mary  L. 
married  N.  Leonard  andPriscilla  married  John  Ely  in  1881 ;  Rebecca  married  L.  Oonnaway  and 
Emily  A.  married  James  Town.  Mrs.  Mary  had  by  her  first  husband  a  family  of  four  children : 
Charity,  Samuel,  Ruth  and  Rulon.  Nathan  Borton  was  the  first  justice  of  the  peace  in  German 
township  and  settled  in  Franklin  at  an  early  day.  He  has  been  township  treasurer  and  also  held 
other  township  offices.  He  was  the  first  justice  of  the  peace.  He  settled  in  Frankhn  in  1845 
and  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  100  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $300.  He  now  owns  200 
acres.  Samuel  Borton  was  married  to  Sarah  J.  McLaughlin ;  Chanty  married  Ely  Stoner ; 
Ruth  married  David  Carpenter ;  and  Rulon  married  Esther  A.  McFaul. 

Bowers,  Samuel  H.,  Liberty,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Licking  county,  Ohio,  in  1837 
and  was  a  son  of  George  and  Catharine  (Gantz)  Bowers,  who  were  married  in  Licking  county 
in  1822.  Catharine  was  born  in  Gettysburgh  Pa.,  in  March,  1805,  aqd  George,  her  husband, 
was  born  in  Homer,  Cortland  county,  N.  T.,  in  1795.  They  settled  in  Liberty,  Henry  county, 
0.,  in  1837  with  a  family  of  six  children.  After  settling  here  five  more  children  were  born  to 
them,  they  having  in  all  a  family  of  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  Uving :  Titan  H., 
George  jr.,  David,  Samuel  H.,  Sarah,  Margaret,  Orpha  and  H.  Jane.  GeOrge  died  February  9, 
1880,  and  his  wife  now  resides  with  her  son,  Samuel  H.  Samuel  H.  Bowers  was  married  in 
1864  to  Catharine  Metzger,  who  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  0.,  in  1840.  They  had  a  family  of 
four  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living :  Homer  L.,  Dallas  D.,  Bertha  May  and  Gracie,  who 
died  at  an  early  age.  Catharine  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Sarah  (Whitman)  Metzger.  Sam- 
uel now  owns  and  occupies  the  old  homestead  of  eighty  acres,  which  was  purchased  on  settle- 
ment, m  1837. 

Bowers,  T.  H.,  Liberty,  Liberty  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  of  Henry  county,  was  born  in  Licking  coun- 
ty, April  26,  1822,  and  was  a  son  of  George  and  Catharine  (Gantz)  Bowers.  Catharine  was 
born  at  Gettysburgh,  Pa.,  in  1805  and  her  husband,  George,  in  Homer,  Cortland  county,  N.  T., 
in  1795.  They  were  married  in  Licking  county,  0.,  in  1822,  and  settled  in  Liberty,  in  1837. 
They  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living:  Titan  H.,  George,  jr.,  Da- 
vid, Samuel,  Sarah,  Margaret,  Orpha  and  Jane.  George,  sr.,  died  February  9,  1880.  T.  H. 
Bowers  was  married  September  15,  1849,  to  Mary  Stokesbery.  who  was  born  m  Ohio,  January 
28,  1827.  They  have  six  children  living:  George  W.,  born  in  1852;  Lozetta,  born  in  1854; 
Hsittie,  born  in  1857;  Artimelia,  born  in  1861;  Delia,  born  in  1861,  flitted  for  teaching  and  is 
now  engaged  in  that  occupation ;  and  Walter,  born  in  1869.  T.  H.  Bowers  has  been  super- 
visor for  several  terms  and  is  a  general  farmer  by  occupation.  He  was  engaged  in  teaching  in 
eairly  life,  and  purchased  his  homestead  of  160  acres,  in  1865.  His  wife,  Mary,  was  a  daughter 
of  Joshua  and  BUzabeth  Stokeshury,  of  Virginia,  who  settled  in  Licking  County,  0.,  at  an  early 
day. 

Bowers,  William  B.,  Harrison,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Liberty,  Henry  county,  in  1830 
aiid  was  liiarried  m  1860,  to  Eunice  H.  Barnes,  who  was  born  in  Licking  county,  0.,  in  1835. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  eight  children :  Milo  R.,  Lizzie  J.,  Allen,  John,  Frank,  Willis,  Jacob 
arid  Ada.  William  R.  has  held  the  following  township  offices :  justice  of  the  peace,  supervisor, 
irilstee  and'  school  director.  His  wife,  Eunice,  was  a  daughter  of  George  A.  and  Rachael 
(Boddfldt)  Barnes,  who  were  early  settlers  in  Henry  county.     William  R.  Bowers  was  a  son 


650  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Hunter)  Bowers.  Elizabeth  was  born  in  mid-ocean  in  1805.  Her 
parents  were  natives  of  Ireland,  who  settled  in  Florida,  Henry  county,  at  the  close  of  the  war 
of  1812.  Of  several  children  Elizabeth  is  the  only  one  now  living.  Samuel  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1796,  and  died  in  1864.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now 
living.  Samuel  "vvas  the  first  sheriff  of  Henry  county,  and  also  served  as  county  treasurer.  He 
was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  Samuel  settled  in  Henry  county  about  1820  and  his  brother^ 
George  m  1835,  where  he  resided  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

Bradfield,  D.  H.,  Dover,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  a  general  dry  goods  and  grocery  merchant,  of  Spring 
Hill,  was  born  in  Sparta,  Morrow  county,  m  1849.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  at  an  early 
age  learned  the  jeweller's  business,  and  in  1868  became  engaged  in  business  for  himself.  He 
was  married  in  1867  to  Sarah  Long,  of  Fulton  county.  They  have  two  children,  Verner  and 
Floy;  one  daughter,  Maggie,  died  at  the  age  of  eight  years.  Verner  has  attended  the  graded 
schools  and  in  now  engaged  in  teaching.  Mr.  Bradfield  has  been  an  active  business  man.  He  was 
engaged  in  stock  dealing  and  shipping  for  several  years,  and  in  1881  became  traveling  agent  for 
the  Union  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Toledo,  Ohio.  In  1885  he  purchased  a  store  and  stock 
in  Sparta,  and  in  1887  purchased  his  store  in  Spring  Hill,  where  he  is  now  engaged  in  a  general 
country  business.  His  wife,  Sarah,  was  a  daughter  of  John  and  Margaret  Long,  who  were 
early  settlers  in  Fulton  county,  coming  there  about  1851  from  Ashland  county,  where  Sarah 
was  born  in  1849. 

Brigham,  Joel,  jr.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  the  pioneer  hardware  dealer  of  Wauseon,  was 
born  in  Dunkirk,  Chautauqua  county,  N.  T.,  January  10,  1818,  and  was  a  son  of  Joel  and  Polly 
Ann  (Durkee)  Brigham.  Polly  Ann  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Conn.,  and  Joel  in  Worcester  coun- 
ty, Mass.  They  died  in  Medina  county,  0.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  two  of  whom 
are  now  living,  Winfield  and  Joel,  jr.  Joel  jr.  was  married  in  1838  to  Betsey  Lyon,  of  Goshen, 
Mass.  They  have  had  ten  children,  five  of  whom  are  hving:  Walter  S.,  H.  T.,  Clarence  B.^ 
Hattie  (Mrs.  Sohn)  and  Celia  (now  Mrs.  Dr.  C.  E.  Bennett).  Mr.  Brigham  settled  in  Wauseon 
as  a  merchant,  in  1859.  He  settled  in  Clinton  township  in  1853  and  became  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  lumbering.  He  became  engaged  in  the  milling  business  in  1857  as  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Brigham  &  Springer.  He  erected  his  present  store  in  1871  and  has  been  engaged  in  the 
hardware  business  ever  since.  He  has  been  justice  of  the  peace  for  two  terms,  assessor  two 
terms,  trustee  for  fifteen  years ;  he  was  postmaster  at  Lena  and  Chatham,  Medina  county,  un- 
der Zaoh.  Taylor's  administration.  He  has  been  mayor  of  Wauseon  for  two  terms  and  also- 
county  commissioner  for  two  terms.  He  was  appointed  miUtary  war  committeeman  by  the  gov- 
ernor and  has  also  filled  other  minor  offices. 

Brink,  Byron,  Chesterfield,  Morenci,  Mich.  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Gorham  in  1847,  and  was  a  son 
of  Jacob  J.  and  Phebe  (Taylor)  Brink.  Jacob  died  in  1853.  They  had  a  family  of  four  sons  : 
Byron,  Bartley  Bainbridge  and  Bodley.  The  parents  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1847  where 
Phebe  died  in  1876.  Jacob  J.  was  a  son  of  Cornehus  and  Hannah  (Bodling)  Brink  who  were 
born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children  :  Levy  B..  May,  Jacob 
J.,  Susan  W.,  Dinah  W.,  Joseph  W.  and  James  M.  Cornelius  settled  in  Gorham  in  1850  and 
died  in  1863.  But  two  of  his  family  are  now  hving,  Dinah  and  James.  Byron  was  married  in. 
1870  to  Sarah  A.  Powers,  who  died  March  23,  1872,  leaving  one  son,  Georde  Elnor,  born  March 
1,  1871.  He  married  his  second  wife,  Barbara  Elizabeth  Eutledge,  February  16,  1873.  They  have 
had  a  family  of  four  children  :  Sarah  J.,  Phebe  A.,  Olive  Bertha  and  Harry.  Mr.  Brink  purchased 
his  present  homestead  farm  of  sixty  acres  in  1872,  for  which  he  paid  $2,000.  In  the  same  year 
he  bought  twenty  acres  more  for  which  he  paid  $600,  and  in  1 882  bought  eighty  acres  for  $3,200^ 
making  a  homestead  of  160  acres.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Charlotte  Taylor. 
Mr.  Taylor  was  born  on  Long  Island. 

Brink,  James,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  near  Plymouth,  Eichland  county,  0.,  May 
15,  1836,  and  was  a  son  of  Cornelius  and  Hannah  (Bodley)  Brink,  who  were  born  at  Skaneate- 
les,  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  November  30,  1802,  and  his  wife  February  9,  1779.  They  had  a, 
family  of  seven  children :  Levy  B.,  Mary,  Jacob,  Susanna  W.,  Dinah  W.,  Joseph  W.  and  James^ 
Cornehus  settled  in  Gorham  township  May  31,  1850  and  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  III 
acres  in  November,  1850,  for  which  he  paid  $658.  He  died  March  14,  1863,  leaving  a  widow 
and  two  children,  Dinah  W.,  and  James.  James  now  owns  and  occupies  81  acres  of  the  old 
homestead.  He  was  married  January  9,  1859,  to  Henrietta  Saltzgaber,  who  was  born  July  24, 
1833,  in  Lebanon  county,  Pa.  They  have  had  one  son,  Delbert  Eugene,  born  Oct.  16,  1859, 
who  was  married  August  22,  1880,  to  Elnora  G.  Eiley,  at  Wright,  Hillsdale  county,  Mich. 
They  have  had  three  children :  Mabel,  Ernest  R.  and  Levy  Leroy.  Elnora  was  born  in  Amboy, 
Mich.,  June  11,  1859.  Henrietta  was  a  daughter  of  John  and  Sophia  Saltzgaber,  who  came 
from  Pennsylvania  to  Gorham  township  in  1849.  James  at  an  early  age  chose  farming  as  an 
occupation.  He  has  been  township  trustee  for  five  years.  His  mother  died  at  his  residence 
July  4,  1883.  His  parents  were  active  and  leading  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church  from, 
early  age. 


Brief  Personals.  651 


Brinkman,  Henry,  Pleasant,  Pleasant  Bend  p.  o.,  a  resident  o£  Pleasant  township,  Henry 
county,  0.,  was  born  in  Crawford  county,  0.,  in  1832.  He  was  married  in  1857  to  Elizabeth 
Reiter,  who  was  born  in  Berks  county.  Pa.,  in  1838.  They  have  had  six  children :  Sarah  0., 
Henry  P.,  John  W.,  Mary  B.,  AnnaC.  and  Harriet  0.  Elizabeth  was  a  daughter  o£  John  and 
Sarah  Reiter,  of  Crawford  ooanty,  O.'  John  and  Sarah  Reiter  were  born  in  Schuylkill  county. 
Pa.  Henry  Brinkman  was  a  son  of  Christopher  and  Mary  Heinlen,  who  were  born  in  G-ermany 
and  married  in  Crawford  county,  0.,  where  Christopher  died  leaving  a  widow  and  seven  chil- 
dren:  Henry,  John,  Christopher  jr.,  Frederick,  Daniel,  Jacob  and  Mary.  Henry  held  the  office 
of  trustee  for  one  term.     He  purchased  his  farm  in  1861  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1862. 

Britton,  Mason,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  c,  was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  m  1835  and 
was  a  son  of  John  and  Betsey  Britton.  John  was  born  in  New  Jersey.  They  settled  in  Ash- 
tabula county,  0.,  in  1837.  They  had  a.  family  of  eleven  children.  One  son,  Munson  T.,  en- 
listed, was  taken  prisoner  and  confined  in  Andersonville  prison  for  several  months.  Mason  Brit- 
ton has  been  twice  married.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  one  daughter,  Mrs.  Jessie  Williams.  His 
second  wife  was  Mrs.  Henrietta  (Rogers)  Chapman,  of  Medina  county.  They  were  married  in 
1868.  Mr.  Britton  settled  in  Wauseon  in  1870,  and  became  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  oars, 
of  which  at  that  time,  he  was  the  only  one  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  that  article.  He 
■erected  the  buildings  now  owned  by  H.  H.  Williams  &  Co.,  in  Wauseon,  in  1872.  and  sold  his 
interest  in  1886.  He  completed  a  factory  at  Napoleon  and  established  there  his  extensive  oar 
business,  and  his  numerous  customers  extend  from  Boston,  Mass.,  to  the  sea  island  in  Puget 
Sound.     His  brand  of  oars  has  become  celebrated  throughout  all  boating  sections. 

Brinkman,  John,  Plat  Rook,  Florida  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Crawford  county,  in  1833,  and  was  a 
son  of  Christoper  and  Mary  Brinkman,  who  were  born  in  Germany  and  settled  in  Crawford 
oounty,  0.,  where  they  married.  Christopher  died  on  December  19,  1876.  They  had  a  family 
of  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living :  Henry,  John,  Christopher  jr.,  Fred,  Daniel  and 
Jacob.  Four  of  the  sons  were  drafted,  but  all  furnished  substitutes.  John  was  married  Febru- 
ary 26,  1857,  to  Harriet  Shroll,  of  Crawford  county.  She  was  born  in  1840.  They  have  five 
children  now  living:  Mary  S.,  Amanda  H.,  Eliza  Ann,  John  A.  and  Charles  Walter.  Harriet 
was  a  daughter  of  Abraham  and  Sophia  (Wise)  Shroll,  of  Adams  county.  Pa.  Mr.  Brinkman 
settled  in  Plat  Rock  in  1864,  and  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  137-^  acres.  His  wife  also 
owns  a  farm  of  160  acres  in  Flat  Rock.     Mr.  Brinkman  has  been  a  trustee  for  ten  years. 

Brown,  James  K.,  Harrison,  Napoleon  p.  c,  was  born  in  Perry  county,  0.,  December  8, 
1827,  and  was  a  son  of  David  and  Mary  (Oreger)  Brown,  who  were  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
married  in  Muskingum  county.  They  had  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now 
living  :  Joseph,  Jacob,  James  K.  and  George,  who  enlisted  from  Wisconsin,  and  served  for  three 
years.  The  mother  died  in  Morrow  county,  and  her  husband  in  Iowa.  James  K.  Brown  com- 
menced his  business  life  at  the  early  age  of  ten  years,  and  at  the  age  of  twelve  years  ran  a  farm 
seUing  his  grain  and  oats  at  ten  cents,  and  his  corn  at  a  shilling  a  bushel.  In  1839  he  settled  in 
Henry  county,  with  a  cash  capital  of  twenty-five  dollars,  then  purchasing  40  acres  of  land  for 
that  amount.  He  then  hired  out  and  earned  twenty-five  dollars  more,  and  purchased  his  second 
■  forty  acres.  He  now  owns  in  all  a  fine  farm  of  340  acres.  He  was  married  in  November,  1848, 
to  Deborah  Johns,  who  was  born  in  Morrow  county  in  1824.  She  died  in  1861,  leaving  a 
family  of  six  children :  Mary  E.  (Wilson),  Daniel  J.  (born  in  1852  and  died  in  1873),  James  Al- 
bert, Milly,  George  Washington,  and  James  F.,  was  married  in  1866,  to  Rebecca  MoCormick, 
who  died  in  1880.  George  W.  enlisted  in  the  88th  Ohio,  and  died  at  the  hospital  at  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  in  1865 ;  Daniel  J.,  was  a  railroad  man  ;  Wilson,  married  Jessie  Randall ;  J.  Albert,  mar- 
ried Lovinia  Bales;  Milly,  married  David  Hoflfer. 

Brubaker,  Alfred  K..  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  a  leading  successful  farmer  of  Henry  county, 
was  born  in  Stark  county,  0.,  in  1846,  and  settled  in  Plat  Rock  township  with  his  parents  in 
1847.  He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (Wyandt)'  Brubaker.  Alfred  K.  was  married  in  1878 
to  Florence  Ice,  who  was  born  in  1862.  They  have  a  family  of  three  children,  living:  Sherman 
R.,  Arthur  A.,  Leroy,  Cora  (died  at  the  age  of  two  and  one  half  years).  John  and  Sarah  i  ave 
a  family  of  eight  children,  now  living :  Mrs.  Hannah  Lowery,  Mrs.  Mary  Lewis,  Francis  M., 
Chris  W.,  A.  K.,  Daniel  E.,  and  Mrs.  Clarissa  Dunham  and  Emanuel  W. 

Brubaker,  John,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  oldest  son  of  David  and  Elizabeth  (Barnes)  Bru- 
baker, was  born  in  Franklin  county.  Pa.,  April  18,  1812.  With  his  parents  he  settled  in  Stark 
county,  0.,  in  1832.  After  a  short  stay  there  and  in  adjoining  counties,  working  at  his  trade, 
that  of  carpenter,  he  married,  June  16,  1836,  Sarah  Wyandt,  of  Sugar  Creek  township.  Stark 
county,  0.  Mrs.  Brubaker  is  the  daughter  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  (Warner)  Wyandt,  and  was 
born  in  Somerset  county.  Pa.,  February  21,  1814.  The  first  eleven  years  of  their  married  hfe 
was  spent  in  Sugar  Creek  township  where  he  worked  at  various  vocations  of  life.  In  1847 
they  moved  to  Henry  county  and  purchased  their  homestead  of  80  acres.  Not  only  have  they 
kept  and  improved  this  tract,  but  have  added  thereto  60  acres,  all  of  which  is  as  fine  farming 


652  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

^and  as  is  to  be  found  in  the  Maumee  Valley.  To  this  couple  have  been  born  nine  children  :  Han- 
nah, Mary,  Francis  M.,  Christian  W.,  Alfred  K.,  Daniel  E.,  Jacob  L.,  and  Emanuel  W.,  all  living- 
except  Jacob,  who  died  in  1872,  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  Since  1875  they  have  been  living  in 
retirement.  Mr.  B.  has  been  township  trustee  for  over  twenty  years,  and  has  also  held  other 
offices.  This  aged  and  venerable  couple  loved  and  respected  by  all  who  know  them,  live  a  quiet 
life  upon  their  farm  one  mile  north  of  Florida. 

Brubaker,  Winfield  S.,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Flat  Rock  township,  in  1852? 
was  brought  up  as  a  farmer,  but  not  contented  with  this  life  he  learned  the  blacksmith  businesSi 
and  A\-as  engaged  in  the  same  for  twelve  years.  In  1880  he  retired  from  this  business,  and  be- 
came engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  having  a  butcher  shop  and  market  attached.  He  was 
married  in  March,  1885,  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Dixon  Weaver.  She  had  two  sons  by  her  first  hus- 
band: Wilber  and  Harry.  Winfield  S.  was  a  son  of  David  and  Margaret  (Weyble)  Brubaker. 
She  was  born  in  Westmoreland  county  Pa.,  in  1821,  and  her  husband,  David,  was  born  in 
Franklin  county.  Pa.,  in  1818.  They  were  married  in  1839,  and  have  had  a  family  of  fifteen 
children,  twelve  of  whom  are  now  living.  Two  died  at  an  early  age,  and  one  son,  Jeremiah, 
enlisted  and  died  at  Savannah.  John  H.  and  Levy  H.,  enhsted  and  served  during  the  war. 
Mary  E.,  J.  H.,  L.  H.,  Martha,  David,  William  H.,  Martha,  W.  S.,  Alice,  Walter,  <3-eorge,  and 
Wesley  are  now  living.  David  settled  in  Henry  county,  in  1850.  He  was  a  son  of  David  and 
Elizabeth  (Barnes)  Brubaker. 

Bucklin,  Osman,  Damascus,  Grelton  p.  o.,  one  of  the  very  early  residents  of  Henry  county^ 
was  born  in  Damascus  in  1822,  and  was  a  son  of  David  and  Plaina  (Gunn)  Bucklin,  who  were 
born  in  Vermont,  and  married  in  N.  Y.  State,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  about  1814.  Plaina 
was  a  daughter  of  Elisha  Gunn.  They  had  nine  children,  but  two  of  whom  are  now  living,  Os- 
man and  Harriet.  David  died  in  Damascus,  in  1834,  and  his  wife  in  1845.  David  was  the  first 
postmaster  of  Damascus,  and  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  but  was  largely  engaged  in  farming, 
served  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  was  at  the  city  of  Buffalo  when  it  was  burned.  Osman  enlisted 
in  Co.  I,  68th  Ohio,  in  1861,  under  Colonel  Steadman,  and  was  discharged  in  1864,  after  three 
years'  service.  He  was  married  in  1848,  to  Nancy  M.  Price,  of  Cuyahoga  county,  O.,  who  died 
in  1856,  leaving  a  family  of  three  children :  Walter,  Charles  and  Mary.  His  second  wife  was 
Elizabeth  Weaver,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  married  in  1860.  They  have  had  one 
son,  Lincoln. 

Burns,  William  S.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  one  of  the  enterprising  farmers  of  Fulton  county, 
was  born  in  Columbiana  county  in  1837,  and  was  a  son  of  Martin  and  Hope  (Stratton)  Burns, 
who  were  born  in  the  same  county.  Martin  was  a  son  of  Hugh  and  Sarah  (Long)  Burns.  Mar- 
tin settled  in  Williams  county  with  his  family  in  L855,  where  he  died  in  1885,  leaving  a  widow 
and  seven  children,  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  William  S.  was  married  in  1865,  to  Jennie 
McGrew.  They  have  three  children  :  Dora,  Willard  L.,  and  Denver  Scott.  Mr.  Burns  settled 
in  Franklin  township  in  1863,  and  came  to  Fayette  in  1877,  where  he  purchased  35  acres  in  the 
corporation,  for  which  he  paid  $3,000,  and  on  which  he  erected  his  fine  brick  residence.  He 
has  been  assessor  of  the  town  two  terms.  His  wife,  Jennie,  was  a  daughter  of  W.  H.  and  Mary 
McGrew,  of  Williams  county.  They  died  in  1384.  He  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  this 
county,  and  was  born  in  1796.  His  wife  was  born  in  1807.  He  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  for 
over  twenty  years. 

Burke,  James,  Liberty,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  one  of  the  prominent  and  successful  farmers  of  Henry 
county,  was  born  in  Ireland,  in  April,  1839,  and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Bridget  Burke.  The 
father  died  in  Ireland,  and  the  mother  in  England,  leaving  only  one  son,  James,  who  emigrated  to- 
and  settled  in  Lorain  county,  0.,  in  1855,  and  married  Jane  Fishburn,  who  was  born  in  Yorkshire, 
Eng.,  in  1861.  They  were  married  in  Loraine  county,  and  settled  in  Liberty,  in  1863,  purchas- 
ing their  homestead  of  80  acres.  They  now  own  200  acres,  180  of  which  are  cleared  and  im- 
proved. He  gives  most  of  his  attention  to  the  breeding  and  raising  of  blooded  stock.  His 
buildings  and  farm  show  well  cultivated  taste. 

Burr,  Elijah,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  farmer  of  Clinton,  was  born  in  Lyme,  Huron  county,, 
in  1836,  and  'was  a  son  of  Charles  T.  and  Zilpha  (Bates)  Burr,  of  Massachusetts,  where  they 
were  married,  and  settled  in  Huron  county,  after  which  they  came  to  Fulton  in  1867.  Charles 
T.,  died  in  1869,  leaving  a  widow  and  six  children.  Elijah  Burr  was  married  in  1863,  to  Sarah 
C.  Ballard,  who  was  born  in  Huron  county.  She  died  in  1877,  leaving  a  family  of  two  children, 
Guy  and  Cora.  His  second  wife  was  Anna  E.  Brainard,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1878. 
They  have  had  two  children,  Gracie  and  Julia  A.  Anna  E.  was  a  daughter  of  Sereno  and  Elinor 
Brainard,  who  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1865.  Elijah  Burr  settled  in  Clinton  in  1869,  where 
he  purchased  his  farm  of  106-J-  acres. 

Callin,  Zimri  G.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  a  manufacturer  and  dealer  in  harness  and  trimmings, 
was  born  in  Huron  county,  0.,  in  1850,  and  was  a  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  Callin.  Eliza- 
beth was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  her  husband  in  Virginia.     They  were  married  in  Ashland 


Brief  Personals.  653 


county.  William  died  in  1881,  leaving  a  widow  and  nine  children,  iive  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing: John.  James,  George  and  Zimri  a.,  and  Mrs.  Harriet  Sly,  a  son  of  Dr.  Hugh,  who  was  a 
graduate  of  the  Cincinnati  Medical  College,  died  in  1881.  Three  of  the  sons  served  in  the  war: 
they  were  John,  James  and  George.  Zimri  G.  was  married  in  1874  to  Ella  Franklin,  of  Tonto- 
gany.  Wood  county.  She  died  in  1875,  leaving  one  son,  Edward.  He  then  married  his  second 
wife,  Minnie  Parker,  in  1881.  They  have  had  two  children,  Delia  and  Oma.  He  settled  in 
Holgate,  Henry  county,  in  1881,  and  then  became  engaged  in  the  harness  business. 

Campbell,  James  K.,  Dover,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Clinton  township,  Fulton  county, 
in  1855,  and  was  a  son  of  Reasin  and  Temperance  (Cornell)  Campbell.  Temperance  was  born  in 
Wayne  county,  in  1829,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  C.  and  Elizabeth  Cornell.  Reasin  was 
born  in  Stark  county,  O.,  in  1820.  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Margaret  (Bell)  Campbell.  Reasin 
died  in  February,  1885,  leaving  his  widow,  Temperance,  and  a  family  of  nine  children :  William 
H.,  Mary  M.,  Elizabeth  A.,  James  K.,  Phebe  J.,  Morgan  C,  Edward  R.  Emily  C,  and  J.  Fred. 
They  settled  in  Clinton  in  1846.  James  K.  was  married  in  1875,  to  Melissa  A.  Bayes,  who  was 
born  in  1855,  in  Clinton.  They  have  had  three  children  :  one  died  in  1877,  one  in  1879,  Zula  B. 
was  born  October,  1885.  Melissa  was  a  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (Tedrow)  Bayes.  Mr. 
Campbell  has  been  assessor  two  terms.  He  purchased  his  homestead  of-  forty  acres  in  1876, 
paying  therefor  .S  1,400;  it  now  consists  of  80  acres  of  finely  cultivated  land. 

Campbell,  Reasin,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Stark  county,  in  1820,  and  was  a  son 
of  John  a,nd  Margaret  (Bell)  Campbell.  She  was  born  in  Washington  county,  Pa.,  and  John 
was  born  in  Ireland.  John  settled  in  Pennsylvania  with  his  parents  Reasin  married  Temper- 
ance Cornell,  who  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1829,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Creig 
and  Elizabeth  (Morgan)  Cornell.  He  wag  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  his  wife  in  Virginia.  They 
had  a  family  of  seven  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Alpha,  Mercy  (now  Mrs.  Lee), 
Phebe  (now  Mrs.  S.  Bays),  and  Temperance.  Joseph  and  EUzabeth  were  married  in  1819,  and 
Joseph  died  in  January,  1831.  His  widow  died  in  Fulton  county,  February  3,  1875,  aged  sev- 
enty-seven years.  Reasin  and  Temperance  were  married  in  1846,  and  settled  in  Clinton,  Ful- 
ton county,  0.,  in  1846.  They  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living: 
William  H.,  Mary  M.,  Elizabeth  A.,  James  K.,  Phebe  J.,  Morgan  C,  Edward  R.,  Emily  C.  and  J. 
Fred.  Mr.  Campbell  died  in  February,  1885.  Reasin  purchased  160  acres  on  settlement  in  1846, 
paying  $600  for  the  same.  His  homestead  farm  now  consists  of  200  acres  of  well  improved  and 
finely  cultivated  land. 

Canfield,  Heman  A.,  Gorham,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  a  large  farmer  and  land  owner  of  Gorham  town- 
ship, Fulton  county,  0.;  was  born  in  West  Bloomfield,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  on  the  25th  day 
of  January,  1816.  He  traces  his  ancestry  back  to  Thomas  Canfield,  who  came  from  England  in 
1646,  and  settled  in  Milford,  Conn.  Heman  A.  Canfield  was  the  son  of  a  farmer,  in  fact,  all  of 
his  ancestors  were  farmers.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  felt  that  his  father's  small  farm  was 
too  small  for  him,  and  although  an  only  son,  he  came  west  in  1837,  and  purchased  240  acres  of 
government  land  in  sections  32  and  33,  Chesterfield  township,  and  in  the  spring  of  1838  came 
to  his  land,  which  was  ''  Oak  Openings,"  and  in  the  fall  sowed  ten  acres  of  wheat,  which  pro- 
duced ten  bushels  per  acre.  He  continued  to  improve  this  land  until  he  gathered  his  last  crop 
of  wheat  in  1859,  which  was  raised  on  the  same  field  as  his  first  crop,  but  which  produced  thirty 
bushels  to  the  acre.  He  then  sold  bis  farm  and  settled  in  Gorham,  on  the  Tiffin  River.  This 
farm  was  heavily  timbered,  but  by  running  a  saw-mill  and  employing  a  large  amount  of  hand 
work  engaged  in  clearing,  ditching  and  underdraining,  he  now  in  his  old  age  can  look  over 
one  of  the  best  and  most  productive  farms  in  the  county.  He  was  married  in  his  native  town 
on  the  16th  of  October,  1838,  to  Amanda  G.  Brown,  who  still  lives  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their 
early  labors  and  pioneer  trials.  They  have  had  six  children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  all 
living  and  married.  Mr.  Canfield  has  always  enjoyed  the  entire  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
community  in  which  he  lives,  and  while  he  has  always  been  a  leader  in  all  matters  relating  to 
the  best  interests  of  society,  and  has  occasionally  accepted  both  township  and  county  offices,  has 
always  thought  that  office  was  too  confining,  to  a  man  of  his  active  nature.  He  has  always  by 
precept  and  example,  been  teaching  his  generation  how  to  make  the  earth  produce  more  of  the 
blessings  of  life.  He  has  always  been  a  staunch  and  active  Republican  since  the  organization 
of  that  political  party,  and  strange  as  it  sounds  to-day,  he  was  the  first  person  in  his  native  town 
to  advocate  publicly  the  doctrine  in  that  the  Bible  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
were  both  anti-slavery  documents.  He  and  his  wife  have  both  maintained  and  cultivated  their 
literary  tastes,  as  their  large  and  well  selected  library  will  attest. 

Carpenter,  Henry,  Liberty,  a  general  and  successful  farmer,  of  Henry  county,  was  born  in 
Fairfield  county,  in  1833  and  was  a  son  of  George  and  Barbara  (Wilson)  Carpenter.  Barbara 
was  born  in  Virginia  and  her  husband,  George,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania.  They  were  married 
in  Fairfield  county,  0.  George  served  in  the  war  is  1812  and  his  widow,  after  his  death,  which 
occured  in  1861,  was  awarded  a  pension  of  ninety-six  dollars  per  year,  until  her  death,  which 


€54  History  of  Henry  and  Kulton  Counties. 

occurred  id  1875.  They  settled  in  Liberty  county  in  1848,  and  had  a  family  of  eleven  children, 
four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Mrs.  Mary  Heft,  Mrs.  Catharine  Davis,  David  and  Henry.  Two 
of  the  grandsons,  Solomon  and  G-eorge,  followed  the  patriotism  of  their  grandfather  and  enlisted 
in  the  army  of  the  Rebellion.  Henry  Carpenter  was  married  in  1861  to  Rachel  G-nthrie.  They 
have  had  five  children :  Amanda  T.,  Mary  May,  Robert  Murphy,  Cora  Belle  (was  educated  for, 
and  is  now  engaged  in  teaching)  and  Robert.  Murphy  married  Arsa  Tremain.  Mr.  Carpenter 
settled  on  his  homestead  farm  in  1848,  paying  $3,500  for  the  first  forty  acres.  He  now  owns 
200  acres  in  all. 

Cheadle,  Gilman,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  an  early  pioneer  farmer  stock  grower,  but  who 
has  now  retired  from  active  business,  was  born  in  Morgan  county,  0.,  in  1807,  and  was  a  son  of 
John  and  Mary  (White)  Cheadle,  of  Windsor  county,  Vermont.  They  settled  in  Ohio  in  1802. 
Gilman  was  married  to  Susanna  Rockafellow,  a  daughter  of  William  and  Malinda  Rockafeliow. 
William  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  and  his  wife,  Malinda,  was  a  native  of  Maryland.  They  set- 
tled in  Washington  county,  0.,  where  William  died  in  18 —  and  his  wife,  Malinda,  in  1884,  at 
the  age  of  ninety-four  years.  G-ilman  and  Susanna  were  married  on  March  13,  1828,  and  had 
a  family  of  ten  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living :  Margaret,  Aumend,  Ingabee  (now  Mrs. 
Conklin),  AthaUnda  (Mrs.  D.  Sharp)  and  Kathan.  Nathan  and  William  enlisted  and  served  in 
the  late  war.  Mr.  Cheadle  settled  in  York  township  in  1836  and  came  to  Wauseon  in  1870. 
He  served  as  a  postmaster  fourteen  years,  under  President  Jackson. 

Cheney,  William  T.,  Monroe,  Malinta,  p.  o.,  was  born  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  August  27, 
1831,  came  to  Perry  county  when  an  infant  where  he  was  raised  and  received  a  public  school 
education,  until  he  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years  when  he  moved  to  Fairfield  county  with  his 
parents,  and  came  to  Henry  county  in  1857  where  he  purchased  his  present  farm  of  forty  acres 
in  Monroe  township,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He  was  married  in  1854  to  LucindaE.  Gron- 
ter,  of  Richland  county,  0.  They  have  four  children  now  living :  Lucinda  A.,  (Mrs.  Marion 
Smith)  Lydia  A.,  Mary  R.  (Mrs.  Herbert  Booth)  and  Frederick  W.  Mr.  Cheney  has  held  the 
oflice  of  assessor,  constable  and  school  director  of  the  township  for  several  years,  and  has  also 
been  a  notary  public.  He  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  in  1876,  which  office  he  has  held 
■continually  ever  since,  with  the  exception  of  two  years. 

Chroninger,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Liberty,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Stark  county,  0., 
■October  14,  1843,  and  settled  in  Liberty  township  in  1846,  with  his  parents,  George  and  Eliza- 
beth Ann  (Hinkle)  Chroninger.  He  was  married  July  7,  1870,  to  Asenath  Louisa  Babcock  who 
was  born  August  8,  1851.  They  have  had  two  children  :  Raleigh  Royal,  born  April  22,  1871 ; 
Millie  Belle,  born  November  8,  1872.  Asenath  L.  was  a  daughter  of  Lorenzo  and  Sarah  Ann 
(Patrick)  Babcock.  Mr.  Chroninger,  at  the  opening  of  the  rebellion,  offered  his  services  but  was 
rejected  on  account  of  impaired  health.  He  is  a  man  of  rare  intellectual  tastes.  He  has  made 
farming  both  a  success  and  a  pleasant  occupation.  He  takes  an  interest  m  all  pubhc  enterprises. 
His  parents  have  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  but  four  of  whom  are  now  living  :  B.  F.,  Henry, 
Arminda  and  Elsie  Dana.  His  father,  George,  was  born  in  Stark  county,  September  12,  1817, 
and  his  mother  in  P  ennsylvania,  in  1820.  They  were  married  in  Tuscarawas  county,  in  1841. 
George  was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Sarah  Chroninger  natives  of  Westmoreland  county,  who  were 
married  in  Stark  county,  0.,  and  died  in  Indiana  county. 

Chroninger,  George,  Liberty,  Liberty  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Stark  county,  0.,  September  12, 
1817,  and  came  to  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1840,  and  settled  on  his  present  homestead  farm  of  160 
acres.  He  was  married  in  1841  to  Elizabeth  Ann  Hinkle,  of  Tuscarawas  county,  who  was  born 
in  Pennsylvania,  in  1820.  They  have  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing :  Benjamin  Franklin,  Henry,  Arminda  and  Elsie  Dana.  George,  jr.  died  leaving  one  son, 
Othey ;  Monroe  died  at  the  age  of  twenty  years.  They  settled  in  Liberty  in  1846,  where  they 
still  reside,  having  one  of  the  best  cultivated  farms  in  the  county,  having  five  miles  of  tile,  fine 
fruit  and  buildings.  He  was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Sarah  Chroninger.  Henry  was  born  in  West- 
moreland county.  Pa.  They  were  married  in  Stark  county.  Elizabeth  w£is  the  daughter  of 
Henry  and  Mary  Hinkle,  who  settled  in  Stark  county  in  1827,  where  they  died.  Mr.  Chron- 
inger settled  in  Henry  county  with  his  family  in  1846.  The  place  was  then  a  wood.  He 
■erected  a  log  cabin,  cleared  his  land,  now  having  130  acres  free  from  stumps,  on  which  he  has 
his  homestead.     In  addition  to  this  he  owns  400  acres  in  town. 

Clark,  John  A.,  Clinton,  Pettisville  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  of  Fulton  county,  was  born  in  Maryland 
in  1829  and  was  a  son  of  Ebenezer  and  Mary  (Dye)  Clark,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Mary- 
land and  settled  in  Holmes  county,  0.,  in  1838,  and  in  1841  came  to  Fulton  county  and  pur- 
chased his  farm  of  eighty  acres  in  1843,  for  which  he  paid  $200.  Ebenezer  was  born  in  1801, 
and  his  wife  Mary,  in  1809.  They  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living: 
John  A.  (born  m  1829),  Daniel  (born  1832),  Ezekiel  (born  1841),  WiUiam  (born  1849),  Moses  (born 
1851),  Nancy  (now  Mrs.  Hayes),  Melissa  (now  Mrs.  Melius),  Mary  (now  Mrs.  Volentine).  Aden 
enlisted  and  was  killed  in  the  battle  near  Petersburg,  while  serving  in  the  Sixty-eighth  Ohio  Reg- 


Brief  Personals.  655 


iment.  John  A.  Clark  was  married  in  1854  to  Elizabeth  Krontz  who  was  born  in  Holmes  county 
in  1834.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children:  James  M.,  Noah  M.,  Solomon  J.,  William 
E.  and  Eliza  Jane.  Elizabeth  was  a  daughter  of  Phillip  and  Susan  S.  Krontz.  Mr.  Clark  now 
owns  the  eighty  acre  homestead,  to  which  he  has  added  100  acres  and  now  has  a  fine  stock 
farm  of  180  acres  with  140  acres  under  cultivation  on  section  nineteen.  He  is  now  engaged  in 
the  breeding  of  Norman  horses  and  short  horn  cattle  and  general  farming. 

Clapp,  Russel  K.,  Liberty,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.,  an  early  settler  in  Henry  county,  was  born 
in  Delaware  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1823,  and  was  a  son  of  Russell  and  Lavina  (Strong)  Clapp,  na- 
tives of  Southampton,  Mass.,  where  they  were  married  in  1811.  He  was  born  1786  and  his 
wife  in  1788.  He  died  in  1854  and  his  wife  in  1855.  They  had  eight  children,  two  of  whom 
are  now  living,  Russel  K.  and  Sarah.  They  settled  in  Huron  county  in  1839,  and  in  1S46  came 
to  Henry  county.  Russell  K.  was  married  in  1851  to  Amelia  Clough,  who  was  born  in  Perrys- 
burg.  Wood  county,  in  1832.  They  had  a  family  of  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing: Theodore  G.,  Jennie  L.,  who  married  Ralph  Redfield  in  1874.  Theodore  G-.  was  married 
in  1881  to  Mary  Tanner.  Amelia  was  a  daughter  of  Salmon  and  Lucy  (Whitman)  Clough. 
Salmon  was  born  in  New  York,  where  they  were  married,  after  which  they  settled  in  Wood 
county,  0.,  where  Salmon  died  leaving  a  family  of  six  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living : 
Jonathan  and  Amelia.  The  widow,  Lucy,  came  to  Fulton  in  1836,  where  she  died  April  9,  1872. 
Two  of  her  sons,  Jonathan  and  Ephraim,  enlisted  and  served  in  the  late  War  of  the  Rebellion, 
in  the  14th  and  67th  Regiments.  Russel  K.  Clapp  now  owns  and  occupies  the  old  homestead 
which  was  purchased  on  settlement  in  1846,  was  then  a  forest,  now  a  well-improved  farm. 

Clifton,  John  Lumby,  Freedom,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  England,  in  1821, 
and  was  a  son  of  John  T.  and  Jane  Lumby  Clifton.  John,  in  early  life,  was  engaged  in  the  butcher 
business,  and  was  also  butcher  on  an  English  mail  steamer.  He  was  married  in  1841  to  Mary 
Ann  Rubin,  who  died  in  England  leaving  three  children :  John,  Sarah  Jane  and  Thomas.  John 
emigrated  to  America  in  1852  and  settled  in  Sandusky  county  and  there  became  engaged  in  the 
butcher  business.  He  was  married  in  1852  to  Elizabeth  Burnham  who  was  born  in  England  in 
1830.  They  have  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  two  of  whom  are  dead :  Clara  A.,  Robert  M., 
Rose  E.,  George  L.,  Alice  M.,  Elizabeth  H.  and  William  D.  Lizza  H.  and  Clara  are  now  en- 
gaged in  teaching.  Mrs.  Clifton  settled  in  Sandusky  county  with  her  father  in  1849.  She  was 
a  daughter  of  George  Burnham.  Mr.  Clifton  commenced  his  farming  life  with  a  cash  capital  of 
twenty  dollars  in  Wood  county,  0.  He  now  has  a  farm  of  260  acres  in  Freedom,  which  he 
purchased  in  1877,  on  which  he  has  made  many  improvements  and  erected  some  fine  farm  build- 
ings. 

Creager,  Gideon  G.,  Harrison,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  -  prominent  early  settler  of  Harrison  town- 
ship, was  born  in  Maryland  in  1810  and  was  a  son  of  Cornelius  and  Mary  Creager,  and  a  grand- 
son of  Conrad  CorneUus,  who  settled  in  Dayton,  Montgomery  county,  0.,  in  September,  1812. 
The  father  died  in  Seneca  county  in  1841.  He  was  born  in  1798.  His  wife  died  in  Henry 
county  in  1866,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years.  They  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  two  of 
whom  are  now  living:  Mrs.  Mary  Lamberson  and  Gideon  G.,  who  married  Christina  Shonkwi- 
ler  of  Seneca  county,  0.,  in  1838.  They  have  had  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  nine  of  whom 
are  now  livin<r :  Harriet,  Jemimah,  Daniel,  Caroline,  Oren,  Margaret,  Veona,  Mary,  Clement  L.,  and 
Benjamin  died  leaving  a  family  of  four  children.  G.  G.  Creager  settled  in  Harrison  m  1852  on  his 
present  homestead  of  160  acres,  paying  therefor  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  acre.  He  has 
twenty-eight  grandchildren  and  three  great  grandchildren.  Cornelius  was  a  professional  teacher 
and  Gideon  also  followed  that  vocation  in  early  life. 

Cobb,  Oscar  A.,  Dover,  Ottokee  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  of  Dover  township,  was  born  in  Griswald, 
New  London  county,  Conn.,  in  1817,  and  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1846.  He  was  married 
in  1841  to  Phebe  L.  Knapp,  of  New  York  city.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children,  t,wo 
of  whom  are  now  living,  Albert  and  Dora.  Three  died  at  early  ages  and  one,  Ernest  G.,  was 
born  in  1843,  enlisted  in  Company  A,  67th  Ohio  Regiment,  in  1862  and  was  discharged  in  1863 
on  account  of  disability.  He  died  at  home  in  March  1863.  Phebe  was  a  daughter  of  Arch- 
bold  W.  and  Betsey  Knapp,  who  settled  in  Dover  township  in  1846,  where  they  died.  Phebe 
is  the  only  surviving  one  of  the  family.  Mr.  Cobb  was  a  son  of  Anson  S.  and  Nancy  (Kings- 
ley)  Cobb.  Anson  S.  was  born  in  1791  and  died  in  April,  1843.  His  wife,  Nancy,  was  bom 
in  1791,  and  died  November  17,  1885.  They  were  married  November  25,  1809,  and  m  1831 
settled  in  Delaware  countv,  N.  Y.,  where  they  died.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  four 
of  whom  are  now  living :  "Mary  E.,  Oscar  A.,  Lucy  S.,  and  Elisha  G.  Oscar  A.  was  a  sheriff  of 
Fulton  county  four  years,  from  1860  to  1864,  and  director  of  the  infirmary  two  terms.  He  has 
also  held  other  minor  offices.  He  settled  on  his  present  farm  in  1865,  paying  $8  per  acre  tor  it 
and  now  has  one  of  the  finest  farms  in  the  county. 

Cole  Amos  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Henry  county,  was  born 
in  Chenango  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1803.    His  parents,  Silas  and  Louisa  Cole,  came  there  at  an  early 


6s6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

day  from  Connecticut.  In  1815  they  moved  to  Ohio  and  settled  in  Sciota  county,  and  in  1831 
Amos  was  married  to  Nancy  Watts,  who  was  born  in  that  county.  In  1833  he  moved  into  the 
then  wilderness  of  Henry  county.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  who  organized  the  county, 
and  held  the  office  of  commissioner  for  several  years,  and  was  at  one  time  associate  judge.  He 
was  justice  for  fifteen  years.  He  raised  a  family  of  six  children  as  follows:  Mary  L.,  Elizabeth 
A.,  Julia  C,  Newton  S.,  Albert  B.  and  Hester  S.  The  oldest  died  several  years  ago,  and  the 
rest  of  the  family  are  now  living  in  Henry  and  Defiance  counties.  Amos  died  in  1863,  and 
Nancy  in  1875.  Newton  S.,  the  eldest  son,  was  born  in  1838,  and  remained  at  home  on  the 
farm  until  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  when  he  engaged  in  teaching  school.  In  No- 
vember, 1861,  he  enUsted  in  Co.  P,  68th  0.  V.  Infantry,  in  which  he  served  until  1863,  when 
he  was  transferred  to  the  U.  S.  Signal  Service  at  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  and  remained  in  that  service 
until  he  was  discharged  in  1865.  He  was  married  in  1866  to  Julia  A.  Parker,  of  Attica,  Ind. 
He  has  a  family  of  three  sons  :  Claude  Bertrand,  Allen  Eugene  and  G-uy  Otis.  He  has  been  just- 
ice of  the  peace,  and  also  held  several  other  minor  offices.  He  moved  to  the  village  of  Holgate 
in  1876,  and  became  engaged  in  the  hardware  business,  in  whicli  he  has  remained  ever  since 
with  a  reasonable  amount  of  success. 

Connolly,  James,  Washington,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.,  one  of  the  leading  farmers  of  Northwest 
Ohio,  was  born  in  G-reene  county,  N,  Y.,  in  June,  1833,  and  settled  in  Washington  township  in 
1841.  He  was  married  October  21,  1853,  to  Elizabeth  Gamble,  of  Franklin,  Wis.  They  have 
had  six  sons :  Francis  B.,  James  M.,  WiUiam  H.,  Michael,  George  Van,  Robert  B.  Three  of 
the  sons,  Francis  E.,  James  M.  and  William  H.,  are  graduates  of  the  commercial  college,  and 
were  fitted  for  teachers.  Mr.  Connolly  served  as  county  commissioner  for  two  terms.  In  early 
life  he  became  engaged  in  farming,  and  now  owns  500  acres.  He  was  a  son  of  Michael  and 
Bllen  (Duffy)  Connolly,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Ireland;  he  in  1791  and  his  wife  in  1796. 
They  were  married  in  1825,  and  emigrated  to  America  in  1827.  They  first  settled  in  N.  T.  State, 
in  Greene  county,  where  they  remained  until  1835,  when  they  went  to  New  York  city  where 
they  remained  until  1837,  when  they  came  to  Ohio,  and  in  1838  settled  in  Henry  county,  and  in 
the  year  1841  they  came  to  Washington  township,  where  they  died.  He  in  1875,  and  his  wife 
in  1868.  They  had  four  sons,  two  of  whom  are  now  living,  Michael,  jr.,  and  James.  Paul  and 
William  are  deceased.  Tlae  family  came  from  New  York  by  the  Brie  Canal,  and  crossed  Lake 
Erie  on  the  steamer  Robert  Pulton,  in  1813. 

Connolly,  Michael,  jr.,  Washington,  Colton  p.  o.,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Washington  town- 
ship, was  born  in  Gallaway,  Ireland,  in  1827,  and  was  a  son  of  Michael  and  Mrs.  Ellen  (Duffy) 
Connolly,  who  were  married  in  1825.  Ellen  was  born  in  1796  and  died  January  15, 1868.  Her 
hunband,  Michael,  was  born  in  1797  and  died  March  9,  1875.  They  had  a  family  of  four  sons: 
Michael,  Paul,  William  J.,  and  James.  Michael  and  James  are  the  only  two  now  living.  The 
parents  came  to  America  in  1827,  bringing  with  them  their  son  Michael.  They  were  wrecked 
off  Portage  Island  and  after  a  tedious  trip  arrived  at  New  Yorlc,  and  settled  in  Greene  county 
in  1835.  They  moved  to  New  York  city,  and  in  1837  came  from  New  York  via  Erie  Canal  and 
Lake  Brie  and  settled  in  Wood  county,  0.,  and  in  1838  they  settled  in  Napoleon,  Henry  county. 
In  1841  Michael  entered  his  homestead  farm  of  160  acres,  paying  $1.25  per  acre  for  it.  They 
settled  and  died  in  Washington  township.  Michael,  jr.,  was  married  in  1848  to  Anna  Lavelle, 
of  Mount  Morris,  Livingston  county,  N.  Y.  She  died  in  1849.  He  then  married  his  second 
wife,.Ellen  Carroll,  of  Lucas  county,  in  1850.  They  have  had  a  family  of  seven  children:  Will- 
iam J.,  Frank  P.,  Theresa,  Edward,  Eugene,  Charles  and  Nellie.  William  and  Edward  fitted 
themselves  for  teachers  and  taught  school.  Mr.  Connolly  purchased  a  quarter  section  in  1846. 
He  is  engaged  in  farming,  and  has  also  been  engaged  in  the  boating  business  for  twelve  years. 
He  now  owns  500  acres  of  finely  cultivated  land.  He  has  been  canal  superintendent,  was  trustee 
of  the  township  for  three  terms.  He  is  now  a  retired  farmer,  residing  on  section  21,  range  18. 
His  wife,  Mrs.  Ellen  Connolly,  died  January  10,  1882.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Carroll, 
of  Lucas  county. 

Connolly,  Paul  (deceased),  Washington,  Liberty  Centre  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Greene  county,  N. 
Y.,  in  1829.  He  was  a  son  of  Michael  and  Ellen  (Duffy)  Connolly,  and  a  brother  of  Michael 
and  James  Connolly,  of  Washington  township.  Paul  was  married  in  1866  to  Hannah  Murphy. 
They  had  a  family  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living :  Alphonsus  L.,  Elizabeth ;  Mary 
died  September  1,  1867,  Anna  was  born  in  1867  and  died  in  1877.  Paul  Connolly  died  in  1874. 
His  widow  now  resides  on  the  homestead  farm  of  180  acres.  She  waS'  a  daughter  of  Edward 
and  Sina  Ann  (Karsner)  Murphy,  who  came  from  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  to  Henry  county  in  1830. 
Sina  Ann  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  and  her  husband  in  Ireland.  They  were  early  settlers.  Ed- 
ward died  in  1854,  and  his  widow  in  1856.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  five  of  whom 
are  now  living :  Hannah,  Elizabeth,  Rebecca,  John  and  Thomas.  They  came  to  Henry  county 
about  1830. 

Conklin,  William,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  c,  owner  and  proprietor  Of  the  Conklin  stock  farm 
of  York,  consisting  of  240  acres,  was  born  in  Richland  county,  0.,  in  December,  1837.     His  an- 


Brief  Personals.  657 


oestors  were  originally  from  Holland  and  located  in  the  State  of  New  York  before  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  in  which  struggle  his  great-grandfather,  "Captain  Oonklin,"  took  part  as  an  offi- 
cer. His  grandfather,  Israel  Oonklin,  was  one  of  three  brothers.  He  moved  from  Cayuga 
■county,  York  State,  in  the  year  1818,  and  settled  in  Richland  county,  0.,  where  he  remamed 
twenty-six  years.  He  buried  his  wife  in  1840,  and  in  a  little  over  two  years  Davids  wife  died, 
leaving  him  nine  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  and  two  in  the  vigor  of  early  man  and 
womanhood,  leaving  Ensign,  Elizabeth,  Calvin,  William  and  Cynthia.  In  1844  Isaac,  his  son 
David  with  his  seven  children  then  living,  moved  to  Steuben  county,  Ind.  In  1861  William 
was  married  to  Ingabee  Cheadle,  daughter  of  Gilman  and  Susanna  Cheadle,  old  pioneers  of  Ful- 
ton county,  0. '  They  had  a  family  of  six  children,  of  whom  Mary  died  at  seven  years,  Frankie 
at  ten,  and  the  other  four,  Edward  R.,  Archie  B.,Carl  and  Grace  are  now  living.  "William  took 
his  young  bride  to  his  Hoosier  homestead,  where  they  looked  after  the  wants  of  Isaac  Conklin 
until  his  death  in  1862,  and  in  whose  homestead  David  made  a  member  during  life.  In  1870 
William  moved  to  Ohio  and  located  on  the  farm  of  which  he  is  still  the  owner.  In  1880  he  took 
up  his  residence  in  Wauseon,  where  in  the  following  year  David  died.  Mr.  Oonklin  is  now  en- 
gaged in  the  general  stock  business,  and  is  engaged  in  the  breeding  of  fine  horses,  having  some 
fine  Clydesdales  and  Normans',  which  were  imported  expressly  for  his  farm.  He  is  largely  in- 
terested in  the  Conklin  Automatic  Cultivator  Company  at  Wauseon— his  son  Edward  being  the 
patentee — and  is  now  one  of  the  representative  men  of  this  place.  The  people  nominated  him 
for  representative  in  1885. 

Conrad,  Charles,  Gorham,  Morenoi,  Mich.,  p.  o.,  was  born  June  5,  1844,  in  Cuyahoga  county, 
O.,  and  settled  in  Pulton  county  in  1845.  He  was  married  in  1867  to  Helen  Colvin,  who  was 
born  in  Gorham,  Fulton  county,  in  August,  1846.  She  was  the  only  child  of  Josiah,  jr.,  and  Laura 
(Ranger)  Colvin.  Laura  was  born  in  Batavia,  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  October  18,  1821,  and  was 
married  to  Josiah  Colvin,  November  19,  1844,  in  Chesterfield,  0.  Josiah  was  born  in  N.  Y.  State 
in  1820,  and  died  February  23,  1881.  He  settled  with  his  parents  in  Ohio  in  1836.  He  was  a 
son  of  Josiah  and  Betsey  (Fields)  Colvin,  who  had  a  family  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are 
now  living,  George  and  Alonzo.  Mrs.  Laura  E.  Colvin  died  May  23,  1876.  Charles  A.  was  a 
son  of  William  H.  and  Priscilla  Conrad.  Priscilla  was  born  in  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1817, 
and  her  husband,  William,  was  born  in  Johnstown,  Fulton  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1818.  They  were 
married  at  Dryden,  Cortland  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1840,  and  have  had  a  family  of  twelve  children, 
six  of  whom  are  now  living :  Susan,  Henry,  Charles,  Wilbert,  Emily  and  Edna.  William  H. 
Conrad  settled  in  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1845,  with  a  cash  capital  of  $16,  and  now  owns  490  acres 
of  the  best  land  in  the  county. 

Conaway,  Leander,  Dover,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  the  general  blacksmith,  carriage  and  wagon  manu- 
facuturer  and  repairer  of  Dover  township,  was  born  in  Knox  county,  in  1841,  and  was  a  son  of 
Joshua  and  Jane  (Larason)  Conaway.  They  were  married  in  Knox  county,  and  have  had  one 
son,  Leander.  They  settled  in  Franklin  township  in  1848.  Leander  was  married  in  September, 
1861,  to  Rebecca  0.  Borton,  of  Franklin  township.  They  have  eight  children :  Rebecca  was  a 
daughter  of  Rev.  Nathan  and  Mary  (Borton)  of  Franklin,  Mr.  Conaway  was  brought  up  on  a 
farm,  and  became  engaged  in  the  carpenter  business.  In  1879  he  erected  his  shop,  and  became 
engaged  in  his  present  business  in  1882. 

Cornell,  Charles  W.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Tuscarawas  county,  0.,  on  April 
18,  1834,  and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Margaret  (Bayes)  Cornell.  James  was  born  in  New  Jersey, 
and  his  wife  in  Pennsylvania ;  they  settled  in  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1837.  Margaret  died  in  1860, 
and  James  in  1880,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years.  In  early  life  he  was  engaged  in  the  tailor 
business,  but  later  became  engaged  in  farming.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  four  of 
whom  are  now  living:  J.  0.,  Nancy,  Charles,  Catharine.  Charles  enlisted  in  1861  in  the  14th 
Ohio,  and  re-enlisted  m  the  68th  Ohio,  servmg  to  the  close  of  the  war.  Charles  was  married  in 
1856  to  Delia  Korns,  of  Holmes  county,  0.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children.  Mr.  Cor- 
nell was  assistant  revenue  collector  for  four  years,  township  clerk  for  three  years,  and  also  held 
other  minor  offices.     He  is  now  engaged  in  carpentering  and  building. 

Cornell,  Jonathan  C.  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  Clinton  township, 
Fulton  county.  He  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1830,  and  in  early  life  was  engaged  in 
farming.  He  settled  in  Chnton  township  in  1849,  and  in  1859  erected  the  first  flouring  mill  in 
Wauseon,  with  a  capacity  of  one  hundred  barrels  per  day.  In  1861  he  became  a  partner  with 
Brigham,  Springer  and  Cornell  and  became  engaged  in  the  miUing  and  mercantile  business,  from 
which  he  retired  and  became  the  business  proprietor  of  the  hotel  at  Wauseon  and  Indiana.  He 
has  been  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Elizabeth  A.  Gorsuch.  They  had  two  children, 
Marcus  H.  and  James.  He  married  for  his  second  wife  Mary  F.  Scott,  of  Fremont,  in  1876. 
They  have  an  adopted  daughter,  Cora  Bell.  Jonathan  C.  purchased  one-third  interest  of  the 
Wauseon  steam  sawing  stave  and  heading  mill,  in  1881.  He  was  a  son  of  James  and  Margaret 
(Bayes)  Cornell.     James  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1804,  and  died  in  1880.     His  wife,  Marga- 

83 


6s 8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

ret,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  died  in  1860.  They  settled  in  Clinton,  Fulton  county,  0., 
in  1849,  and  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living:  J.  C,  Nancy,  Charles 
W.,  Thomas  J.,  Catharine.     Charles  W.  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 

Cornell,  Thomas  S.,  "Wauseon,  "Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  stock  farmer  and  breeder  of  fine  blooded 
horses  and  cattle,  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1836,  and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Margaret 
(Bayes)  Cornell,  who  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1839.  Margaret  died  in  1856,  and  James  in 
1882,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are 
now  living :  J.  C,  Nancy  (now  Mrs.  Healy),  Charles  W.,  Thomas  J.,  Catharine  (now  Mrs.  Taber). 
James  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  was  county  commissioner  for  three  terms.  Thomas  J. 
Cornell,  an  extensive  farmer,  settled  in  Wauseon,  in  1882.  He  has  been  twice  married.  Hia 
first  wife  was  Mary  A.  Weeks,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1861.  She  died  io  1866,  leaving  one 
child,  Evelyn  P.  His  second  wife  was  Lou  A.  Robison,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1872.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  A.  R.  Robison.  Mr.  Cornell  is  a  partner  with  Mr.  William  Oonklin,  in  the 
Gilman-Cheadle  farm,  which  is  becoming  noted  for  its  Clydesdale  and  Norman  horses,  and  for 
its  imported  blooded  cattle. 

Cottrell,  jr.,  Grorham,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  settler  and  farmer,  was  born  in  Worth- 
ington,  Hampshire  county,  Mass.,  in  October,  1826.  He  came  with  his  parents,  Gorham  and 
Althea  (Whitmarsh)  Cottrell,  to  Fulton  county  in  1834  or  1835.  They  were  born  and  married 
there  on  February  15,  1810.  Gorham  was  born  in  1780,  and  died  in  1853;  Althea  was  born  in 
January,  1788,  and  died  in  1867.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children:  Erastus  died  leaving  a 
widow  and  five  children ;  Ann  married  Mr.  Latham,  and  died  Juue  6,  1841,  aged  twenty-one 
years ;  Joseph,  Sardis,  Lucy,  Jane  K.,  Gorham,  jr.,  and  Althea.  Gorham,  sr.,  was  a  son  of  Asa 
and  Lucinda  (Clapp)  Cottrell,  residents  of  Massachusetts,  where  they  were  married  in  1770. 
Gorham,  jr.,  was  married  July  4,  1853,  to  Marian  Demeritt,  who  was  born  at  Mt.  Morris,  Liv- 
ingston county,  N.  T.,  in  1836.  They  were  married  at  Hudson,  Mich.,  and  had  a  family  of  eight 
children :  Norman  E  ,  Rosa  M.,  Fred  E.,  Elbert  G.,  Edith  L.,  Carrie  E.,  Willie  H.,  and  Frank  G. 
Marion  was  a  daughter  of  Edward  and  Prudence  Demerrit.  He  was  born  in  Massachusetts, 
and  settled  in  Gorham  in  1850,  where  he  died  the  same  year.  Gorham,  sr.,  entered  several  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  his  sons,  cleared  and  improved  the  same.  The 
sons  all  shared,  and  each  had  a  large  and  finely  cultivated  farm.  G.  Cottrell  was  an  early  and 
influential  man,  and  at  the  organization  of  the  town  it  was  named  in  honor  of  him,  he  being  one 
of  the  very  first  settlers  in  the  township. 

Cottrell,  Joseph,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Worthington,  Hampshire  county,  Mass., 
April  4,  1815,  and  at  an  early  age  settled  in  what  is  now  Gorham  township.  He  was  married 
December  30,  1839,  to  Maria  Lloyd,  who  was  born  in  Pownall,  Bennington  county,  Vt.,  in  1814. 
They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  George  Trowbridge,  Georgi- 
ana,  Josephine,  Edgar  Theodore,  one  child  who  died  in  infancy,  Henrietta,  married  E.  Crane, 
and-  died  in  1878,  leaving  three  sons:  Vernon  Ralph,  and  Clyde.  Freeman  O.  died  at  the  age 
of  twenty-five  years.  George  Trowbridge  enlisted  in  Co.  K,  38th  Ohio  Regiment  in  August, 
1861,  and  was  wounded,  but  was  retained  as  clerk  and  book-keeper  at  the  hospital  until  his 
term  expired,  when  he  was  discharged  in  1864.  He  early  fitted  himself  for  teaching.  His  two 
sisters,  Georgiana  and  Henrietta  were  also  teachers.  His  mother,  Mrs.  Maria,  was  a  teacher 
in  Vermont  and  Massachusetts  for  several  years,  also  in  Ohio.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Martin 
and  Mercy  Lloyd.  Martin  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  and  his  wife  in  Vermont.  They  settled 
in  Huron  county  in  1834,  and  came  to  Williams  county  in  1837,  where  they  died.  They  had  a 
family  of  eight  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living.  Mr.  Joseph  Cottrell  was  postmaster  at 
Handy  for  eleven  years. 

Coulter,  David  G.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  May  9,  1828,  and  was 
a  son  of  Benjamin  and  Sarah  Coulter.  Benjamin  died  in  Pennsylvania,  leaving  a  wife  and  two 
children :  David  and  Margaret.  Sarah  married  and  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1840.  David 
settled  in  Clinton  township  with  his  grandfather,  George  Markley,  in  1 843.  George  died  June 
7,  1860,  at  the  age  of  seventy  two  years.  David  was  married  September  16,  1855,  to  Caroline 
Lindaew,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  in  1829.  They  have  had  three  daughters:  Sarah,  Esta, 
and  Carohne.  Sarah  married  James  Bergen,  and  Esta,  John  Emerly.  Mrs.  Coulter  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Christopher  and  Elizabeth  Lindaew,  who  settled  in  Ridgeville,  Henry  county,  in  1853, 
coming  there  from  Germany,  where  Christopher  died  in  1864.  Mr.  Coulter  now  owns  a  farm 
of  113  acres.     He  has  held  several  of  the  town  and  district  offices. 

Cowdrick,  Vien,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Liberty  township,  April  12,  1834,  and  was  a  son  of 
Joseph  and  Margaret  (Emmick)  Cowdrick,  who  were  married  at  Dayton,  O.,  and  had  a  family 
of  eleven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living :  John  E.,  Smith,  Vien,  Margaret,  and  Benja- 
min F.  Smith  enlisted  in  the  38th  Ohio  Regiment,  in  1862,  and  after  six  months  was  discharged 
for  disability.  Joseph  was  born  in  New  Jersey.  They  settled  in  Henry  county  April  1,  1834, 
and  died  in  1872.     Joseph  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  the  first  elections  were  held  in  his 


Brief  Personals.  659 


house  when  it  was  in  the  township  of  Harrison.  Vien  was  married  in  1858  to  Sarah  Redman, 
who  was  born  in  1842.  They  have  had  two  children,  Dr.  Elmer  B..  and  Myrtle  A.  Elmer  was 
graduated  from  the  graded  schools,  fitted  for  and  graduated  from  the  Chicago  Medical  College 
m  1886.  Myrtle  is  now  a  student.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  one  among  the  first  white 
•children  born  in  Henry  township. 

Oroninger,  Jonathan,  Clifton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  retired  farmer,  was  born  in  Starls:  county,  0., 
in  1820,  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Mary  Croninger  who  were  born  in  Pennsylvania  and  set- 
tled in  Stark  county,  where  Jacob  died.  His  widow,  Mary,  died  in  Fulton  county.  They  had 
a  faniily  of  fourteen  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living.  Jonathan  was  married  in  1843 
to  Elizabeth  Upps  of  Pennsylvania.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children,  five  of  whom  are 
now  hving:  Lorenzo  D.,  Francis  D.,  William  W.,  Delphena  and  Florence.  Lorenzo  D.  enlisted 
from  Seneca  county  in  the  late  war  and  now  receives  a  pension  for  injuries  received  while  in 
service.  Mr.  Croninger  settled  in  Fulton  county  from  Huron  county,  in  1866  and  purchased 
his  present  farm  of  1054  acres.  He  has  held  most  of  the  town  ofBces  of  Huron ;  was  for  many 
years  a  justice  of  the  peace,  treasurer  and  trustee  of  Clinton  township,  of  which  town  he  is  one 
•of  the  leading  men. 

Crockett,  George,  Damascus,  G-relton  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Ash  Point,  Knox  county.  Me.,  in 
1823,  and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Mary  (Haskel)  Crockett,  who  settled  in  Seneca  county,  0., 
where  they  died.  G-eorge  was  married  in  1848  to  Eliza  Bogart,  who  died  in  1849.  His  second 
wife  was  Harriet  N.  Emery,  who  was  born  in  Maine  and  was  a  daughter  of  Levi  and  Lois  Em- 
•ery.  They  were  married  in  1851  and  had  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Malcolm, 
Alice,  Ernest  and  Knott.  The  father,  George,  died  on  November  21,  1871.  He  settled  in  Dam- 
ascus in  1847  and  was  a  man  who  gave  character  to  his  town,  was  active  in  all  the  county  and 
town  enterprises  and  held  many  of  the  offices.  His  son,  Malcolm  was  married  in  1881  to  Mary 
Wheaton,  of  Vermont.     Alice  married  Martin  KoUer.     Ernest  married  Alma  Bowman. 

Crockett,  Malcolm,  Monroe,  Grelton  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Damascus  township,  Henry  county, 
July  11,  1852,  and  settled  in  Monroe  township  in  1884,  where  he  purchased  a  farm  of  loO  acres. 
He  was  married  in  1881  to  Mary  E.  Wheaton,  of  Barre,  Vermont.  They  have  three  children: 
AUce  B.,  Edith  and  Annie. 

Curdes,  George  F.,  Napoleon,  baker  and  confectioner  of  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Hessian 
Nassau,  Germany,  in  1856,  and  was  a  son  of  Henry  Curdes.  George  emigrated  to  America  and 
settled  in  Baltimore,  where  he  was  apprenticed  to  and  learned  the  baker  and  confectiooer  busi- 
ness. After  a  short  residence  in  Cincinnati  he  settled  in  Napoleon  and  established  his  present 
bakery,  confectionery  and  ice  cream  business,  in  1880.  He  was  married  in  1882  to  Lydia  Roser, 
who  was  born  in  Switzerland,  a  daughter  of  John  Jacob  Roser.  They  have  had  a  family  of 
three  children :  Sarah,  Mary,  Louis.  Four  of  George's  brothers  and  sisters  came  to  Napoleon 
and  are  now  living :  Amelia,  Lena,  George  F.  and  Louis. 

Culbertson,  Joseph  R.,  Damascus,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  p.  o.,  one  of  the  representative  farm- 
•ers,  was  born  in  Wayne  county.  May  24,  1834,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1851  with  his 
parents,  J.  G.  and  Mary  (Bell)  Culbertson.  They  were  born  in  Westmoreland  county  Pa.,  and  set- 
tled in  Ohio,  in  1823,  and  they  were  married  in  1829.  J.  C.  Culbertson  was  born  in  1807  and 
his  wife,  Mary  B.,  in  the  same  year.  She  died  in  March,  1864.  They  had  a  family  of  nine 
•children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living:  Mrs.  Sarah,  wife  of  Rev.  J.  C.  Bingham  ;  Joseph  B. ; 
Mrs.  Lou  Ryan  and  Mrs.  Anna  Frazer,  who  is  now  a  teacher  in  the  Dakota  Agency  Indian 
school,  and  Eli.  Franklin  enlisted  August  1862,  in  Company  A,  lOOth  Ohio  Volunteers.  He 
was  taken  prisoner  at  Limestone  Junction  and  confined  on  Belle  Island  for  six  months,  after  which 
he  was  exchanged  and  returned  to  his  regiment.  He  was  wounded  before  Atlanta  and  died 
nineteen  days  after  from  injuries  received.  Mrs.  Jennie  Kerr  and  Mrs.  Hattie  Smith  died,  each 
leaving  families.  His  great-grandfather  was  Samuel  Culbertson,  who  was  born  in  Westmore- 
land county.  Pa.  Joseph  B.  was  married  September  17,  1861,  to  Henrietta  I.  Waters  who  died 
in  February,  1866,  leaving  one  son,  Frank  W.  Mr.  Culbertson  then  married  his  second  wife. 
Amy  Philo,  August,  1868.  She  was  born  in  Luzerne  county.  Pa.,  in  1842,  and  died  April  21, 
1881,  leaving  a  family  of  five  children :  Fred  F.,  James,  Hope,  Howard  and  Pearl  (twins).  Mr. 
■Culbertson  then  married  Mrs.  Tamzon  (Nulton)  Mclntire,  April  5,  1882.  She  had  one  son  by 
her  first  husband :  Z.  C.  Mclntire. 

Curtis,  Seth  L.,  Napoleon,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Wyoming  county,  N.  Y.,  at  Java 
Lake,  in  1836,  and  settled  with  his  parents  in  Ridgeville,  0.,  in  1838.  He  was  a  son  of  David 
F.  and  Zintha  (Lewis)  Curtis.  David  L.  was  born  in  New  York  and  died  in  1840,  at  Ridgeville, 
O.  His  wife  was  born  in  1806  and  died  in  1882,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years.  They  had  a 
family  of  three  children:  Suzette  C,  Jane  A.  and  Seth  L.  Seth  L.  was  married  in  1861  to 
Mary  Chapman,  who  died  in  November,  1872,  leaving  two  children :  Lura  J.  and  Cora  A. 
He  married  his  second  wife,  Margaret  A.  Quaintenance,  on.  July  1.,  1874.  Mr.  Curtis  is  largely 
engaged  in  the  dealing  in  hides,  pelts,  furs,  hogs  and  Yankee  notions  of  all  descriptions. 


66o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Dayringei-,  Levi,  Bartlow,  Hamler  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Richland  county,  0.,  in  1830andin  1840 
moved  to  Hancocli  county,  and  in  1864  settled  in  Henry  county.  He  was  married  in  1864  to 
Elizabeth  Lincicum.  They  have  had  eight  children :  Willis,  David,  Mary,  Laura  Belle,  John, 
Emma,  Leonard  and  Ellen.  Mr.  Dayringer  is  now  engaged  in  farming  and  owns  a  farm  of  seven- 
ty-five acres. 

Decker,  'William  E.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  the  principal  of  the  Holgate  school,  was  born 
in  Franklin  county,  0.,  in  1858,  and  was  a  son  of  Jackson  and  Martha  Decker,  who  settled  in 
Napoleon,  in  1872,  where  Martha  died  in  1882,  leaving  a  family  of  eight  children.  William  E. 
attended  the  Napoleon  graded  school  until  1879,  after  which  he  became  engaged  in  teaching, 
and  in  1884  became  the  principal  of  tl),e  Holgate  school,  where  he  now  presides.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1882  to  Nettie  Mann,  of  Napoleon.  They  have  one  son,  Jackson  T.  Professor  Decker 
became  owner  and  publisher  of  the  Holgate  Times  in  1886.  He  was  township  assessor  of  Flat 
Rock  and  town  clerk  of  Holgate. 

Delvanthal,  Frederica,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  in  1830,  and  was  a 
daughter  of  Frederick  Weber.  She  came  to  America  and  settled  in  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1847, 
and  was  married  that  same  year  to  William  Kohlman,  of  Henry  county.  He  died  leaving  a  fam- 
ily of  four  children.  She  then  married  Frederick  Delvanthal  in  1852.  He  died  in  1884  at  the 
age  of  seventy-one  years,  leaving  a  family  of  five  children.  Mrs.  Delvanthal  now  owns  and 
occupies  a  homestead  farm  of  eighty  acres. 

Demland,  William,  Pleasant,  Pleasant^i  Bend  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  resident  of  Pleasant  township, 
was  born  in  Prus-sia,  Germany,  1840,  and  was  a  son  of  Andrew  and  Elizabeth  (Jabred)  Dem- 
land. Elizabeth  died  in  Germany  in  1846,  and  Andrew  emigrated  to  this  country  with  a  family 
of  eight  children  in  1857  and  settled  in  Pleasant,  purchasing  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  of  timber 
land.  Andrew  died  in  Pleasant  in  1875.  His  children  were  Frederick,  Sophia,  William,  John, 
Christopher,  Lizzie,  August  and  Adam.  John  was  in  the  army  and  died  on  the  March  to 
Savannah.  William  was  drafted  three  times,  but  his  brother  went  in  his  place,  and  the  second 
draft  he  furnished  a  substitute  again,  paying  $800,  the  third  draft  was  cleared.  William 
enlisted  and  served  on  the  three  months  call.  He  was  married  in  1862  to  Elizabeth  Horning, 
and  they  have  had  thirteen  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living  —  William  A.,  Anna,  Jennie, 
Carrie,  Emma,  Garilla,  Amelia.  Einhardt  and  an  infant.  Elizabeth  was  a  daughter  of  Peter 
and  Margaret  Horning  who  settled  here  in  1837. 

Dirr,  Henry,  Pleasant,  New  Bavaria  p.  o.,  one^of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Pleasant  township, 
was  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1816,  was  a  son  of  George  Dirr,  who  with  his  four 
children  emigrated  to  America  in  1832,  after  the  death  of  his  wife.  The  children  were  George, 
Martin,  Henry  and  Barbara.  They  settled  in  Springfield  in  1836.  They  all  settled  in  Pleasant 
township  in  the  dense  forest,  cutting  their  road  through,  and  upon  a  clearing  erected  their 
cabin.  Henry  is  now  the  only  surviving  one.  He  was  married  in  1840  to  Catharine  Gardner, 
of  Bavaria.  She  died  in  1862.  They  had  a  family  of  fight  children  —  Mary,  Henry,  Peter, 
Frederick,  Andrew,  Charles  Eva  and  Wesley.  He  mairied  for  his  .second  wife  Frederica  Shoor, 
vvho  was  born  in  Wurtemburg.  They  have  had  three  children  —  Jacob  A.,  George  A.  and 
Catharine.  Henry  owns  the  forty-acre  homestead  purchased  by  his  father  in  1836,  to  which 
he  has  added  one  hundred  acres,  all  of  which  he  has  highly  improved.  He  is  an  active  farmer, 
and  now  owns  one  hundred  and  forty  acres. 

Dirr,  George  J.,  Pleasant,  New  Bavraria  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Pleasant  in  1839,  and  was  a  son 
of  the  pioneers,  George  and  Catharine  (Hoffert)  Dirr.  Catharine  was  born  in  Bavaria,  and  her 
husband,  George,  was  born  in  Wurtemburg.  They  were  married  in  Cuyahoga  county,  0.,  and 
settled  in  Pleasant  in  1836.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children  —  Henry,  George  J.,  William, 
Elizabeth,  Philip,  and  Catharine,  who  married  Thebold  Roily.  George  died  in  1879  and  his 
wife  in  1878.  George  sr.,  was,  a  son  of  George  Dirr  who  came  to  America  and  settled  in  Clark 
county  in  1832  with  a  family  of  four  children — George,  Martin,  Henry  and  Barbara,  and  in 
1836  they  all  settled  in  Henry  county.  Henry  is  now  the  only  surviving  one.  George  J., 
enlisted  in  Company  D,  124th  Ohio,  in  1863,  under  Colonel  Payne,  and  was  discharged  in  July, 
1865.  His  brother  William  served  in  the  100th  Regiment.  George  J.  was  married  in  1867  to 
Susan  Rigel,  of  Coshocton  county,  0.  She  was  born  in  1844,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Samuel 
and  Mary  S.  (Soric)  Rigel.  Mary  was  born  in  Bavaria,  and  her  husband  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
they  now  reside  in  Putnam  county,  0.  George  J.  and  Susan  have  had  eight  children  —  John, 
A.  L.,  Catharine  P.,  Peter  H.,  OrriUa,  Elias  J.  J.,  Margaret  A.,  Lillie  J.  and  Alta  F.  Mr.  Dirr 
has  held  several  of  the  town  ofiices.  He  is  now  engaged  in  farming,  owning  a  homestead  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres. 

Donald,  James,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  a  son  of  John  and  Agnes  Donald,  of  Scotland,  was 
born  in  Scotland  in  1829.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  Berry,  was  a  daughter  of  Andrew  and  Anna 
Berry,  of  Scotland,  who  were  also  born  in  Scotland,  and  came  to  this  country  in  1835.  James 
and  Elizabeth  were  married  in  Ohio  in  1859,  and  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  six  of  whom 


Brief  Personals.  66  i 


are  now  living  — Mary  Ann,  George  (deceased),  Agnes,  Jesse,  John,  William  and  James.     Mr. 
Donald  is  engaged  in  farming  and  now  has  a  finely  cultivated  farm  of  eighty  acres. 

Donaway,  Dr.  J.  0.,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o,,  a  physician  and  surgeon,  was  born  in  Washington 
county.  Pa.,  in  1854,  and  in  1867  settled  in  Mansfield,  0.,  where  he  received  his  education  and 
was  graduated  from  the  graded  schools  of  that  place.  He  read  medicine  in  Mansfield  with  Dr. 
A.  V.  Patter.son,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Western  Reserve  Medical  College  at  Cleveland  in 
1882,  and  settled  in  Deshler  m  1884  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  has  served  as  council- 
man of  the  borough,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Northwestern  Ohio  Medical  Association.  He  was 
married  in  1874  to  Alice  Glenn,  of  Mansfield.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children—  Ed- 
ward, Milton,  Byron,  Glenn  and  Martin. 

Donnelly,  Peter,  Washington,  Grand  Rapidsj  Wood  county,  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Galway 
county,  Ireland  in  1819,  and  was  a  son  of  Michael  and  Bridget  ("Glynn)  Donnelly,  who  had  a 
family  of  four  sons  and  one  daughter  —  John,  Michael,  Patrick,  Peter  and  Elizabeth.  The 
children  came  to  America,  John  and  Peter  coming  to  Toledo  in  1837,  where  Peter  was  engaged 
as  a  laborer  on  the  Wabash  canal.  He  purchased  his  present  eighty  acres  in  1845  at  11.25  per 
acre,  and  erected  his  log  cabin  thereon.  He  was  married  in  1846  to  Nancy  Murphy,  who  died 
in  1854,  leaving  four  children.  He  then  married  his  second  wife  in  1855.  She  was  Alice 
O'Hearn,  and  was  born  in  Tipperary,  Ireland,  in  1829.  They  have  had  seven  children  — 
Michael,  James,  John,  Edward,  Patrick  and  Elizabeth.  Michael  is  a  lawyer ;  Patrick,  a  farmer, 
and  Peter  a  student,  the  others  are  engaged  in  teaching. 

Dull,  George  K.,  Damascus,  Weston,  Wood  county,  p.  o.,  of  Damascus,  was  born  in  Weston, 
Wood  county,  in  1847,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Delilah  (Kimberlin)  Dull.  Delilah  was  born 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  her  husband  was  born  in  Perry  county,  0.,  in  1822.  They  were  married 
in  Wood  county  in  1 842,  and  have  had  a  family  of  five  children  —  Martha  J.,  George  K.,  Henry 
T.  and  Sarah  C.  and  John  F.  John  settled  in  Wood  county  with  his  parents  in  1833.  He  was 
a  son  of  Samuel  and  Catharine  Dull  who  settled  in  Perry  county,  0.,  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
War  of  1812.  George  K.  was  married  in  December,  1878,  to  Rebecca  E.  Erwen,  of  Noble 
county,  0.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four  children  —  Ralph  E.,  Burley,  Dwight  and  Virgil 
Norton.  George  K.  is  one  of  the  successful  large  farmers  of  Henry  county,  and  is  now  devot- 
ing his  time  and  attention  to  the  raising  of  blooded  horses  of  the  Norman  breed,  and  Durham 
cattle. 

Durbin,  Dickinson  L.,  Damascus,  McClure  p.  o.,  is  a  merchant  of  McClure ;  was  born  in 
Washington,  Henry  county,  in  1856,  and  was  a  son  of  Thomas  W.  and  Lucmda  (King)  Durbin. 
Lucinda  was  born  in  Seneca  county.  Thomas  W.  was  born  in  Frederick  county,  Md.  They 
were  married  in  Henry  county  in  1853,  and  had  four  children  —  Charles  A.,  D.  L.,  Clark  T. 
and  Gayetta.  Thomas  W.  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1840.  He  has  held  several  of  the  town 
and  county  ofiices,  and  has  been  an  influential  man  in  building  up  the  village  of  McClure.  He, 
with  his  son  Dickinson,  erected  a  store  in  1880,  engaging  in  an  extensive  mercantile  business, 
which  the  three  sons  are  now  engaged  in.     Clark  T.  was  married  in  1884  to  Hattie  Light. 

Durbin,  William,  Washington,  Texas  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Carroll  county,  Md.,  September  22, 
1814,  and  was  a  son  of  Thomas  W.  and  Sarah  (MoKnight)  Durbin,  who  had  a  family  of  nine 
sons  and  three  daughters.  Seven  of  the  children  settled  in  Henry  county  —  James,  William, 
John,  Charity  (Mrs.  Hyter),  Augusta,  Thomas  W.  and  Catharine.  Wilfiam  settled  in  Washing- 
ton township  in  1839,  and  was  engaged  with  his  brother  in  the  canal  contract  business.  He  was 
by  trade  a  carpenter  and  builder,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and  repair  of  wagons. 
He  enlisted  in  Company  D,  68th  Ohio,  on  October  15,  1861,  under  Colonel  Steadman  and 
Colonel  Scott,  served  for  three  years,  and  now  receives  a  pension.  He  has  served  as  justice  of 
the  peace  for  twenty-one  years  ;  was  married  in  1855  to  Mary  Ann  Bruner,  of  Montgomery 
county.  Pa.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children— William,  jr..  Dr.  Richard  M.,  Dell  G., 
Sarah  H.  and  Clara  A.  Dr.  Richard  was  a  graduate  from  the  Cleveland  Medical  College  in 
1883. 

Edington,  Thornton  C,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Rockingham  county,  Va.,  in 
1816,  and  was  a  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Wolf)  Edington,  who  came  from  Pennsylvania  and 
settled  in  Monroe  county  in  1846,  where  they  died.  They  had  a  family  of  twelve  children, 
nine  of  whom  are  now  living.  Thornton  G.  Edington  was  married  on  February  15,  1842,  to 
Avarona  Debolt,  who  died  January  8,  1854,  leaving  a  family  of  five  children  —  Elizabeth  Ann, 
who  married  Richard  Palmer,  and  died  in  1871,  leaving  four  children,  three  of  whom  are  now 
hving  —  Thornton,  Richard  E.  and  George  E.  But  two  of  Thornton  and  Avarona's  children 
are  now  living — Sarah  Jane  and  Samantha.  Thornton  C.  married  his  second  wife,  Lavina 
Stough,  April  14,  1865.  She  was  a  sister  of  J.  J.  Stough.  Mr.  Edington  settled  in  Clinton  in 
1866,  coming  here  from  Lucas  county,  and  purchased  at  that  time  the  farm  which  he  now 
occupies.     He  settled  in  Springfield  township,  Lucas  county,  in  1844. 


662  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Bger,  Henry  C,  Washington,  Texas  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Saxony,  G-ermany,  in  1820.  He 
learned  the  cloth  dressing  and  carding  trade,  and  became  a  manufacturer  of  wool  goods,  and  in 
1853  came  to  America  and  settled  in  Fremont,  0.  He  was  married  at  Williamsville,  Brie 
county,  N.  Y.,  to  Anna  M.  Kechley,  who  was  Ijorn  in  Bavaria,  Germany.  They  settled  in 
Fremont,  0.,  and  in  1858  went  to  Indiana  county.  Pa.,  where  Mr.  Eger  became  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  cloth  and  wool  goods.  In  1872  he  settled  in  Washington,  Henry  county,  in 
the  carding  business.  They  have  had  a  family  of  nine  children  —  Charles  A.  (born  in  1855), 
Reuben  T.  (born  in  1857),  Harry  M.  (born  in  1863),  Edward  M.  (born  in  1865),  Lewis  J.  (born 
in  1867),  Henry  T.  (born  in  1868),  Emma  (born  in  1859),  Matilda  (born  in  1861),  and  Anna 
(born  in  1873).  Reuben  J.  and  Harry  M.  have  been  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  broom 
handles  since  1885,  having  their  factory  at  Texas. 

Bggers,  Henry  W.,  Freedom,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Hanover,  G-ermany,  in  1847,  and 
was  a  son  of  John  Henry  and  Mary  (Shuette)  Bggers,  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1866,  and 
settled  m  Henry  county  with  a  family  of  four  children  —  Henry  W.,  Anna,  Mary  and  William. 
The  mother  died  in  1877  at  the  age  of  fifty-five  years.  Henry  W.  was  married  in  1873  to  Mary 
Norden,  who  was  born  in  Napoleon,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Charles  and  Bliza  Norden.  They 
have  had  four  children  —  Ann,  Helen,  Dora  and  Charles.  Mr.  Bggers  purchased  his  homestead 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  acres  in  1873.  He  was  elected  town  clerk  in  1886,  and  had  been 
trustee  for  four  years. 

Elarton,  William,  Liberty,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1831,  and  was  a  son  of  John 
and  Jane  (Rogers)  Elarton,  who  settled  in  Ohio.  They  were  natives  of  Virginia.  Jane  died  in 
Defiance  county,  0.,  in  1875,  her  husband,  John,  died  in  1864  in  Crawford  county.  They  had 
five  sons  and  five  daughters,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living — Samuel,  Sarah,  Catharine,  William, 
Rhoda  Jane,  Mary  Ann,  John  and  Thomas,  and  Curtiss  and  Louisa.  Samuel  enlisted  in  the 
100th  Ohio  Vol.  Infantry,  and  died  at  Richmond  hospital,  having  been  taken  prisoner.  William 
was  married  in  1858  to  Isabella  Enslow,  both  of  Crawford  county,  who  died  in  1870,  leaving  a 
family  of  six  children — Hiram,  Seth,  Marilda,  Alta  and  Samuel,  and  Jason  died  in  1866.  Will- 
iam married  for  his  second  wife,  Louisa  Hitt,  of  Henry  county,  in  1871.  They  have  had  four 
children — Namon,  Lloyd  and  Rhoda.  Elisha  died  in  1876.  William  has  been  township  trustee, 
supervisor,  holding  each  office  for  several  terms.  He  was  an  early  carpenter  and  builder,  but 
at  present  is  engaged  in  farming,  owning  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres,  and  having 
one  hundred  and  fifty  under  cultivation.  Samuel's  dying  words  to  his  wife,  as  given  by  his 
mate  in  prison,  were:  ''  Bring  my  children  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  and 
meet  me  in  heaven,"  and  died  in  a  few  moments  after  in  peace. 

Ely,  Harrison  W.,  G-orham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Franklin  township  in  1848,  and  was 
a  son  of  the  pioneers  John  and  Mary  (Mason)  Ely,  who  settled  in  Franklin  township  about 
1838.  Mary  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  her  husband  in  Northumberland  county,  Pa.  They 
had  a  family  of  eight  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living  —  Charity,  Harrison  W.,  Phebe 
A.,  Catharine  and  John  M.  Charity  married  Mr.  Ingraham;  and  Phebe  is  now  Mrs.  Borton; 
Catharine  also  married  a  Mr.  Borton ;  John  M.  married  a  Miss  Borton.  The  father,  John,  died 
in  1878,  and  his  wife  in  1856.  By  his  second  wife,  Rhoda  D.  Mason,  whom  he  married  in  1858, 
he  had  a  family  of  three  children  —  Winfield  S.,  Stanton  M.  and  Elliott.  Harrison  W.,  was 
married  in  1875  to  Tamar  E.  Snyder,  who  was  born  in  Northumberland  county  in  1850.  They 
have  had  two  children  —  J.  Elbert  and  Elsie  May.  Tamar  E.  was  a  daughter  of  Anthony  and 
Delila  (Shipman)  Snyder,  who  came  from  Pennsylvania  to  Franklin  in  1871.  Harrison  W.  has 
held  the  following  offices:  Assessor  for  one  term;  treasurer,  one  term;  town  clerk,  one  term; 
justice  of  the  peace,  tvvo  terms ;  and  was  deputy  county  auditor  for  three  years.  He  has  also 
held  other  minor  township  offices.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  Asher  M.  Ely,  who,  with  his 
family,  settled  in  Williams  county  about  1838.  His  maternal  grandfather  was  John  Mason, 
who  married  Charity  Borton,  and  settled  in  G-erman  township  in  1839. 

Bmerick,  Adam,  Gorham,  Payette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Lysander,  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y., 
January  10,  1817,  and  was  a  'son  of  Abraham  and  Hannah  (Snow)  Emerick.  Abraham  was 
born  in  February,  1781.  They  were  married  at  Lysander  in  1806,  where  Mrs.  Emerick  died  in 
1851.  They  had  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living  —  Elijah,  Betsey, 
Adam,  James  P.,  Cornelius  M.,  Cornelia  A.  and  Emerancy.  Adam  was  married  in  1848  to 
Eveline  Tator,  who  was  born  in  Lysander,  N.  Y.,  in  1824.  They  had  a  family  of  four  children, 
three  of  whom  are  now  living — John,  Herbert,  Florence  and  Carrie.  Florence  married  George 
Woolworth.  Mr.  Bmerick  settled  in  Q-orham  township  in  1850,  and  purchased  his  present 
homestead  of  sixty  acres  in  1851,  for  which  he  paid  $500,  and  on  which  he  erected  a  plank 
house.  He  sold  part  of  this  farm  and  purchased  a  portion  of  another,  now  owning  seventy-two 
acres,  on  which  he  erected  his  present  fine  residence  in  1880.  His  wife,  Eveline,  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Henry  and  Judith  (Kennedy)  Tator.  Henry  was  born  at  Half  Moon,  Saratoga  county, 
N.  Y.     His  wife  was  born  at  Schodack,  N.  Y.     Henry  died  at  Lysander  in  1843,  and  his  wife 


Brief  Personals.  663 


in  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1864.     They  liad  a  family  of  seven  children,   four  of  whom  are  now- 
living —  Eveline,  Caroline,  Hiram  and  Eliza. 

Bmerick,  Henry,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  an  early  and  influential  settler,  who  came  here  in 
1849,  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  January  18,  1826,  and  was  a  son  of  Simon  and  Mag- 
dalena  (Deal)  Emenok,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Pennsylvania,  and  settled  in  Seneca 
county,  N.  Y.  Simon  died  in  183.3,  and  his  wife  in  Seneca  county  in  1861.  When  Simon 
died  he  left  a  widow  and  four  children  —  Jacob,  John,  Henry  and  Catharine.  Henrv's  grand- 
father, Jacob,  was  born  in  Germany,  and  settled  in  Berks  county.  Pa.,  where  he  married  a  Miss 
Goodman.  Mr.  Emerick  was  married  in  Gerham  township  April  3,  1852,  to  Margaret,  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Sophia  Saltzgaber,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  born  in  Lebanon  county, 
March  6,  1827.  They  have  had  a  family  of  seven  children  —  Emily  A.,  Eliza  A.,  Leroy,  John 
H.,  Clarence  E.,  Florence  M.  and  Cora  B.  Mr.  Emerick  purchased  his  present  homestead  of 
eighty  acres  in  1851,  for  which  he  paid  $2,250.  He  now  owns  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres 
of  land,  adjoining  the  corporation,  on  which  he  has  erected  some  fine  buildings.  He  has  been 
trustee  of  the  township,  and  an  active  member  of  the  Agricultural  Society. 

Emery,  Judson,  Damascus,  Grellon  p.  o.,  of  Damascus,  was  born  in  Waldo  county.  Me.,  in 
1820,  and  was  a  son  of  Levi  and  Louise  Emery,  who  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  nine  now 
living,  and  seven  settled  in  Henry  county  —  Judson,  Ann,  Harriet,  Willard,  Alden,  Ellen,  T. 
Benton  and  Enos.  Elicenai  now  resides  in  Maine. .  Judson  Emery  settled  in  Seneca  co'unty  in 
1844,  and  came  to  Damascus,  Henry  county,  in  1847,  and  was  married  June,  1848,  to  Lucinda 
Mead,  who  was  born  in  1823.  They  have  had  two  daughters,  Ophelia,  married  in  1868  to 
Oliver  Bogert ;  Erika,  married  in  1877  to  A.  P.  Murray.  They  have  had  three  children— Her- 
bert N.,  Louise  Maud  and  Eldon  E.  Emery  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty-three  acres  of  timber  land  in  1846,  at  $1.25  per  acre,  and  has  now  over  one  hundred 
acres  under  cultivation. 

Emmel,  Philip  G.,  Washington,  Texas  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Nassau,  Germany,  in  1843,  and  was 
a  son  of  Henry  and  Mary  (Wallrabenstein)  Emmel,  who  were  married  in  1842.  They  have  five 
children  now  living —  Philip  G.,  Elizabeth,  David,  Susannah  and  William.  They  emigrated  to 
America  in  18.52  and  settled  in  Sandusky  county,  and  in  1866  settled  in  Washington,  Henry 
county.  Phihp  G.  was  marrried  in  1878  to  Catharine  Slemmer,  of  Sandusky  county,  who  was 
born  in  1847.  They  have  had  four  children  —  Estella  H.,  Mary  E.,  Laura  E.  and  Henry  H. 
Philip  G.  was  elected  trustee  of  the  township  in  1886.  He  has  also  been  a  school  director,  and 
is  now  engaged  in  farming. 

Fast,  Henry  H.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  a  general  hardware  and  farm  implement  dealer  of 
Holgate,  was  born  in  Ashland  county,  0.,  in  1838,  and  came  to  Henry  county  when  a  boy  of 
fifteen  years,  and  in  1853  found  work  in  Harrison  township  chopping  wood  and  logs.  He  soon 
found  employment  on  the  Wabash  Railroad  and  learned  the  carpenter's  trade.  He  enlisted  in 
Company  F,  14th  Ohio,  in  1861,  under  Colonel  Steadman  and  re-enlisted  in  the  68th  Ohio  and 
served  three  years;  was  discharged  at  Galesville,  Alabania,'in  October,  1864.  (He  enlisted 
as  private  and  was  promoted  in  1862  to  2d  sergeant,  and  in  1863  was  promoted  to  orderly 
sergeant.)  He  was  married  September  10,  1863,  to  Martha  E.  Hughes,  a  daughter  of  Eichard 
Hughes,  of  Harrison  township.  They  have  had  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living : 
Edwin  McKindry  and  Charles  Sour.  After  the  war  Mr.  Fast  became  engaged  in  farming  and 
in  1882  settled  in  Holgate  and  became  engaged  in  the  hardware  and  farm  implement  business; 
he  also  carries  a  large  stock  of  paints,  oils,  stoves  etc.  He  was  a  son  of  Christian  0.  and  Catha- 
rine (Horick)  Fast,  of  Ashland.  Catharine  died  in  1842  and  her  husband.  Christian,  in  1885,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-four  years.  Christian  was  a  son  of  Michael  and  Barbara  Fast,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Fackler,  Joseph,  Bartlow,  Hamler  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Tuscarawas  county,  0.,  in  1822,  and 
settled  in  Henry  county,  in  1853.  He  was  married  in  1851  to  Sarah  Weisman,  who  was  born 
in  Ohio.  They  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living  :  Mary  D.  (deceased), 
Sarah  M.  0.  (deceased),  Edna  I.,  Anna  E.,  Jacob  F.,  David  L.,  Eobert  B.,  Joseph  A.,  Dora  A. 
and  Isaac  E.      Mr.  Fackler  is  now  engaged  in  farming  and  owns  a  farm  of  sixty-nine  acres. 

Fenton,  Henry  K.,  Eidgeville,  was  born  in  RidgeviUe,  in  1842  and  was  a  son  of  Eleazer  and 
Wealthy  (Bowe)  Fenton,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Hartford  county,  East  Windsor  Hill, 
Conn.  He  was  born  in  1802,  she  in  1806.  They  were  married  January  22,  1835,  and  settled  in 
Defiance  county  in  1839  and  in  Eidgeville,  Henry  county,  in  1840  purchasing  a  homestead  of  120 
acres.  He  died  in  1877  and  his  wife.  Wealthy,  in  1881.  They  had  a  family  of  four  sons:  Por- 
ter B.,  born  1836,  died  in  1859;  George  A.,  born  1838  and  died  1865;  Henry  K.,  born  1842 
and  Theodore  D.,  born  1844.  Eleazer  in  early  life  was  engaged  in  carpentering  and  building, 
but  later  in  Kfe  became  a  successful  farmer,  holding  most  of  the  township  ofiices.  Henry  F., 
was  married  in  1879  to  Emme  E.  Worden,  of  Coshocton  county,  0.  They  had  a  family  of  two 
sons,  Charles  Henry  and  Howard  Nathan.     Mrs.  Fenton  was  born  m  1853.     Mr.  Fenton  now 


664  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

owns  and  occupies  the  old  homestead.     He  has  held  the  office  of  town  clerk  for  several  years ; 
was  assessor  for  three  terms  and  also  held  other  district  offices. 

Fish,  Joseph,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  was  born  in  France  in  1853  and  came  to  America  in 
1855  and  settled  in  Hancock  county  0.,  and  in  1864  settled  in  Henry  county.  They  have  had 
a  family  of  three  children :  Joseph,  Edward  and  Mary.  Mr.  Fish  enlisted  in  1861  in  the  57th 
Ohio  Infantry,  and  was  discharged  on  account  of  disability.  He  is  now  engaged  in  farming 
and  owns  a  farm  of  IGO  acres. 

Fisher,  Frederick,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  in  1828  and  was  son  of  G-odfred 
Frederick.  Emigrated  to  America  in  1854  and  settled  in  Napoleon,  where  he  became  engaged 
in  work  on  the  Wabash  Railroad  for  six  years.  He  was  married  in  1854  to  Mary  E.  Walters, 
who  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany.  They  have  had  a  family  of  eight  children :  Charles  W., 
Elizabeth,  Joseph  0.,  Christina,  Mary,  Veronica,  John  and  Harmon  L.  Charles  W.,  married 
Miss  Lena  Westhoven.  Elizabeth  married  Christ  Hines,  and  Joseph  C.  married  Minnie  Chafer, 
and  Christina  married  Henry  Flory.  Mr.  Fisher  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  eighty 
acres  in  1863. 

Fisher,  G.  W.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Muskingun  county,  in  1837  and  was  a  son 
of  Matthew  and  Susan  (Mitohel)  Fisher,  natives  of  Pennsvlvania,  married  in  Ohio  and  settled  in 
Hardin  county  in  1875,  where  Susan  died  in  1876,  leaving  a  family  of  twelve  children.  Three 
of  their  sons  served  in  the  war  :  Israel,  James  and  Absalom.  Mr.  G.  W.  Fisher  settled  in  Bart- 
low, Henry  county,  in  1880,  and  while  there  was  elected  justice.  He  came  to  Holgate  in  1881 
and  has  been  assessor  three  terms ;  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  in  1885  and  is  now  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business.  He  was  married  in  1857  to  Caroline  Howe,  of  Polk  county,  Iowa. 
They  have  had  twelve  children. 

Fleet,  Albert  S.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  one  the  pioneer  settlers  of  German  township, 
was  born  in  Steuben  county,  N.  T.,  in  1817  and  purchased  his  farm  in  German  township  in  1839. 
He  was  a  son  of  Abraham  and  Elizabeth  (Wood)  Fleet.  Albert  S.  was  married  in  Seneca 
county,  0.,  in  1839,  to  Sophia  Baker,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary  Baker.  She  was  born  in 
Steuben  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1815.  They  settled  in  German  township,  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1839. 
To  them  were  born  six  daughters;  one  died  in  childhood,  five,  Ardella,  Mary,  Ellen  J.,  Anna 
and  Ruth  grew  up  and  married  as  follows:  Ardella,  Mr.  Ira  Brickley;  Mary,  John  Harmon; 
Ellen  J.,  Edward  Haley;  Anna,  Benjamin  Miller  and  Ruth,  A.  S.  Bloomer.  Mr.  Bloomer  en- 
listed in  the  55th  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  Company  G,  in  September,  1861,  and  served  until 
May  15,  1864 ;  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Resaca,  Ga.,  and  had  his  left  limb  amputated  July 
21,  1864,  and  was  discharged  at  Cleveland,  March  13,  1865.  He  settled  in  Wauseon,  Pulton 
county,  in  1867;  was  elected  couuty  recorder  three  terms  in  succession.  Alberts.  Fleet  has 
been  very  active  in  the  interests  of  agriculture ;  was  president  of  that  society  for  several  years. 
He  sold  his  farm  in  German  township  and  settled  in  Wauseon  in  1874. 

Flickinger,  Isaac  A.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  of  Fulton  county,  was  born  in  Fayette, 
Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  January  8,  1821,  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Elizabeth  (Young)  Flick- 
inger, of  Pennsylvania.  Jacob  was  born  in  Schuylkill  county,  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  in  Le- 
high county.  They  died  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  six  of 
whom  are  now  living.  Isaac  came  to  Gorham  in  1851,  and  purchased  a  farm  of  100  acres  of 
wild  land,  and  now  has  80  acres  highly  improved,  and  has  erected  thereon  a  very  handsome 
brick  dwelling.  He  paid  $700  and  it  has  increased  in  value  to  |8,000.  Mr.  Fhckinger  was 
married  in  Fulton  county,  April  7,  1853,  to  Margaret  Beilharz.  She  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Fearinger,  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1832  and  came  to  America  in  1846  with  her  parents,  To- 
bias and  Agatha  Beilharz.  Isaac  A.  and  Margaret  have  had  five  children :  Elizabeth  A.,  John 
E.,  Senorah  Valdora,  Mary  Ann  and  Eliza  L. 

Freaae,  George,  Napoleon,  of  Napoleon,  0.,  was  born  in  Somerset  county.  Pa.,  August  20, 
1812,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Prease,  who  settled  in  Summit  county,  0.,  where 
they  died.  George  and  Hannah  (Mrs.  Bray)  came  to  Napoleon  in  1843 ;  John  and  Jacob  came 
in  1852 ;  Mrs.  Catharine  Raff  in  1854  and  B.  F.  in  1869.  Six  of  the  children  now  reside  in 
Henry  county.  George  was  married  in  Summit  county,  0.,  in  1 835,  to  Elizabeth  Willard.  They 
have  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living :  Daniel  W.,  Winfield,  JohnH., 
Clarinda,  Cynthia,  Samantha,  Clarissa  and  Celestia.  Both  died  leaving  families,  three  children 
each.  George  Frease  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1843,  and  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  160 
acres  of  State  canal  land  at  two  dollars  per  acre.  His  farm  is  now  highly  cultivated  and  under 
fine  improvement.  He  was  engaged  in  surveying  in  early  life  but  devotes  his  entire  attention 
to  farming. 

Fraker,  Jacob  J.,  Pleasant,  Pleasant  Bend  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Altonburgh  Aargan,  Switzer- 
land, in  1849,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Miller)  Fraker,  who  emigrated  to  America 
in  1854  and  settled  in  Mark,  Defiance  county.  They  had  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  now 
living :  Jacob,  John,  Elizabeth  and  Anna.     John  was  born  in  1823  and  died  in  1882.     They 


Brief  Personals.  665 


settled  in  Pleasant  Bend,  Henry  county,  in  1876.  Jacob  J.  Fraker  wa.s  married  September  27, 
1881,  to  Mary  Gardner.  They  have  had  one  daughter,  Emma.  Mr.  Fraker  erected  the  first 
building  in  Pleasant  and  also  gave  the  name  to  the  village,  and  was  appointed  postmaster  of  the 
same  in  1878.  He  became  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  and  erected  a  second  building  in 
1880.  In  1884  he  erected  his  present  store  and  dwelling.  He  is  now  engaged  in  buying  and 
shipping  produce  and  grain  in  connection  with  his  mercantile  business,  and  is  now  agent  for  the 
T.  C.  &  S.  T.  L.  and  K,  Railroad,  and  also  for  the  American  Express  Company. 

Franz,  Jacob,  Plat  Rock,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Nassau,  G-ermany,  in  1842,  and  was  a 
son  of  John  and  Christina  (George)  Franz,  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1852  and  settled  in 
Richland  county,  0.,  and  in  1854  settled  in  Flat  Rock,  Henry  county.  John  was  born  in  1810 
and  died  in  1883.  His  wife,  Christina,  was  born  in  1814  and  died  in  1876.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  1833  and  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living :  William,  Henry, 
Elizabeth,  Jacob,  Christina,  August,  Frederick,  Mary  and  Peter.  Henry  enlisted  in  the  tiSth 
Ohio  in  1862  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war ;  Jacob  enlisted  in  Company  B,  66th  Ohio,  in 
September  1864,  and  was  discharged  in  July,  1865,  at  Washington.  He  was  married  August 
11,  1867,  to  Catharine  Knipp,  who  was  born  in  Richland  county  in  1848.  They  had  a  family  of 
five  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  hving  :  Alice  A.  (born  1868),  John  E.  (born  1870),  Wil- 
liam F.,  (born  1873);  Nora  and  Lewis  both  died  at  an  early  age.  Mr.  Franz  purchased  his 
homestead  of  eighty  acres  in  1865,  and  now  has  a  fine  tiled  farm.  His  wife,  Catharine,  was  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Susanna  (Brick)  Knipp,  who  were  married  in  Richland  county,  in  1843,. 
and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1850.     They  were  born  in  Hesse  Damstadt,  Germany. 

Gallagher,  Japhia  W.,  Washington,  Texas  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Milan,  Erie  county,  March  22, 
1833,  and  was  a  son  of  William  and  Frances  (Smith)  Gallagher,  who  were  born  in  Pennsylva- 
nia and  married  in  Canton,  Stark  county,  0.,  and  settled  in  Washington  township,  Henry  coun- 
ty, at  Colton,  in  1845.  They  purchased  a  farm  where  the  village  of  Colton  now  stands  and 
there  they  resided  until  the  time  of  their  death.  William  died  December  31,  1851  at  the  age  of 
fifty,  having  been  born  in  1801.  Frances,  his  wife,  was  born  in  1800  and  died  April  13,  1858. 
They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  now  living:  John,  Japhia,  Charlotte,  Al- 
anson,  Catharine,  William  and  Isabella.  Four  sous  enlisted  and  served  in  the  late  war;  J.  W. 
in  Company  A.,  103d  Ohio,  in  February,  1864,  served  under  Colonel  Butterfield  and  was  dis- 
charged at  Winchester,  Auguet  9,  1865  ;  Alanson,  in  the  14th  Ohio,  served  three  years  and  Wil- 
liam in  the  14th  Ohio,  from  1863  to  the  close  of  the  war.  While  in  the  war  he  was  taken  pris- 
oner and  held  at  Andersonville.  Japhia  W.  Gallagher  was  married  in  October  1861,  to  Rebecca 
Hendricks,  who  was  born  in  Sandusky.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children :  Florence,  Ida, 
Davis,  Frank,  Charles,  Minta,  Jennie,  and  Frederick.  Mr.  Gallagher  commenced  business  as  a 
farmer  in  1862.  He  erected  the  present  hotel  at  Colton,  and  ran  the  same ;  sold  it  in  1865.  He 
built  the  steam  saw-mill  in  1866  and  sold  it  in  1872.  Purchased  his  homestead  of  100  acres  in 
1875  and  now  has  over  100  acres  well  improved. 

Gamber,  George,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  an  old  settler  of  Gorham  township,  was  born  in 
Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  April  22,  1821,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Swarner)  Gamber 
who  were  born  in  Perry  county.  Pa.,  and  settled  in  New  York  State  where  they  died.  They 
were  married  about  1807  and  John  died  in  1825  leaving  a  widow  and  seven  children,  six  of 
whom  are  now  Uving :  Margaret,  Elizabeth,  Sarah,  Mary  Ann,  John  and  George.  The  widow 
died  in  Seneca  county  in  1850.  George  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1854  and  purchased  his  farm 
of  185  acres  for  $3,300.  He  now  owns  78  acres.  He  erected  his  present  residence  in  1868. 
He  was  married  in  1842  to  Mary  C.  Singer,  of  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.  She  died  in  1851  leaving 
a  family  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living  :  James  and  Oscar  L.  He  married  his 
second  wife,  Caroline  Bachman,  of  Seneca  county,  in  1852.  They  have  had  a  family  of  ten 
children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living :  William  P.,  Jane  E,,  George  D.,  Sidney  N,  Albert  G., 
Cora  B  Vergil  0.,  Ida  M.,  Elton  R.  and  C.  0.  who  died  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years.  Oscar  L. 
enhsted  in  the  38th  Ohio  Regiment  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  William  P.  fitted  him- 
self for  and  became  a  teacher,  read  medicine  and  graduated  from  the  college  at  Cleveland  as  a 
physician  and  surgeon.  Mr.  Gamber  has  been  trustee  for  twenty  years  and  held  other  district 
offices  and  is  now  a  retired  farmer. 

Gamber,  John,  jr.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1819,  and 
was  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Swarner)  Gamber,  who  were  born  m  Perry  county,  Pa.,  and 
died  in  New  York.  John,  jr..  in  early  life  learned  the  carpenter  trade,  which  he  followed  until 
he  purchased  his  farm  of  160  acres  in  1845,  in  Gorham,  and  for  which  he  paid  $460.  He  set- 
tled on  the  farm  in  1846,  which  he  cleared,  and  in  1863  sold  it  and  purchased  a  half  interest  m 
the  steam  flouring  mill  of  Humphrey  and  Allen  ;  in  1869  he  sold  his  interest  and  purchased  the 
Fayette  Hotel  and  in  1872  sold  the  hotel  and  became  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business.  He 
was  street  commissioner  at  the  time  of  the  granting  of  the  charter,  and  has  served  as  treasurer. 
He  was  married  in  1842  to  Margaret  Jane  Mattern,  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.     She  was  born  in 


666  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Pennsylvania,  and  died  in  1869.  He  married  his  second  wife,  Annetta  A.  Deming  of  Ashland 
county,  in  1870.  Mr.  G-amber  erected  his  present  dwelling  in  1874,  and  retired  from  active 
business  life  in  1880.     He  has  been  one  of  the  most  active  business  men  of  the  town. 

Gamble,  William,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  farmer  and  dairyman,  was  born  in  Richland 
county,  in  1842,  and  was  a  son  of  Edward  and  Sarah  (Dickinson)  Gamble,  who  were  born  in 
Leicestershire,  England,  and  with  a  family  of  three  sons,  settled  in  Richland  county,  0.,  in  1841, 
and  in  1845  came  and  settled  in  Gorham,  where  they  died;  she  in  1874  aged  seventy-seven,  and 
Edward  in  1882  aged  eighty-eight  years.  They  had  a  family  of  four  sons:  Edward,  jr.,  John, 
Richard,  and  William.  At  the  time  of  his  death  Edward  owned  235  acres,  and  had  proved  him- 
self a  successful  farmer.  William  was  married  in  1869  to  Frances  Amelia  Punches,  who  was 
born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.  They  have  five  children  living :  Ophie.  Edward  H.,  Nelson,  Will- 
iam, jr.,  and  Bird.  Curtis  died  at  the  age  of  five  years.  Mr.  Gamble  has  75  acres  of  the  old 
homestead,  and  has  125  acres  in  all  in  his  present  farm.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  and 
Elizabeth  Punches. 

Gardner,  G.  W.,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1829,  and  was  a  son  of 
Dyark  and  Rachel  Gardner,  who  settled  iu  Seneca  county,  0.,  in  1832,  and  came  to  Henry  county 
in  1865.  Mr.  Gardner  became  engaged  in  the  daguerrotype  business  in  1850,  which  he  carried  on 
for  several  years,  and  in  1874  he  in  company  with  his  son  G-.  W.,  jr.,  opened  their  present  photo- 
graph parlors  in  Napoleon. 

Gearhart,  Christopher,  Napoleon,  a  general  grocer  and  provision  dealer,  and  also  farmers' 
supplies,  was  born  in  Crawford  connty,  December  14,  1834,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Eliza- 
beth Gearhart.  Christopher  was  married  in  1861  to  Mary  E.  Sprow,  who  died  in  1874,  leaving 
four  daughters :  Sarah  A.,  Catharine,  Ella  and  Tilla.  He  settled  in  Napoleon  and  became  en- 
gaged in  the  mercantile  business  in  1873.  He  was  again  married  in  1875  to  Mrs.  Miranda  Car- 
ter. He  has  been  a  supervisor  and  school  director  of  Monroe  township.  Sarah  A.  married  Fred 
Horing,  and  Catharine  married  Richard  Horn. 

Gehrett,  Henry,  jr..  Freedom,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  a  leading  and  influential  citizen  of  his  town- 
■ship,  was  born  in  Fairfield  county,  September  12,  1833,  and  was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Susanna 
■Gehrett,  of  Berks  county,  Pa.,  who  settled  in  Ohio  at  an  early  date.  Henry,  jr.,  married  Lydia 
Valentine,  in  Fairfield  county,  in  1853.  She  died  iu  1865,  leaving  a  family  of  five  children: 
Theodore,  Ella,  Wilson  S.,  Jennie,and  Jacob  H.  He  then  married  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Ange- 
line  (Harman)  Ziegler,  who  was  born  in  Ashtabula  county,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and 
Rosanna  (Mark)  Harman.  They  were  married  in  1866,  and  have  had  four  children :  Laura  A., 
Ida  M.|  Charles,  and  Anna.  Angeline  had  by  her  first  husband,  one  daughter,  Rosa  Ziegler. 
Henry  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1864,  and  purchased  his  present  homestead,  now  owning  a 
fine  farm  of  143  acres.  He  has  held  several  of  the  township  offices,  among  them  being  that  of 
justice  of  the  peace,  supervisor,  and  treasurer  for  twelve  years,  and  also  other  minor  offices. 
Mrs.  Angeline's  parents  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1850,  where  Daniel  died  in  1870. 

Gehrett,  Dr.  T.  M.,  Bartlow,  Dreshler  p.  o.,  physician  and  surgeon,  was  born  in  Fairfield 
county  in  1854.  He  fitted  himself  for  and  attended  Hiram  College  of  Portage  county,  where 
he  taught  for  many  terms.  He  read  medicine  at  Bluft^ton,  Ind.,  and  was  a  graduate  from  the 
Cincinnati  Medical  College  in  the  class  of  '79.  He  commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  at 
Teuton,  Ind.,  in  1879,  and  settled  m  Dresher,  0.,  in  1880.  He  was  married  March  13,  1879,  to 
Alice  Thrapp,  of  Napoleon.  They  have  had  two  children :  Coral  and  Madge.  Dr.  Gehrett  has 
l)een  town  treasurer  for  four  years.  He  enjoys  a  fine  practice,  and  has  the  confidence  of  the 
people  of  this  section. 

Genter,  Andrew,  Clinton,  Pettisville  p.  o.,  a  farmer  of  Clinton  township,  was  born  in  Bruns- 
wick, Germany,  in  1836,  and  settled  in  Clinton,  Fulton  county,  in  1861,  with  his  parents,  Henry 
and  Henrietta  (Brandos)  Genter.  Henry  died  in  1861,  leaving  a  widow  and  three  children: 
Henry,  jr.,  Andrew,  and  Henrietta,  who  remained  in  Germany.  The  mother,  Henrietta,  died 
in  Ohio,  May  7,  1887,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five  years.  Andrew  was  married  in  Clinton,  in  1863, 
to  Dora  Otter,  who  was  born  in  Prussia,  in  1839.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four  children: 
'Christian,  Mena,  Anna,  and  Willie.  Mena  married  Adolph  Kgatsley.  Andrew  Genter  and  his 
hrother,  Henry,  jr.,  have  large  farms  adjoining  in  Clinton  township. 

Genter,  Henry,  jr.,  Clinton,  Pettisville  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Brunswick,  Germany,  in  1827,  and 
emigrated  to  America  in  1852,  and  settled  in  Jeflferson  county,  0.,  where  he  worked  for  two 
years  on  a  farm  for  a  Mr.  Fetterman.  He  purchased  his  present  homestead  in  1854.  It  con- 
sists of  eighty  acres,  and  he  paid  for  it  the  sum  of  $425.  He  was  married  in  1856  to  Christina 
Feltman,  who  was  born  in  Germany.  She  died  in  1880,  leaving  a  family  of  three  children: 
Louis,  j^lary,  and  Emma.  One  daughter,  Lizzie,  married  J.  Krouse,  and  died  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen year?.  Mr.  Genter  married  his  second  wife,  Mary  Hassenflug,  who  was  born  in  Nassau, 
Germany,  in  1835.  They  were  married  March  17, 1882.  He  has  held  most  of  the  district  offi- 
ces.    He  has  made  farming  a  success,  and  now  owns  a  fine  farm  of  240  acres  of  well  improved 


Brief  Personals.  e^y 


land  and  fine  buildings.  Henry,  jr.,  was  a  son  of  Henrv  and  Henrietta  (Brandes)  Genter,  who 
who  were  natives  of  Germany,  and  married  there.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children,  three  of 
whom  are  now  living:  Henry,  jr.,  Andrew,  and  Henrietta.  Andrew  came  to  Clinton  with  his 
parents  in  1861,  where  his  father  died  that  same  year,  and  his  mother  May  7,  1887,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-five  years.  The  daughter,  Henrietta,  now  resides  in  Germany,  where  she  was  mar- 
ried. Henry's  daughter,  Mary,  married  William  Murray.  They  have  had  one  son,  Henry 
Louis  married  Anna  Werner.     They  have  had  two  children  :     Lousia  and  Mary. 

Gidley,  Charles  H.,  Napoleon,  of  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Bristol  county,  Mass.,  in  1834,  and 
was  a  son  of  Charles  and  Basheba  Gidley,  who  settled  in  Crawford  county,  O.,  in  1852,  and 
came  to  Henry  county  in  1865.  Charles  died  in  January,  1879.  Charles  H.,  was  reared  as  a 
farmer,  and  was  engaged  in  that  business  up  to  1880.  He  was  elected  county  treasurer  and 
served  four  years,  justice  of  the  peace  for  five  years  in  Damascus,  and  also  held  other  town  offi- 
ces. He  was  married  in  1860  to  Barbara  Jenkins,  of  Virginia.  They  have  had  one  child,  Flor- 
ence, who  was  born  in  186.5.  Mr.  Gidley  became  engaged  in  the  marble  and  granite  business  at 
Napoleon,  and  is  now  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Halter  and  Gidley. 

Gigax,  Gottlieb,  German,  Elmira  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Switzerland,  December  18,  1847,  and 
came  to  America  in  1854  with  his  parents,  Jacob  and  Magdalena  Gigax,  and  settled  in  German 
township.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  six  of  whom  were  born  in  Switzerland.  Gottlieb 
was  married  in  1876  to  Julia  Weckeily.  They  have  had  four  children,  three  of  whom  are  now 
living :  Harry,  Eddie,  and  Garfield,  one  died  in  infancy.  Julia  was  a  daughter  of  Malachi  and 
Sophronia  Weckerly,  who  were  born  in  Switzerland,  and  married  in  German,  where  he  died  in 
1876,  leaving  a  widow  and  eight  children.  The  widow,  Sophronia,  was  born  in  1812.  They 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Fulton  county.  Mr.  Gigax  now  owns  100  acres  of  the  old 
homestead  of  his  parents,  which  is  now  one  of  the  most  highly  improved  and  complete  home- 
steads in  the  county.  He  has  erected  thereon  a  fine  brick  dwelling,  and  the  surroundings  are 
very  pleasant. 

Gigax,  Rudolph,  German,  Elmira  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Switzerland,  in  1852,  and  was  a  son  of 
Jacob  and  Magdalena  Gigax,  who  were  married  in  Switzerland,  and  emigrated  to  America  with  a, 
family  of  six  children  in  1854,  and  settled  in  German  township  where  they  died  ;  Jacob  in  1870, 
and  Magdalena  in  1882.  Two  of  their  children  were  born  in  America,  making  a  family  of  eight, 
seven  of  whom  are  now  living:  Fred,  Ehzabeth,  Gottlieb,  Mary,  Rudolph,  Rosetta,  Christian, 
and  John.  Elizabeth  was  married  and  died  in  1881,  leaving  one  son,  Albert  Brown.  The  father, 
Jacob,  left  an  estate  of  840  acres  of  land,  three-quarters  of  which  was  cleared  and  well  im- 
proved. He  presented  each  one  of  his  children  with  a  hundred  acres.  Rudolph  was  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business  at  Elmira,  but  has  lately  turned  his  attention  toward  farming. 

Gillett,  Ebenezer,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  a  general  merchant,  was  born  in  Lucas  county,  0., 
in  1850,  and  was  a  son  of  Rudolphus  and  Harriet  (Kent)  Gillett.  She  was  born  in  New  Jersey, 
and  her  husband  in  N.  Y.  State.  They  were  married  in  Lucas  county,  C,  and  had  ten  children, 
five  of  whom  are  now  living :  Theodore,  Eben,  Oscar,  Ida  M.,  and  Rudolphus,  jr.  Ebnezer  Gillett 
was  married  January  10,  1878,  to  Lovina  Jackson,  of  Indiana.  They  have  one  daughter,  Bessie 
B.  They  settled  in  Holgate  in  1883.  He,  to-day,  has  the  leading  mercantile  business  of  Hol- 
gate, and  is  a  strong  advocate  of  small  profits  and  speedy  sales. 

Gillis,  Delevan  C,  Chesterfield,  Morenci,  Mich.,  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  in 
1828,  and  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Belinda  (Wilmarth)  Gillis.  He  was  married  June  23,  1850, 
to  Lucinda  Clemons,  who  was  born  in  Cuyahoga  county,  in  1833.  She  died  March  21,  1887, 
leaving  three  children  :  Darwin-E.,  born  in  1856;  Cyrus  W,  born  in  1859 ;  I.  Belle,  born  in  1860 
I.  Belle,  was  married  in  1881  to  Charles  Blair ;  Darwin  E.,  married  Miss  Hattie  Drake,  in  1876 
Cyrus,  was  married  in  1882  to  Rose  Daniels.  Samuel  was  born  in  Argyle,  Washington  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1789,  and  settled  in  Victor,  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1811.  He  served  in  the  War  of 
1812,  at  Sacketts  Harbor,  was  taken  prisoner  and  held  in  Canada  for  several  months,  and  was 
present  at  the  burning  of  Canada.  He  was  married  May  14,  1814,  to  Belinda  Wilmarth.  They 
had  a  family  of  six  sons.  Behnda  died  January  11,  1830,  and  he  married  his  second  wife,  Na- 
omi Garhck,  January  27,  1831.  She  died  in  May,  1840,  and  February  22,  1844,  he  married  Mrs. 
Fanny  Downing  Clemmons,  widow  of  Chesterfield  Oleramons.  Mr.  Gillis  settled  in  Chesterfield 
township  with  his  s  x  sons,  and  became  engaged  in  farming.  He  died  February  9,  1871.  He 
was  the  first  probate  judge  of  Fuhon  county,  and  filled  many  of  the  town  and  county  offices. 
He  was  a  son  of  Robert  Gillis,  who  was  born  in  1743,  of  Scotch-Irish  parents.  His  wife,  Lu- 
Cinda,  was  a  daughter  of  Chesterfield  and  Fanny  (Downing)  Clemmons,  who  were  early  settlers 
in  Fulton  county,  then  Lucas  county.  The  town  was  named  in  honor  of  him,  and  he  died  Sep- 
ember  ,  1842,  leaving  a  widow  and  six  daughters. 

Gilson,  Boston,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Holmes  county,  0.,  in  1842,  and  was  a  son  of  Richard 
and  Sophia  (Cline)  Gilson.  Sophia  was  born  in  Northampton  county.  Pa.,  m  1813,  and  Richard 
was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1809.     They  were  married  November  1,  1832.     Richard  died 


668  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

iu  1870.  They  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  seven  sons  are  now  living.  They  settled  in  Na- 
poleon in  1844.  Five  of  their  sons  enlisted :  William  in  the  68th  Regiment  in  1861,  remained 
in  service  to  the  close  of  the  war,  was  wounded  and  now  receives  a  pension ;  Thomas  served  in 
the  same  regiment  and  was  discharged  on  account  of  disability  in  1863 ;  Davis  and  Reese  also 
enlisted,  and  Boston  enlisted  in  Co.  Q-,  124th  Ohio  Regiment,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war 
as  a  corporal.  He  was  married  in  1876,  to  ilaria  Rhodes,  of  Stark  county.  They  have  had  five 
children,  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The  four  brothers  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1844,  and 
purchased  farms.     They  were  Richard,  Hugh,  David  and  James  P. 

•  G-ilson,  James  P.,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  in  1818,  and  was  a  sou  of  William 
Gilson.  James  was  married  in  Holmes  county,  0.,  in  1842,  to  Mary  Denning.  They  adopted 
one  daughter,  Mary  Ellen,  who  was  married  in  Holmes  county  in  1872,  to  Isaac  R.  Thrapp. 
She  died  in  1881,  leaving  a  family  of  three  children:  Earl  Howard,  J.  Raymond,  and  Carrie 
Alice.  Mv.  and  Mrs.  G-ilson  have  adopted  three  children.  Mr.  Gilson  settled  in  Napoleon  in 
1846,  and  purchased  his  farm  in  1844.  He  wa.<!  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  and  retired  from  that  in 
1874,  and  was  a  constable  for  three  years.  Three  of  his  brothers  settled  in  the  county  about 
1844,  Hugh,  Richard,  and  David.     James  R.  is  the  only  one  now  living. 

Glass,  Jeremiah,  Harriso'n,  Napoleon  p.  o..  was  born  in  Trumbull  county,  in  1837,  and  was  a 
son  of  John  and  Margaret  fFox)  Glass,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Pennsylvania,  and  set- 
tled in  Trumbull  county,  0.,  in  1836,  and  that  same  year  came  to  Napoleon.  They  had  a  family 
of  five  childreTi,  three  of  whom  are  now  living:  Jeremiah,  Maria,  and  Louisa,  ilargaret  who 
was  born  in  1805,  died  in  1844.  John  was  born  in  1800,  and  died  in  Napoleon,  in  September, 
1854.  There  was  but  five  settlements  in  Napoleon  at  the  time  of  their  settlement  here.  John 
was  county  treasurer,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  also  held  other  minor  oflices.  He  was  a  mason 
by  trade.  His  son,  Jeremiah,  learned  the  carpenter  and  joiners'  trade,  and  became  a  contract 
builder.  Jeremiah  married  Nancy  A.  Christy,  of  Wyandotte,  who  was  born  in  1833.  They 
were  married  in  1853,  and  have  had  a  family  of  three  children :  Grantly  M.,  Harry,  and  Ada, 
who  was  graduated  and  is  now  a  teacher  of  music.  Grantly  il.,  was  married  in  1884  to  Dolly 
E.  Palmer.  They  have  one  child,  Mott.  Jeremiah  settled  on  his  present  farm  of  240  acres  in 
1865,  at  which  time  he  retired  from  the  building  business.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Andrew 
J.  and  Sarah  (Cooley)  Christy.  Sarah  was  born  in  Goshen,  N.  T.,  and  her  husband  in  Stras- 
burg,  Germany.  They  settled  in  Carey,  Wyandotte  county,  in  1853,  and  came  to  Napoleon  in 
1851.  Andrew  died  in  1853,  and  his  wife  died  in  California  in  1870.  Three  of  their  children 
are  now  living:  A.  J.,  Gran,  and  Nancy  A. 

GoU,  jr.,  Peter  P.,  German,  Archibald  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Doubs,  Prance,  February  8,  1834, 
and  was  a  son  of  Peter  P.  and  Catharine  GoU,  who  were  married  in  France  in  1S33,  and  emi- 
grated to  this  country  June  24,  1836,  and  with  the  one  son  settled  in  German  township.  They 
came  over  in  the  sailing  vessel,  Albany  and  made  the  passage  in  thirty-seven  days.  Mr.  GoU 
purchased  his  first  farm  of  80  acres  on  section  24,  for  $1.25  per  acre.  He  now  owns  600  acres. 
In  early  life  he  learned  the  wagon  maker's  business,  but  after  settlement  here  became  engaged 
in  farming.  Peter  P.,  jr.,  was  married  in  1861  to  Mary  A.  GoU,  of  Williams  county.  They  had 
one  son,  George  P.,  born  on  October  22,  1862.  Mary  died  June  14,  1886.  She  was  born  in 
1842,  and  was  a  daughter  of  J.  G.  GoU.  George  F.  married  Emilie  C.  GoU,  of  Williams  county, 
in  February,  1887.  Sirs.  Catharine  was  a  daughter  of  John  G.  and  Francis  Goll,  who  came  from 
Prance  to  America  in  1837,  and  settled  in  Williams  county,  where  they  died.  They  had  one  son 
and  three  daughters,  two  of  whom  are  now  living:  Catharine  and  !Mary  (Mrs.  Steucky).  Mr. 
Goll  first  went  to  Stark  county,  O.,  and  from  there  .settled  in  German,  Fulton  county,  coming 
there  with  ox  teams  in  eighteen  days,  in  November,  1836.  Marie  C,  daughter  of  George  F.  and 
Bmihe  C.  GoU,  born  July  29,  1887. 

Gotshall,  Danvis,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Blooming  Grove,  Richland  county,  in 
1846,  and  was  a  son  of  George  and  Betsey  (Castleman)  Gotshall.  Betsey  was  born  in  Ohio,  and 
George  in  Perry  county.  Pa.,  in  1812.  Betsey  died  in  1858,  leaving  a  family  of  three  children: 
Solomon,  Rachel,  and  Danvis.  George  married  hia  second  wife,  Catharine  P.  Strager,  iu  1859. 
She  died  in  1881,  leaving  one  child,  Mary  Ann.  Mr.  GotshaU  settled  in  Fulton  county,  0.,  in 
1883,  and  purchased  his  farm  of  140  acres.  Danvis  Gotshall  was  married  in  1871  to  Diana  Bri- 
ner,  who  was  born  in  Richland  county  in  1845.  They  have  had  one  daughter,  Mary  Jane.  ilrs. 
Diana  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Lydia  Ann  (Creiglo)  Briner.  He  was  born  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  settled  in  Richland  county,  0. 

Greenough,  Charles  F.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  New  Hampshire,  in  July? 
1849,  and  was  a  son  of  B.  F.  and  Elizabeth  (Eastman)  Greenough,  who  were  born  and  married 
in  New  Hampshire.  They  .settled  in  Wauseon,  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1860.  Charles  F.  was 
their  only  son,  and  was  born  in  1808.  He  was  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College,  and  settled 
in  Danville,  Pa.,  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  1832,  and  later  became  a  merchant  in  Salis- 
bury, N.  H.     He  retired  in  1859,  and  settled  in  Wauseon,  0.,  where  he  died    May  31,   1875. 


Brief  Personals.  769 


His  son,  0.  T.,  read  law  in  his  office  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  m  1872,  and  is  now  engaged 
in  the  law  business  at  Wauseon. 

G-riffin,  James  L.,  Grorham,  Payette  p.  o.,  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  Q-orham,  settling  here 
in  1837,  and  well  versed  in  the  many  trials  of  the  early  settlers  and  changes  in  the  township  and 
county,  was  born  in  Delaware  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1826.  He  was  a  son  of  William  and  Sally 
Griffin.  William  was  born  in  Westchester  county,  N.  Y.,  and  his  wife  in  Delaware  county. 
They  were  married  in  1825,  and  settled  in  G-orham,  on  August  8,  1837,  with  a  family  of  four 
children:  James  L.,  Bzekiel,  Mary  A.,  and  George  S.  One  was  born  in  Fulton  county,  Will- 
iam Henry,  born  in  February,  1838.  William  was  a  cooper  and  carpenter  and  in  early  life  pur- 
chased his  farm  of  80  acres,  and  died  in  1843,  aged  seventy-two  years.  His  widow  died  in 
1885.  aged  ninety-one  years.  James  L.  Griffin  was  married  in  1854  to  Eliza  A.  Acker,  who 
was  born  in  Fayette,  Seneca  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children  :  George  W.,  WiUie 
Fremont,  Ovida  A.,  Walter  L.,  Whitfield  L.,  and  Mary  L.  James  L.  purchased  his  present  home- 
stead in  1860,  then  a  farm  of  forty  acres,  and  paid  therefore  $800;  in  1865,  he  added  forty  acres 
more,  and  is  now  a  well  cultivated  farm  of  eighty  acres,  joining  the  corporation  of  Fayette. 

G-risier,  A.  P.,  Gorhara,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  general  merchant,  was  born  in  Williams  county  in 
1851,  and  was  a  son  of  Frederick  and  Susan  (Vernier)  Grisier,  who  were  born  in  Bretigney, 
France,  and  married  in  1844,  and  had  a  family  of  ten  children:  L.  J.,  H.  G.,  A.  P.,  F.  G.,  G.  C, 
William  P.,  Ada,  Jullie,  L.  B.  and  Jennie.  F.  G.  was  a  graduate  in  the  class  of  1878  from  the 
Cleveland  Medical  College.  Jullie  died  in  1862.  A.  P.  Grisier  commenced  his  business  life  in 
1866  when  he  became  engaged  as  salesman  in  the  dry  goods  business.  In  1871  he  embarked 
in  the  general  sale  of  dry  goods,  groceries,  crockery,  boots,  shoes  and  fancy  goods  at  West  Unity 
and  in  1880  settled  in  Fayette,  where  he  now  resides  and  carries  on  an  extensive  general  mer- 
chandise business.  He  was  married  in  1873  to  Mary  Bailey,  of  West  Unity.  They  have  had 
two  sons :  Oakley  Oren  and  Darcy  Bartlett. 

GroU,  Christian,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1842,  and 
was  a  son  of  S.  J.  and  Frederica  (Bckert)  GroU,  who  emigrated  to  America  with  a  family  of  five 
children  and  settled  in  Marion  township,  Henry  county,  in  1852.  They  had  a  family  of  seven 
children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living:  J.  C,  Christian,  Frederica,  Magdalena,  Joanna  and  Wil- 
liam. They  settled  in  Pleasant  township  in  1862,  where  Mr.  Groll  died  in  1885  aged  sixty-nine 
years.  He  was  born  in  1816  and  his  wife,  who  was  born  in  1820  is  living  yet.  Christian 
OroU  was  married  in  1870  to  Catharine  Knipp.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children :  Charles, 
Blizabeth,  Anna,  Mary,  David  and  Albert.  Catharine  was  a  daughter  of  Tobias  and  Margaret 
(Keilj  Knipp,  who  were  born  in  Germany  and  married  in  Crawford  county,  0.,  July  4,  1839. 
They  had  a  family  of  three  sons  and  two  daughters  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1848.  Their 
children  were  Catharine,  Blizabeth,  Peter,  Fred  and  John.  Mr.  Groll  has  been  township  treas- 
urer for  two  terms,  trustee  two  terms,  and  has  also  been  supervisor.  He  was  engaged  in  car- 
pentering and  building  in  early  life,  but  later  became  engaged  in  farming.  He  now  owns  a 
farm  of  240  acres  under  fine  cultivation  and  also  has  some  fine  farm  buildings. 

Groll,  John  Conrad,  Flat  Rock,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  March  14,  1841,  in  the  kingdom  of 
Wurtemberg,  Germany,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Frederica  (Eckert)  Groll,  who  emigrated 
from  Germany  and  settled  in  Marion,  Henry  county,  in  1852,  and  in  1861  they  settled  in  Pleas- 
ant township.  John  sr.,  died  in  1885,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years  leaving  a  widow  and  six  chil- 
dren :  John  C,  Christian,  William,  -Frederica,  Magdalene  and  Johanna.  John  Conrad  enlisted  in 
Company  K,  107th  Ohio  Volunteers,  August  22,  1862,  and  was  discharged  July  10,  1865,  at 
Charleston,  S.  C.  He  served  much  of  the  time  as  wagon  master  in  detached  service.  He  was 
married  in  1867  to  Mary  Yetter.  They  have  had  six  children :  John  J.,  George  C,  Julius  D., 
Amelia  C,  Emma  J.,  Martha  M.  Mr.  Groll  has  held  the  office  of  trustee  for  four  years.  He 
purchased  his  present  farm  of  320  acres  in  1865,  which  was  then  heavily  timbered  land.  He 
now  has  200  acres  of  highly  improved  land  and  has  erected  first  class  buildings.  His  grand- 
father, John  Eckert,  served  in  Napoleon  I's  army  during  the  invasion  of  Eussia.  Mary  was  a 
daughter  of  Jacob  and  Mary  (Hermann)  Yetter,  of  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  who  emigrated  to 
Liverpool,  Medina  county,  0.,  in  1831,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1850. 

Gushman,  Bdgar  Victor,  German,  Archbald  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Paris,  Stark  county,  in  1859, 
and  was  a  son  of  Alix  and  Mary  Frances  (Duprey)  Gushman.  Mary  was  born  in  Stark  county 
in  December,  1833,  and  Alix  was  born  in  department  Haute  Saone,  Rouchamp,  France,  in  1822. 
They  were  married  in  1858,  and  had  a  family  of  nine  children  :  Edward  V.,  Ceceha  S.,  Joseph 
F.,  Mary  L,.  Euphrasia  E.,  Jerome  P.,  Blizabeth  M.,  Rosa  J.,  Henry  L.  Alix  Gushman  settled 
in  Gorham  in  1862  and  pubrchased  his  farm  of  eighty  acres  for  which  he  paid  $2,300.  Mary 
F.  was  a  daughter  of  Maurice  and  Margaret  (Bourquain)  Duprey,  who  were  born  in  France  and 
settled  in  Stark  county.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living :  Ja- 
cob, Margaret,  Mary  F.,  Victor,  Joseph  and  Peter. 


670  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

G-unn,  Luoien  B.,  Napoleon,  now  a  resident  of  Toledo,  was  born  in  Cleveland,  0.,  in  1814, 
and  was  a  son  of  Squire  Charles  and  Elizabeth  (Matthews)  G-unn,  who  were  married  in  Cleveland 
in  1812  and  settled  in  Napoleon  township  in  1814.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  six  of 
whom  are  now  living:  Lucien  B.,  Lousia,  Elliott,  Edward,  Elijah  and  Minerva,  and  Mary  Ann 
(deceased).  Squire  Charles  died  April  30,  1832;  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  died  April  10,  1832. 
Charles  was  a  son  of  Elijah,  who  was  born  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  came  to  America  while- 
a  young  man  and  in  revolutionary  days.  Lucien  B.  G-unn  was  married  in  1845  to  Harriet  Jen- 
ison,  of  Lucas  county,  0.  They  have  had  four  children :  Sophia,  Alice,  Minerva  and  Loraine. 
Ahce  Victory  was  married  May  7,  1884,  to  Charles  Van  Hynmg,  of  Napoleon,  and  Sophia, 
married  WiUiam  L.  Marion.     Lucien  B.  seitled  in  Toledo  in  1862. 

G-unn,  William  W.,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Flat  Rock  township  in  January, 
1835,  and  was  a  son  of  pioneer  Elijah  and  Elenor  (Grant)  Gunn.  They  were  born  in  Massa- 
chusetts, he  in  1794.  They  died  in  Ohio,  she  in  May,  1838,  aged  thirty-one  years.  They  had 
a  family  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Catharine,  Lucretia,  William  and  Julian. 
Elijah  married,  for  a  third  wife,  Mrs.  Dorcas  Watterman.  They  had  three  children  :  Cyrus,  Corne- 
hus  and  Cornelia.  She  died  in  November,  1869,  aged  69  year ;  he  died  in  January,  1875,  aged  81 
years.  Two  infant  sons  died  in  1843.  Cyrus  died  August,  1864,  aged  twenty-three  years,, 
a  soldier  in  the  late  war.  Elijah  settled  in  Plat  Rock  in  1827,  coming  there  from  Waterville, 
Lucas  county.  He  was  the  son  of  Elijah  Gunn,  who  was  born  in  Scotland  and  was  a  soldier  ia 
Washington's  army,  a  pioneer  of  Ohio  July  4,  1796,  and  of  the  Maumee  Valley  in  1815  ;  died 
September  1855,  aged  ninety-five  years.  Elijah,  jr.,  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  All 
three  soldiers  are  buried  in  the  family  burying  ground  on  the  Gunn  farm  in  Flat  Rock  town- 
ship, on  the  north  bank  of  the  Maumee  River.  William  W.  G-unn  was  married  in  1858  to  Ara- 
stine  Lowry,  a  daughter  of  Washington  and  Mary  (Naggle)  Lowry  ;  she  was  born  in  December^ 
1840.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Charles  W.,  born  Jan- 
uary, 1860;  Mary  E.,  born  March  1863,  and  died  December  1868;  George  W.,  born  September, 
1869;  Lillie  B.,  born  September,  1872;  Ida  M.,  born  July,  1877.  Charles  W.  was  married  to- 
Clara  S.  Warsner  in  1882. 

Hall,  Lewis  M.,  Harrison,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  1845,  and  was  a  son  of  Andrew  and 
Mary  Ann  (Spangler)  Hall,  of  Pickering  county,  who  were  married  in  1845.  Mary  Ann  was- 
born  in  September,  1827,  and  Andrew  was  born  in  1823  and  died  December  11,  1882.  They 
had  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living :  Lewis  M.,  Henry  E.,  Lyman 
S.,  Alvin,  Franklin  M.,  Mrs.  Anna  Dresback,  Mrs.  Lydia  Fast  and  Mrs.  Dora  Zawyer.  They 
settled  in  Henry^oounty  in  1868.  Mary  Ann  was  a  daughter  of  Jesse  and  Lydia  (Gensul)  Span- 
gler, who  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1863.  Andrew  held  several  of  the  township  offices  and  died 
leaving  a  homestead  farm  of  320  acres.  Lewis  M.  Hall  was  married  in  1868,  to  Lydia  L.  Spangler. 
They  had  two  sons,  one  of  whom  died  at  an  early  age,  one  is  now  living :  Otis  W.,  born  in  Oc- 
tober, 1874.  Lewis  at  an  early  age  became  proficient  in  the  teaching  of  music,  and  later  became- 
a  dealer  in  pianos  and  organs.  In  1871  he  purchased  his  present  homestead  farm  of  sixty-seven 
acres.     His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Levy  and  Mary  Spangler. 

Handy,  Charles  F.,  Dover,  Ottokee  p.  o.,  now  a  retired  and  disabled  soldier,  was  born  in  St,. 
Claire,  St.  Claire  county,  Michigan,  December  1,  1837,  and  was  a  son  of  Michael  and  Mary  Ann 
(Bryant)  Handy,  who  were  natives  of  New  York  State.  Michael  was  born  in  Danby,  Tomp- 
kins county,  N.  Y.,  in  1813,  and  died  in  1885.  His  wife,  Mary  Ann,  was  born  in  18—  and 
died  in  Wauseon,  in  1881.  They  were  married  in  Michigan  and  had  a  family  of  five  children : 
C.  F.,  Mary  E.,  Roxy  Maria,  Judge  William  R.  and  Frank  H.  Two  sons,  Charles  F.  and  Wil- 
liam H.,  enlisted;  Charles  F.  enlisted  in  Company  A.,  67th  Ohio  Regiment,  in  1861,  served  for 
two  years,  was  promoted  to  lieutenant  and  then  to  captain,  and  after  two  years'  service  was 
discharged  on  account  of  disability,  for  which  he  now  receives  a  soldier's  compensation.  He 
was  married  in  1861,  to  Rachael  L.  Brown,  of  Chenango  county,  N.  Y.  They  have  four  chil- 
dren :  Alfred  R.,  Melvin  P.,  Abbie  Matilda  and  Effie  M. 

Hanmesser,  George,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  the  recent  postmaster  at  Wauseon,  was  borD 
in  Medina  county,  0.,  in  1863,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Helen  Hanmesser.  Helen  was  born 
in  Medina  county,  0.,  and  her  husband  in  Alsace,  Germany.  They  settled  in  Wauseon  in  1870' 
and  Mr.  Hanmesser  became  engaged  in  the  butcher  and  market  business.  G-eorge  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster  in  188-t  under  the  administration  of  President  Cleveland. 

Harcourt,  Myron,  Gorham,  Morenci,  Mich.,  p.  0.,  was  born  in  Pierpont,  Ashtabula  county, 
in  June,  1844,  and  was  a  son  of  Richard  and  Roxana  (Thomas)  Harcourt,  of  Collins,  Seneca 
county.  They  were  married  in  Ashtabula  county  and  settled  in  Lenawee  county  in  1846. 
Richard  was  born  in  1812  and  died  in  Gorham  township  June  4,  1876 ;  his  wife,  Roxana,  died  in 
October,  1886.  She  was  born  in  1820.  They  had  one  son,  Myron.  Roxana  was  a  daughter  of 
Marshall  and  Hannah  (Wheaton)  Thomas,  who  where  born  and  married  in  Connecticut  and  set- 
tled in  Seneca  county,  N.  T.,  and  in  1832  settled  in  Ashtabula  county,  0.,  where  they  died. 


Brief  Personals.  671 


They  had  a  family  of  three  children :  Eoxana,  Calvin  W.  and  Rebecca,  who  married  H.  Harvey. 
Myron  was  married  at  Morenci,  Mich.,  in  1869,  to  Lydia  Boger,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania. 
They  have  had  two  children  :  Axsie  Romania  and  Irwin.  Lydia  was  a  daughter  of  David  and 
Lavina  Boger,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  settled  in  G-orham  in  1866.  Myron  now  owns  a  farm  of 
forty  acres  which  was  purchased  by  his  father,  Richard,  on  settlement  here  in  1850,  and  for 
which  he  paid  $505.     He  also  owns  eighty  acres  in  addition  to  this. 

Harper,  James  Wesley,  Ridgeville,  Ridgeville  Corners  p.  o.,  a  farmer  of  Ridgeville,  was  born  in 
Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1828  and  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Mary  (Read)  Harper,  who  were  born 
and  married  in  Ireland  and  in  1822  emigrated  to  Canada,  and  in  1823  settled  in  Lenawee  county. 
Samuel  died  in  Toledo  in  1838  leaving  a  widow  and  ten  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living: 
Samuel,  James  W.,  Eliza  Jane  and  Adam  R.  James  W.  was  married  in  1850  to  Grace  Ann 
Rivley.  They  had  four  children :  Arthur,  Hattie,  Mary  and  William.  James  W.  purchased  his 
present  farm  in  1864,  which  was  then  timber  land.  It  now  consists  of  forty  acres  of  well  culti- 
vated land.  He  enhsted  in  Company  B,  184th  Ohio  Regiment  in  1864  and  served  to  the  close 
of  the  war ;  was  mustered  out  September,  1865,  at  Edgeville,  Tenn.  He  has  held  the  office  of 
trustee  of  the  town,  supervisor  and  school  director.  His  daughter,  Hattie,  was  a  student  at 
Adrian,  Mich.,  and  became  a  teacher.  James  settled  in  Defiance  county  in  1862,  but  tame  to 
Henry  county  in  1864,  where  he  has  since  resided. 

Harrold,  Simon,  Harrison,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Westmoreland  county.  Pa,,  in  1830, 
and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Catharine  Harrold.  Simon  settled  in  Harrison  township  in  1861 
and  purchased  his  farm  of  eighty  acres  at  that  time.  He  was  married  in  1858  to  EHza  Boyd. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children :  John,  Edward,  Charles,  Amanda  and  Lucinda  Si- 
mon settled  in  Fairfield  county  in  1857,  where  he  was  married  in  1858.  He  has  been  super- 
visor and  school  director  of  the  township. 

Hartman,  R.  L.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Napoleon,  Henry  county,  0.,  1858. 
In  early  life  he  fitted  himself  for  teaching,  and  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen  years  became  a  teacher. 
He  read  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Columbus  in  18S3,  and  after  this  commenced  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Napoleon.  He  opened  an  office  in  Holgate  in  1885.  In  1875  he 
purchased  the  Holgate  Centennial  Flour  Mill.  He  was  a  son  of  Charles  and  Sarah  (Funk) 
Hartman,  who  died  in  1859,  leaving  but  one  child,  R.  L.  Charles  was  born  in  Centre  county  in 
1834,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  about  1850,  and  after  became  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business.     He  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Lucy  (Holcolm)  Hartman,  of  Centre  county. 

Hartman,  Dr.  George  W.,  German,  Archbald  p.  o.,  was  born  in  CUnton  township,  Fulton 
county,  January  9,  1852,  and  was  educated  at  Wauseon,  and  the  Bryan  Normal  School,  after 
which  he  taught  for  eleven  terms.  He  read  medicine  and  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Michigan,  Ann  Arbor  (department  of  medicine  and  surgery),  in  1881,  after  which  he  settled  in 
Archbald  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Dr.  Murbach  in 
the  medical  profession  in  1885.  He  was  elected  coroner  in  1883,  and  again  in  1885.  He  has 
also  been  a  bember  of  the  board  of  health  for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  married  September 
22,  1881,  to  Emma  E.  Stotzer,  a  daughter  of  Frederick  and  Elizabeth  Stotzer,  of  Archbald. 
They  have  had  two  children,  both  of  whom  are  still  living  —  Carl  Floyd  and  Florence  Edna. 
The  doctor  was  a  son  of  John  C.  and  Charlotte  (Houghtby)  Hartman,  who  were  born,  the 
mother  in  England,  and  the  father  in  Hanover,  Germany,  and  were  married  in  this  county,  and 
were  early  settlers  in  Clinton  township.  John  Hartman,  the  grandfather,  was  a  soldier  under 
Napoleon,  and  was  at  the  siege  at  Moscow. 

Hartman,  John,  CKnton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Wnrtemburg,  Germany,  in  1830,  and 
was  a  son  of  John  and  Catharine  (Winters)  Hartman,  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1831  with  a 
family  of  three  children,  and  settled  in  Fairfield  county.  0.,  and  in  1845  came  to  Fulton  county, 
where  they  died.  He  was  born  in  1800  and  died  in  1850,  and  his  wife,  Catharine,  died  in  1865, 
They  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living  —  Barbara,  Mary  Ann, 
Rebecca,  Martin,  Jacob,  John  and  William,  Jacob  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 
John  was  married  in  1853  to  Mary  A.  Krontz,  who  was  born  in  1828,  and  was  a  daughter  of 
Henry  and  Catharine  Krontz,  who  settled  in  Ohio  in  1836.  Henry  was  born  in  Pennsylvania. 
John  and  Mary  had  a  family  of  three  children—  Ira  Albert  (married  Miss  C.  Bayes),  Marion 
Elmer,  Martha  E.  (now  Mrs.  Sarah  Gorsuch).  One  son,  Henry,  died  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years.  Mr.  Hartman  settled  on  his  present  farm  of  ninety-five  acres  in  1853,  paying  therefor 
$250,  and  now  has  a  well  improved  and  tiled  farm. 

Hashberger,  David  H.,  Marion,  Ridgland  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Hancock,  O.,  July  25,  1835,  and 
came  to  Henry  county  with  his  parents  in  1841.  His  father,  Samuel,  was  a  native  of  Fairfield 
county,  0.,  and  was  the  first  settler  in  what  is  now  known  as  Marion  township.  He  settled  here 
and  took  up  forty  acres  of  government  land,  on  which  he  resided  up  to  the  time  of  his  death 
in  1847.  He  died,  leaving  a  family  of  six  children,  David  being  the  oldest.  He  received  his 
education  in  the  pubUc  schools,  and  was  married  in  1868  to  Ann  Simms,  of  Putnam  county. 


672  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

She  died  in  1865,  leaving  one  child  —  Oscar.  David  H.  was  married  the  second  time  to  Susan 
Ann  Klinefelter  in  1868.  They  have  also  had  one  child  —  Jerome.  Mr.  Hashberger  purchased 
his  present  farm  of  one  hundred  and  seventy -eight  acres  in  1862,  where  he  has  since  resided 
and  made  improvements,  and  now  he  has  one  of  the  model  farms  of  the  township. 

Hashharger,  Samuel  R.,  Marion,  Hamler  p.  o.,  was  born  December  7,  1844,  in  what  is  now 
Marion  township,  and  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Anna  Hashbarger.  He  was  the  first  child  born 
in  the  township;  received  his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  this  township,  and  in  1870  pur- 
chased a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  acres  where  he  now  resides,  it  being  on  the  Ridge 
road,  near  Eidgeland  p.  0.  He  was  married  in  1869  to  Lorain  Blue,  of  Shelby  county.  They 
have  two  children  now  living  —  Ollie  and  Sidney. 

Hawley,  Watson,  German  township,  Archbald  p.  o.,  a  member  of  the  firm  known  as  the 
Arohbald  Steam  Milling  Company,  was  born  in  G-reene  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1852.  In  early  life 
he  acquired  his  skill  as  a  miller,  and  became  an  expert  in  that  business  in  Jackson,  Mich.  He 
settled  in  Swanton,  Fulton  county,  in  1877,  and  rented  the  Swanton  Mill  with  a  capacity  of 
seventy-five  barrels,  per  day,  and  in  1883  was  induced  to  settle  in  Archbald,  and  in  May,  1886, 
became  a  partner  in  the  Steam  Milling  Company,  the  other  members  of  the  firm  being  Jacob 
Vernier,  A.  Levy,  H.  Hirsch  and  W.  Hawley.  The  mill  has  a  capacity  of  one  hundred  barrels 
per  day.  They  manufacture  their  own  barrels  and  employ  about  ten  men.  Mr.  Hawley  was 
married  in  1881  to  Florence  Sherwood,  of  Fremont.  They  have  had  one  child — Mildred. 
Mr.  Hawley  was  a  son  of  James  B.  and  Elizabeth  (Bedell)  Hawley.  James  was  born  in  Con- 
necticut, and  his  wife  in  Greene  county,  N.  Y.  They  were  married  at  Stanton  Hill,  Greene 
county.  James  died  in  Jackson  county,  Mich.,  in  1865,  leaving  a  widow  and  four  children  — 
F.  J.,  M.  A.,  Watson  and  W.  P.     They  settled  in  Michigan  in  1860. 

Hayes,  Marcus  H.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  representative  and  influential  man  of  Fulton 
county,  was  born  in  Bloomfield,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  June  7,  1822,  and  was  a  son  of  Harvey 
Boughton  Hayes  and  Polly  (Ayers)  Hayes,  his  wife.  Polly  was  born  in  Johnstown,  Mont- 
gomery county,  N.  Y.  Harvey  B.  Hayes  was  born  in  Nassau,  Rensselaer  county,  N.  Y.,  June 
4,  in  1797,  and  died  in  West  Bloomfield  in  1828,  leaving  a  widow  and  three  sons  —  Marcus  H. 
Hayes,  Colonel  B.  L.  Hayes,  of  New  York,  and  H.  J.  Hayes,  of  Toledo.  His  widow,  Polly 
Hayes,  married  Daniel  Read,  of  Canton,  St.  Lawrence  county,  N.  Y.,  November  30,  1829.  Mr. 
Read  and  family  settled  in  Litchfield,  Medina  county,  0.,  where  Mr.  Read  died  December  9, 
1847.  His  widow,  Polly,  with  her  son,  John  A.  Read,  settled  in  Wauseon,  Clinton  township, 
where  she  died  April  9,  in  1860.  Marcus  H.  Hayes  was  married  January  5,  1843,  to  Caroline 
McKensie,  of  Litchfield,  Medina  county,  O.  They  had  five  children,  only  one  of  whom  is  now 
living,  George  B.  Hayes,  of  Wauseon,  0,,  a  farmer.  Marcus  H.  in  early  life  became  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business  in  Iowa,  and  for  several  years  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  mayor  of 
Guttenburg,  la.  He  came  to  Wauseon,  Fulton  county,  in  June,  1854,  where  he  became  en- 
gaged in  the  buying  and  selling  of  stock.  He  was  elected  county  sherifif  in  1856  and  1858.  In 
January,  1861,  he  commenced  the  clearing  of  his  present  farm,  and  now  has  a  fine  farm  with 
beautiful  farm  buildings.  He  has  held  some  of  the  minor  oflfices  of  Clinton  township.  He  has 
now  retired  from  active  business  life. 

Heacock,  Larkin,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  proprietor  of  the  Holgate  House,  was  born  in  Bast 
Bethlehem  township,  Washington  county.  Pa.,  April  11,  1812.  He  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and 
Esther  Heacock,  they  died  in  Washington  county.  Pa.  Larkin  Heacock  was  married  in  1834 
to  Mary  M.  Sherred.  Larkin  then  married  for  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Susanna  C.  (Her)  Hamil- 
ton, in  1853.  They  have  three  children  now  living  —  Edward  B.,  Ambia  B.  and  IT.  G.  Mrs. 
Heacock  had  two  children  by  her  first  husband,  Mr.  Hamilton.  They  were  John  F.  and  Emma 
J.  Mr.  Heacock  in  early  life  became  a,  practical  miller,  and  in  1828  settled  in  Carroll  county, 
0.,  where  he  became  engaged  in  the  miUing  business.  He  settled  in  Defiance  in  1848,  and 
became  engaged  in  the  hotel  business  in  1854,  and  proprietor  of  the  Russell  in  1863,  at  De- 
fiance. He  settled  in  Holgate  in  1882,  and  is  now  the  proprietor  of  the  Holgate  House  at  that 
place. 

Hettinger,  Christian,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  settler  of  Gorham  township,  was  born 
in  Baden,  Germany,  September  17,  1817,  and  was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Rosanna  (Kline)  Hettin- 
ger, who  emigrated  to  America  in  1836  with  a  family  of  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  coming 
via  Bremen,  and  were  seventy-one  days  on  the  voyage.  They  settled  in  Sandusky  county,  0., 
in  1837,  where  the  wife  died  in  1838.  Christian  settled  in  Gorham  township  April  22,  1855,  and 
purchased  his  home  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $2,100.  He  now 
has  one  hundred  and  twenty  acies  improved  and  under  cultivation.  He  erected  his  dwelling  in 
1860,  when  he  left  his  early  log  residence.  He  now  owns  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine  acres, 
and  is  a  large  producer  of  grain  and  stock.  He  was  married  in  Sandusky  county  in  1843  to 
Catharine  Langbaugh,  who  was  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1823.  They  have  had  a 
family  of  seven  sons  and  two  daughters  —  Mary,  Martin,  John,  Frank,  James,  Martha,  Irvin, 


Brief  Personals.  673 


Edward  and  Harry.  Frank  and  James  were  educated  at  the  University  of  Michigan  for,  and 
are  now  engaged  in  the  law  business  in  Kansas.  The  daughters  were  educated  and  taught 
school,  as  did  also  Martin  and  Irvin.  The  father,  Henry,  came  to  Grorham  and  resided  with  his 
son  until  his  death  in  1863,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years. 

Hoffman,  Samuel,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  farmer  of  Gorham  township,  but  now 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  was  born  in  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  June  11,  1824,  and  was 
a  son  of  Daniel  and  Christina  Hoffman,  who  settled  in  Gorham  township  from  Seneca  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1844,  where  they  died;  Daniel  in  1873,  aged  seventy-five  years,  and  his  wife  in  1887, 
aged  ninety-one  years.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living  — 
Daniel,  Charles,  Samuel,  Isaac  and  Catharine.  Samuel  Hoffman  was  married  in  1846  to  Han- 
nah M.  Leonard,  who  was  born  in  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Silas  Leonard. 
Mr.  Hoffman  commenced  business  life  poor,  in  1845,  and  with  his  brother  purchased  a  farm  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  for  which  he  paid  $555.  He  now  owns  the  entire  farm  and  forty 
acres  in  addition,  and  now  has  a  finely  improved  farm  of  two  hundred  acres.  In  1880  he 
erected  two  brick  stores,  which  now  form  a  part  of  a  block  of  twelve  stores,  which  are  fine 
structures.  He  became  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  in  1875,  with  a  Mr.  Howard.  In 
October,  1885,  he  entered  into  a  partnership  with  a  Mr.  Dunebarger,  and  they  are  now  dealing 
in  all  classes  of  dry  goods  and  groceries.  His  parents  settled  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1826, 
coming  there  from  Pennsylvania. 

Hoig,  Byrum  G.,  Gorham,  Morenci,  Mich.,  p.  o.,  the  magnetic  clairvoyant,  science  healing 
physician  of  Gorham  township  was  born  in  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1836,  and  was  a  son  of 
Martin  W.  and  Adeline  E.  (Graham)  Hoig,  of  New  York  State:  They  had  a  family  of  four 
children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living — Byrum  G.  and  Phila,  now  Mrs.  A.  T.  Smith.  Byrum  G. 
Hoig  was  married  January  2,  1860,  to  Elizabeth  Horton,  who  was  born  in  "Woodstock,  Lenawee 
county,  Mich.,  in  1843.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing—Adda E.,  Ada  Belle  and  Phila  M.  Elizabeth  is  one  of  the  few  endowed  with  gifts  of 
inspiration  in  conversation  and  lectures.  She  frequently  speaks  to  large  audiences  with  im- 
pressive effect.  In  1870  Mr.  Hoig  became  impressed  with  the  idea  that  it  was  his  duty  to 
devote  his  gift  of  science  healing  to  the  public.  They  then  fitted  themselves  for  and  entered 
the  good  work  of  relieving  the  affiicted  and  imparting  knowledge.  Mr.  Hoig  was  brought  up 
to  farm  life,  and  settled  on  his  homestead  farm  in  Gorham  township  in  1866.  He  has  now 
retired  from  active  farm  labor.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hoig  are  gifted,  cultured  people,  who  devote 
their  time  to  the  science.  Their  son,  Haskel,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  years.  The  other 
son  when  it  was  an  infant. 

Hildred,  George,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  England,  in  1838,  and  settled  in 
Toledo,  0.,  in  1854,  and  came  to  Napoleon  in  1862.  He  is  a  carpenter  and  builder  by  trade, 
and  in  1877  became  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  sash,  doors,  blinds  and  mouldings,  and  deal- 
ing in  lumber  'lath,  shingles.  He  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Thiesen  &  Hildred.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1863  to  Miranda  Cullen,  of  South  Toledo.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children  — 
Frederick,  Annette,  Morley,  George  and  Herbert. 

Hoover,  Joseph,  Liberty,  Liberty  Centre  p.  o.,  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  Liberty  town- 
ship, was  born  at  Clear  Creek,  Fairfield  county,  C,  in  1808,  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  and 
Mary  (Hoover),  natives  of  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  Joseph  was  married  m  1827  to  Mary  Sock- 
rider  of  Pickaway  county.  She  died  in  1837  leaving  a  family  of  eight  children  —  Michael, 
Cathkrine,  Anna  and  BUzabeth  (twins),  Isaac,  Susanna,  Jacob  and  Lydia  Ann  were  triplets 
Joseph  then  married  for  his  second  wife,  Mary  Neff,  of  Fairfield  county,  m  1840.  They  had 
five  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  Uving—  Abraham,  Bmeline  and  Sarah  EUen.  Mary  died 
in  1872  He  married  for  his  third  wife,  Mrs.  Mary  Archibald,  widow  of  Eobert  Babcook. 
They  were  married  in  September,  ]  879.  She  had  by  her  first  husband,  a  family  of  nme  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Babcook  settled  in  Henry  county,  in  1844,  where  he  died  October  18  18^6  Joseph 
Hoover  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1848,  and  became  engaged  in  farming.  Two  of  his  sons 
enlisted  and  served  in  the  War  of  the  EebeUion.  John,  who  served  in  the  124th,  died  at  Knox- 
ville,  Tenn.,  hospital.  Isaac  served  in  the  '99th  Ohio,  was  wounded  and  now  receives  a  pen- 
sion. 

Hopper,  Augustus  A.,  Liberty,  was  born  in  Schuylkill  county.  Pa.,  in  1829  and  settled  in 
Seneca  county  with  his  parents  in  1832.  He  was  a  son  of  Michael  and  Sarah  (Miller)  Hopper. 
Sarah  died  in  1886  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years,  leaving  a  husband  and  tour  children  —  Paul, 
Augustus,  A.,  Lavina  and  Asa.  Augustus  Hopper  was  married  in  1857  to  Lydia  Gooding,  who 
was  born  in  1838  in  Seneca  county.  They  have  had  four  children  —  Jennie,  Martha,  Clara  and 
Zella  Clara  died  at  the  age  of  five  years.  Mr.  Hopper  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1869  and 
purchased  his  present  homestead  in  1879.  He  enlisted  in  the  104th  Ohio  Eegiment,  but  was 
reiected  on  account  of  physical  weakness,  and  returned  to  his  farm.  His  wife,  Lydia,  was  a 
daughter  of  Josiah  and  Ameha  (Cooper)  Gooding.  Josiah  was  born  in  Plaford,  England,  on 
86 


674  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

January  12,  1803,  and  died  December  6,  1841.  Amelia  was  born  in  Dutchess  county,  in  1803, 
and  died  November  7,  1875.  They  were  married  August  12,  1823,  and  had  a  family  of  eleven 
children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living.     They  settled  in  Seneca  county  in  1832. 

Hornung,  Charles,  Pleasant,  New  Bavaria  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  of  Pleasant,  was  born  in  Bavaria, 
Grermany,  in  1823,  and  was  a  son  of  Peter  and  Elizabeth  Hornung,  who  settled  in  Pleasant 
township  in  1837  with  a  family  of  three  children  —  Peter,  jr.,  Charles,  and  Margaret,  who  mar- 
ried Henry  Sohall.  Peter,  jr.,  was  killed  by  a  tree  falling  on  him  in  1853.  Peter,  sr.,  died  in 
1854  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  years.  His  wife,  Elizabeth,  died  in  1856  at  the  age  sixty-nine. 
Peter  purchased  on  settlement  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  at  $1.25  per  acre,  and  was  the  first 
town  treasurer.  Charles  Hornung  was  married  in  1844  to  Catharine  Des  G-ranges.  Her 
parents  were  natives  of  Prussia,  but  Catharine  was  born  in  France.  They  had  eleven  children, 
six  of  whom  are  now  living  —  Christian,  Jacob,  John  H.,  Catharine,  and  Margaret,  and  Peter 
Christian  was  a  graduate  of  the  Tiffin  College  in  1866  and  became  a  professor  in  that  same  Col- 
lege. John  was  also  graduated  from  the  same  college.  Charles  has  been  justice  for  thirty -nine 
years ;  was  an  early  county  surveyor ;  was  county  commissioner  for  four  terms.  He  is  now 
engaged  in  farming,  merchandising,  and  the  manufacture  of  staves.  He  owns  1200  acres  of 
land,  and  is  an  influential  citizen  of  his  town. 

Hudson,  Harrison,  Liberty,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Scipio,  Cayaga  county,  N.  Y;,  June 
25,  1815,  and  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Rachel  Hudson  who  settled  in  what  is  now  Wyandotte 
county,  0.,  in  1827,  where  they  lived  until  their  deaths.  Harrison  Hudson  was  married  March 
11,  1841,  to  Susannah  Byestone,  who  was  born  in  G-reene,  Ross  county,  0.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  George  and  Betsey  Ann  Eyestone,  who  died  in  Wyandotte  county.  Harrison  and 
his  wife  settled  in  Liberty  township  on  their  present  homestead  in  1844.  He  now  owns  eighty 
acres,  having  added  forty  to  his  old  homestead  farm.  They  have  had  six  children,  four  of  whom 
are  now  living  —  Doddridge,  Paul,  Plilliard,  Whitney,  Owles  and  Alta  Luella.  Two  of  the 
children  died  at  an  early  age.  The  sons  have  all  been  teachers.  Doddridge  P.  has  been  a 
county  surveyor,  and  Hilliard  is  now  a  clergyman  of  the  Christian  Church.  Harrison  has  been 
one  of  the  representative  men  of  his  town,  holding  most  of  the  offices,  that  of  justice  of  the 
peace,  assessor,  supervisor.  His  father,  Samuel,  was  born  in  Columbia,  and  his  wife,  Rachel, 
in  Montgomery  county,  N.  Y.  Samuel  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812.  He  was  born  in 
1789,  and  his  wife,  Rachel,  in  1794,  and  they  were  married  in  1811. 

Huffman,  John  W.,  Dover,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  owner  and  proprietor  of  the  Huffman  House,  and 
engaged  in  the  general  mercantile  business  in  Spring  Hill,  was  born  in  Dover  in  1861,  and  was 
a  son  of  John  P.  and  Johanna  (Rittenhouse)  Huffman.  She  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  her 
husband  in  Delaware  county,  0.,  in  1829.  They  were  married  in  1849  and  have  four  children — • 
George  C,  Phalia  P.,  John  W.  and  Oliver  P.  John  P.  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth 
(Stilley)  Huffman  who  came  here  and  settled  from  Pennsylvania.  John  P.  settled  in  Gorham 
in  1852.  Samuel  died  in  1878,  and  his  wife  in  1877.  John  W.  Huffman  was  married  October 
23,  1884,  to  Ella  Conaway,  a  daughter  of  Leander  and  Rebecca  Conaway.  Mr.  Huffman  be- 
came engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Spring  Hill  on  August  25,  1883,  then  doing  business 
under  the  firm  name  of  Walters  &  Huffman.  In  August,  1886,  they  dissolved  partnership  and 
Mr.  Huffman  became  the  sole  owner  and  proprietor. 

Hull,  Otha  H.,  Liberty,  Liberty  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Seneca,  0.,  in  1840,  and  was  a  son  of 
Michael  and  Barbara  (Free)  Hull.  Barbara  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  her  husband,  Michael,  in 
Maryland.  They  were  married  in  Seneca  county,  where  they  reside,  having  a  family  of  ten 
children.  Otha  H.  enlisted  in  Company  G,  55th  Ohio  0.  V.  I.,  on  September  25,  1861,  under 
Colonel  Lee,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war ;  was  wounded,  discharged,  and  now  receives 
a  pension.  While  in  the  service  he  was  promoted  to  sergeant.  He  was  married  in  1866  to 
Henrietta  Metzger,  who  was  born  in  Seneca  in  1843.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four  chil- 
dren — ■  Adelaide,  Sylvia,  RoUand  and  Herbert.  Mrs.  Hull  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Sarah 
(Whiteman)  Metzger,  of  Seneca  county,  0.  Otha  H.  Hull  settled  in  Liberty,  Henry  county,  in 
1872,  at  which  time  he  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  eighty  acres. 

Huston,  Jeremiah,  Flat  Rook,  Florida  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Ashland  county,  0.,  in  1803,  and  was 
married  in  1852  to  Catharine  Baird.  They  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1852,  at  which  time  Mr. 
Huston  purchased  a  farm  of  160  acres.  His  wife  died  April  24,1864.  They  had  a  family  of 
eight  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living  —  Alfred,  'Margaret,  Caroline,  Philip,  Henry  and 
Mahlon.  Jeremiah  married  for  his  second  wife,  Mary  Reis,  who  was  born  in  Germany  on  the 
Rhine  in  1 827.  They  were  married  October  24,  1864,  and  had  a  family  of  four  children,  two 
of  whom  are  now  living  —  Emma  C.  and  John  A.  Mr.  Huston  died  in  1871.  Mrs.  Mary 
Huston  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Catharine  Reis,  who  came  from  Germany  to  Seneca 
county  in  1846,  where  they  died,  leaving  a  family  of  six  children. 

Hilton,  Mahlon  R.,  Plat  Rock,  Holgate  p.  o.,  a  contractor  and  farmer,  was  born  in  Ashland 
county  in  1844,  and  was  a  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Catharine  (Bard)  Huston,  who  were  born  in  Co- 


Brief  Personals.  675 


lumbia  county,  and  married  iij  Indiana  county,  and  in  1852  settled  in  Flat  Rock,  Henry  county. 
He  died  m  1872,  and  his  wife,  Catharine,  in  1863.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  six  of 
whom  are  now  living  :  Alfred,  Margaret,  Philip,  Henry,  Mahlon  R.  and  Caroline.  Five  sons  en- 
hsted  and  served  m  the  war.  They  were  Henry,  Alfred,  Philip  Jeremiah,  and  Malilon.  Jere-' 
miah  died  at  the  hospital  in  Louisville,  leaving  a  widow  and  three  children.  The  rest  all  served 
to  the  close  of  their  term  of  enlistment,  or  the  war.  Mahlon  R.  was  married  in  1866  to  Sarah  J". 
Rennecker,  of  Henry  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four  children  :  Alice  I.,  Mabel,  Dora 
Estella,  and  "William  Albert.  Mahlon  B.  has  been  constable  for  thirteen  years,  supervisor  for 
two  terms,  justice  of  the  peace  one  term.     He  now  owns  a  farm  of  80  acres. 

Hyter,  Bphraim.  Washington,  Colton  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Frederick  county.  Md.,  in  1810,  and 
was  married  in  1832,  to  Charity  Durbm,  who  was  born  in  Maryland.  They  settled  in  Seneca 
county,  0.,  in  1837,  and  came  to  Washington  county  in  1846,  where  they  purchased  his  farm  of 
140  acres,  and  where  he  erected  his  cabin,  and  commenced  the  task  of  clearing  this  large  tract 
of  land.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living:  Sarah  Jane,  Will- 
iam, Ann  E.,  George  W.,  and  John.  Two  children  died  leaving  families.  They  were  Margaret 
(Mrs.  Gr.  Lyman),  and  Thomas  W.  William  and  George  enlisted  in  the  array  of  the  Rebellion. 
Sarah  Jane  was  educated  for,  and  became  a  teacher.  Charity  died  August,  1868.  Mr.  Hyter 
then  married  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Catharine  (Durbin)  Zepp,  in  1869.  She  died  June  10,  1882. 
Sarah  Jane  was  married  in  1861  to  William  Shupe ;  Ann  Elizabeth  married  John  Groff,  in 
1863. 

Imbrook,  Frederick,  Napoleon,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  a  contract  carpenter  and  builder,  and  farmer, 
was  born  in  the  Kingdom  of  Hanover,  Germany,  in  1834,  and  was  married  in  1856,  to  Catharine 
Shruder,  who  emigrated  to  America  and  settled  in  Napoleon,  in  1857.  They  have  had  four  chil- 
dren: Sophia,  George,  Anna,  and  Catharine.  Sophia  married  Henry  Driers,  and  George  married 
Miss  Mauke  ;  Anna  married  John  Kolra.  Frederick  was  a  son  of  Christ  and  Ilsie  Imbrook. 
Ilsie  died  in  1855,  and  in  1856  Christ,  with  his  son,  Frederick,  came  to  America.  Christ  returned 
to  Hanover  in  1876,  where  he  died  in  1880. 

Jackson,  Noah,  Harrison,  Grelton  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Columbia  county,  Pa.,  in  1820,  and  was 
married  in  1849,  to  Mary  Shively,  who  was  born  in  1823,  and  was  a  daughter  of  John  and  Mary 
Shively.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children :  Frank,  Ashley,  Willis,  Lincoln,  Gratia,  and 
Delia  M.  They  settled  in  Harrison  township  in  1851,  at  which  time  they  purchased  their  pres- 
ent homestead  of  160  acres,  for  $955.  Noah  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Chloe  (Watson)  Jackson. 
She  was  born  in  Luzerne  county.  Pa.,  and  her  husband,  Joseph,  was  born  in  Northumberland 
county.  Pa.,  in  1793.  They  were  married  in  1817,  and  Chloe  died  in  1843.  They  had  a 
family  of  eleven  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living :  Noah,  Joseph,  and  Joel  (twins),  and 
Amariah.  Joseph  is  now  ninety-four  years  of  age,  and  enjoys  the  best  of  health,  He  settled 
in  Henry  county  in  1860.  He  was  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Jemimah  Jackson.  Daniel  was  born  in 
Rockaway,  Morris  county,  N.  J.,  and  served  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  died  in  Mor- 
row county,  0.,  at  tlie  age  of  83  years. 

Jenings,  George  N.,  Liberty,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Warren  county,  0.,  in  1821, 
and  was  married  in  1850,  to  Sarah  Jane  Morrison,  of  Seneca  county.  They  have  had  a  family 
of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Florence  E.  (died  in  1877,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  years),  Alice  A.,  Cyrus  B.,  Silva  G,  and  Alfred  B.  Mrs.  Jenings  was  a  daughter  of  John 
and  Charlotte  Morrison,  who  were  born  in  Center  county.  Pa.,  married  and  settled  in  Seneca 
county,  in  1837,  where  they  died,  leaving  a  family  of  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing :  Rachel  Ann,  Sarah  Jane,  John  N.,  Josiah  W.,  James  A.  Mr.  jenings  chose  for  his  occu- 
pation that  of  farming,  and  in  1840  came  to  Liberty,  and  entered  claim  for  his  present  homestead 
of  160  acres,  and  in  1852  settled  on  his  homestead,  which  they  now  occupy,  and  which  consists 
of  210  acres  of  well  improved  land,  with  pleasant  surroundings  and  many  home  comforts.  Mr. 
Jenings  was  a  son,  of  Jacob  S.  and  Osea  (Blackford)  Jenings.  Osea  was  born  in  Warren 
county  and  was  of  Scotch  descent.  Jacob  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  his  parents  were  na- 
tives of  England.  His  wife  died  in  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1876,  at  the  age  of  seve:";ty  years.  Ja- 
cob died  in  Seneca  county,  0.  They  had  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  eleven  of  whom  are  now 
living. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  Damascus,  McClure  p.  o.,  owner  and  proprietor  of  the  McClure  Hotel, 
was  born  in  Sweden,  in  1848,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Christina  Johnson,  who  had  a  family 
of  eight  children.  Two  sons  emigrated  to  America,  Andrew  and  Charles,  in  the  year  1872.  In 
1873  Andrew  settled  in  Henry  county,  and  in  1877  he  married  Augusta  Anderson,  who  was 
born  in  Sweden.  They  have  three  children  now  living :  Minnie,  Walter,  and  Bessie.  Carl  by 
accident  was  scalded  and  died  at  the  age  of  two  years.  Mr.  Johnson  became  engaged  in  the 
provision  and  grocery  business  in  1880,  and  in  1881  erected  his  present  hotel  with  his  partner. 
In  1884  he  abandoned  the  grocery  business,  and  purchased  his  partner's  interest  in  the  hotel 
business,  and  now  has  a  hotel  which  accommodates  thirty  guests,  and  he  is  always  ready  to  give 
a  hearty  welcome  to  his  many  friends. 


'6y6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Kahle,  James  S.,  Dover,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  a  farmer,  lumber  manufacturer  and  sorghum  manufac- 
turer, was  born  in  Butler  county,  Pa.,  and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Mary  (Gates)  Kahle.  He 
was  born  in  Alsace,  G-ermany,  and  she  was  born  in  Center  county,  Pa.,  where  they  were  mar- 
ried. They  settled  in  Dover,  Fulton  county,  in  1865,  where  they  purchased  a  farm  of  135  acres. 
Mary  died  in  Amboy,  in  1887.  They  had  eleven  children,  ten  of  whom  are  now  hving:  Catha- 
rine A.,  Daniel,  William,  George,  Rosa  A.,  James  S.,  David  Milton,  Miles  A.,  John  and  Samuel; 
Henry  died  leaving  two  daughters.  James  S.  was  married  in  1872  to  Bvaline  Horton.  They 
have  had  four  children ;  James  Byron,  Roscoe  Romeo,  Stella  Thirza,  and  Frankie  Folsom.  Mr. 
Kahle  has  a  steam  custom  and  merchant  saw-mill. 

Kaufman,  William,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  of  Holgate,  was  born  in  Prussia,  Ger- 
many^ in  1841,  and  emigrated  to  America  with  his  parents  in  1859.  He  was  a  son  of  John  M. 
and  Catharine  Kaufman,  who  had  a  family  of  four  children :  Lorenc,  William,  Catharine  E.,  and 
Anna  P.  John  M.  was  born  in  1813.  His  wife  died  in  1868.  William  was  married  in  1868  to 
Catharine  Bauer,  of  Flat  Rock.  They  have  had  three  sons,  John,  William  and  Charles.  Lorenc 
and  William  enlisted  in  August,  1862,  in  Co.  B,  100th  Ohio  Regiment,  and  served  to  the  close 
of  the  war,  being  discharged  in  June,  1865.  WilUam  purchased  a  farm  of  80  acres  of  heavily 
timbered  land  in  1866,  and  where  the  village  of  Holgate  now  stands.  He  became  engaged  in 
the  drug  business  but  retired  from  the  same  in  1882.  He  was  appointed  postmaster  in  Septem- 
ber, 1885,  and  has  been  mayor,  councilman  and  trustee  of  the  infirmary  of  the  corporation.  He 
is  now  engaged  in  farming  and  manufacturing  ash  salts.  His  brother  Lorenc  was  taken  pris- 
oner, and  died  in  Libby  Prison,  in  1864. 

Kanauer,  Adam,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  an  enterprising  and  leading  citizen  of  Gorham  town- 
ship, was  born  in  Richland  county,  0.,  in  1840,  and  was  a  son  of  Andrew  and  Rebecca  Kanauer, 
who  settled  in  Williams  county  in  1848.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children,  five  of  whom  are 
now  living :  Franklin,  John,  Adam,  Andrew,  Barbara  and  Harriet.  The  four  sons  enlisted  in 
the  army  of  the  Rebellion.  Andrew  died  from  wounds  received,  in  the  Nashville  hospital ;  Adam 
enhsted'in  Co.  P,  182d  Ohio  Regiment,  under  Colonel  Bradley,  in  1864,  and  was  discharged  July 
5,  1865,  at  Nashville ;  his  brother,  Franklin,  served  in  the  same  regiment ;  John  enhsted  in  1861 
in  the  38th  Ohio  Regiment  and  was  discharged  in  1863.  The  father,  Andrew,  died  in  Fulton 
county,  in  1881,  aged  seventy-six  years,  and  his  wife  died  in  Williams  county,  in  1885,  aged 
seventy-six  years.  Adam  was  married  in  1862  to  Leoline  Rebecca  Beilharz,  who  was  born  in 
Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1844.  They  have  had  one  son,  Martin  Andrew,  born  in  1876.  Leoline 
was  a  daughter  of  Martin  and  Mary  (Rouch)  Bielharz.  Martin  was  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Ger- 
many, December  3,  1807,  and  his  wife,  Mary,  was'  born  in  1807.  They  were  married  in  1832, 
and  emigrated  to  America  via  Baltimore,  being  eighty-one  days  on  the  passage  over,  in  1833, 
and  settled  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  and  in  1845  settled  in  Gorham  township,  and  purchased  a 
farm  of  160  acres.     Martin  died  in  1879,  leaving  a  widow  and  one  daughter,  Leoline  R. 

Keinath,  John,  jr..  Napoleon,  manufacturer  of  wagons,  carriages,  sleighs,  cutters,  and  doing 
general  repair  business,  was  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1846,  and  emigrated  to  America, 
and  settled  in  Richland  county,  0.,  in  1866,  and  in  1S67  came  to  Napoleon,  where  he  settled  as 
a  journeyman.  In  1870  he  embarked  in  his  present  business.  He  was  married  that  same  year 
to  Louisa  Grau,  of  Wurtemburg.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children :  John,  Maggie, 
Charles,  William,  Emma,  and  Hattie. 

Kline,  Henry,  Liberty,  Liberty  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Franklin  county.  Pa.,  in  1810  and  was  a 
son  of  Michael  and  Rachel  Kline,  who  settled  in  Seneca  county,  0.,  where  they  died.  Henry 
was  married  in  Seneca  county  in  1836,  to  Hannah  Wright,  who  was  born  in  Washington  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1812  and  was  a  daughter  of  David  and  Margery  (West)  Wright,  who  settled  in  Seneca 
county  in  1830.  Henry  Kline  died  December  20,  1881,  leaving  a  widow  and  five  children 
Harlow,  Timothy,  Elizabeth,  Ellen  and  Emma.  Clark  enlisted  in  Company  H,  55th  Ohio,  in 
1862  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war  and  died  in  1871.  Mr.  Khne  held  several  of  the  town 
and  district  offices  and  settled  in  Liberty,  Henry  county,  in  1848.  Mrs.  Hannah  Kline,  though 
in  her  76th  year,  is  still  enthusiastic  over  the  changes  and  events  happening  in  the  county. 

Keller,  Peter  A.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  one  of  the  leading  and  successful  farmers  of  Gorham, 
was  bora  in  Plymouth,  Richland  county,  Ohio,  in  July,  1846,  and  was  a  son  of  Peter  and  Mary 
M.  (Weiser)  Keller.  Mary  .was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1815  and  Peter  was  born  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  Maryland,  in  1793.  They  were  married  at  Richland  county  in  1835  and  Peter  died  in 
1850  leaving  a  widow  and  four  children :  John,  George  A.,  Mary  E.  and  Peter  A.  Geor^'e  A. 
enlisted  in  Company  K.,  128th  Ohio  Regiment,  on  December  31,  1863  and  served  to  the  close  of 
the  war.  John  was  drafted  but  furnished  a  substitute.  Tlie  father,  Peter,  was  a  blacksmith  by 
trade.  He  purchased  the  homestead,  on  his  settlement  in  this  county,  of  eighty  acres  for  which 
he  paid  $300.  Peter  A.  Keller  was  married  in  1870  to  Catharine  0.  Ely,  who  was  born  in  Ful- 
ton county  in  1849.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three  children:-  Walter  L.,  born  1872;  Cassius 
E.,  born  1874  and  Edna  L.,  born  1878.     Mrs.  Catharine  was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Susan 


Brief  Personals.  6tj 


(Struble)  Ely,  who  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living.  Joseph  Ely 
was  born  in  Northumberland  county,  March  4,  1814,  and  died  January  5,  1882.  He  settled  in 
Eulton  county  in  1838  and  was  one  of  the  leading,  active  public  men  of  the  town,  and  repre- 
sented all  the  leading  offices  of  his  district,  and  was  prominent  in  church  affairs.  He  was  coun- 
ty commissioner  for  fifteen  years.  His  wife.  Susan,  died  in  1857.  He  married  for  his  second 
wife,  Rebecca  Ives.  Peter  A.  Keller  now  owns  the  old  homestead  and  has  erected  some  fine 
buildings. 

Kendall,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Grorham,  Payette  p.  o.,  a  druggist,  and  prescriptionist,  was  born 
in  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1855,  and  was  a  son  of  Dr.  Amos  and  Mary  (McOrilles)  Kendall, 
who  emigrated  from  New  York  State  and  married  in  Michigan.  They  had  a  family  of  four 
children :  Andrew  Jackson,  Adelia,  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Amos,  jr:,  (twins).  Amos  was  born 
in  1820  and  married  in  1837,  and  died  November  15,  1884.  He  was  a  son  of  Dr.  John  Kendall, 
of  Massachusetts,  who  settled  in  Pettisville,  Fulton  county,  in  1836,  and  died  there  about  1871, 
aged  eighty  years.     He  had  two  children,  Amos  and  Adelia. 

Kilpatrick,  Mary,  Harrison,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Liberty  in  1827  and  was  a  daughter 
of  John  and  Esther  Patrick.  Esther  was  born  in  Rhode  Island  in  1800  and  died  in  1879,  and 
her  husband,  John,  was  born  in  Canaan,  Mass.,  in  1795  and  died  in  1868.  They  were  married  in 
Oneida  county,  N.  T.,  in  September,  1823  and  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  four  of  whom 
are  now  hving :  Mary  P.,  Jane,  George  B.  and  Hester  H.  John  was  an  early  hotel  keeper  on 
the  river  near  Napoleon,  and  one  of  the  leading  and  successful  men  of  the  county.  He  was  a 
son  of  Ralph  and  Esther  (Teft)  Patrick.  Mary  was  married  in  1852  to  David  Kilpatrick,  who 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  1829,  and  died  October  19,  1863.  He  was  born  in  Ireland  and  emi- 
grated to  America  with  his  parents  the  same  year  that  he  was  born.  They  first  settled  in  Dres- 
den, 0.,  and  in  1841  came  to  Henry  county.  David  enlisted  in  Company  B,  38th  Ohio  Regi- 
ment, in  1861  and  was  discharged  on  account  of  disability  resulting  from  a  wound  which  he  re- 
•ceived  while  in  service.     He  was  discharged  December  29,  1862. 

King,  Levi,  Damascus,  Texas  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Fairfield  county,  O.,  in  1847,  was  a  son  of 
Peter  and  Mary  (Shoemaker)  King.  Peter  died  in  1880,  leaving  a  widow  and  nine  children. 
Levi  was  married  in  1869  to  Lucy  Weitman,  of  Sandusky,  0.  They  have  had  one  daughter, 
Minerva  H.  Lucy  was  a  daughter  of  John  and  Eve  King.  Levi  settled  in  Damascus  in  1870, 
and  purchased  his  homestead  in  1^72  and  in  1882  erected  his  present  fine  brick  residence  and 
now  has  about  120  acres  of  highly  cultivated  land,  and  is  now  engaged  in  stock  raising  and  farm- 
ing.    He  was  supervisor  in  18 —  and  was  trustee  of  the  town  in  1883. 

Kinney,  Thomas,  Napoleon,  a  successful  farmer  of  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Longford,  Ireland, 
in  1811  and  was  a  son  of  Thomas  Kinney.  He  was  married  in  1835  to  Bridget  Sheriden,  of 
Ireland.  They  emigrated  to  America  and  settled  in  Chester  county  in  1835  and  in  1836  came 
to  Napoleon,  where  he  became  engaged  as  a  laborer  on  the  W.  and  E.  Canal,  where  he  worked 
until  1855,  when  he  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  244  acres  which  is  now  highly  cultivated 
and  one  of  the  best  farms  in  the  township.  Mrs.  Kinney  died  in  1874  leaving  three  children: 
John,  Ellen  (who  married  Joel  Laughlin),  and  Catharine  (who  married  Albert  T.  Barnes,  the 
present  sheriff  elect  of  Henry  county). 

Kinney,  William  R.,  Damascus,  McOlure  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Stark  county,  in  1826  and  was  a 
son  of  Jacob  and  Elizabeth  (Rex)  Kinney,  who  had  a  family  of  three  children :  William  R.,  Mary 
A.  and  Isaac.  They  came  from  Wyandotte  county  to  Damascus,  Henry  county,  in  1854.  Isaac 
•died  in  Michigan.  Jacob  died  in  1886  at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years.  Mary  A.  married  Na- 
than Weaks  and  they  have  a  family  of  four  children.  William  R.  was  married  in  1862  to  Susan 
Sell,  of  Crawford  county.  They  had  a  family  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living : 
William  F.  McClellan  and  Ashford  Sherman.  William  R.  purchased  his  present  homestead  of 
240  acres  in  1851  and  settled  in  1854  on  the  timber  land  which  is  now  one  of  the  finest  farms  in 
■the  county.  Mr.  Kinney  is  now  making  a  specialty  of  breeding  blooded  horses  and  cattle,  which 
he  carries  on  in  connection  with  his  general  farming  business.  His  farm  consists  of  560  acres 
of  finely  cultivated  land.  His  mother,  who  was  born  in  1805,  now  resides  with  her  son,  Ash- 
ford S.,  who  married  Elmira  J.  Rusk. 

Kinstler,  Wendel,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  bom  in  Pleasant  township,  Henry  county,  in 
1857,  and  was  a  son  of  Frederick  and  Margaret  (Okley)  Kinstler,  who  were  born  in  G-ermany, 
married  in  Cuyahoga  county,  0.,  and  settled  in  Henry  county,  about  1845.  They  had  a  family 
of  nine  children :  Wendel,  Fred,  John,  Joseph,  Albert,  Michael,  Mary,  Louisa  and  Lizzie.  Wen- 
del  Kinstler  was  married  in  1881  to  Annie  Behm,  of  Seneca  county.  They  have  had  three  chil- 
dren: Bstella,  Cora  and  Charles.     Mr.  Kinstler  purchased  his  present  farm  of  40  acres  in  1881. 

Kline,  Harman  S.,  Freedom,  Ridgeville  Corners  p.  o.,  an  early  and  successful  settler  in  the 
township  and  county,  coming  here  as  early  as  1838,  was  born  in  Sparta,  Livingston  county,  N. 
T.,  in  1827  and  was  a  son  of  Harman  and  Catharine  (Shipman)  Kline.  Catharine  was  born  in 
New  Jersey  September  7,  1804,  and  her  husband  was  born  in  Mount  Pleasant  township,  Colum- 


678  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

bia  county,  Pa.,  on  February  13,  1800.  They  were  married  April  25,  1822,  and  settled  in  New 
York  State  in  1826  and  came  to  Ross  county  in  1831  and  settled  in  Freedom,  Henry  county,  in 
1838,  where  Mrs.  Kline  died  April  16,  1885.  They  had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  eight  of 
whom  are  now  living:  Matthias,  Susanna,  Harman  S.,  John,  Jacob,  Lucinda,  George  and  Ma- 
tilda. Isaac  and  Ellen  died  leaving  families.  Sarah  and  Catharine  died  when  young  women. 
Harman  S.  was  married  in  1851  to  Margaret  Lingle,  who  was  born  in  Seneca  county.  She  died 
in  1855  leaving  three  children:  Matthias,  Charles  and  Margaret.  H.  S.  then  married  Phebe 
Caldwell  in  1861.  She  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.  They  have  two  chil- 
dren: Abiah  and  "William.  Phebe  was  a  daughter  of  William  Caldwell  who  settled  in  Henry 
county  in  18i8.  Phebe  was  a  prominent  teacher  in  the  county  for  thirteen  years.  Mr.  Kline 
is  largely  engaged  in  the  breeding  of  blooded  stock,  his  herd  being  the  leading  one  in  the  county. 
He  purchased  his  present  homestead  in  1855. 

Klingelhofer,  John  Ernest,  Flat  Rock,  Holgate  p.  o.,  owner  and  proprietor  of  the  Florida 
merchant  and  custom  flour-mill,  was  born  at  Hesse  Cassel,  Germany,  in  1836,  and  was  a  son  of 
Christian  and  Gertrude  Klingelhofer,  who  had  a  family  of  six  children,  all  of  whom  came  to 
America :  Lizzie,  Catharine,  Rheinhard,  Louisa,  John  B.  and  Mary.  John  B.  emigrated  to  Amer- 
ica and  settled  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  in  1860,  where  he  learned  the  baker's  trade  and  soon  became 
proprietor  of  the  business.  He  was  married  in  1859  to  Mary  Atwater,  who  was  born  in  Ger- 
many. They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children:  Lizzie,  George,  Mary,  William,  Louis  and  Em- 
ma. He  settled  in  Flat  Rock  in  1882  and  purchased  his  mill  which  was  rebuilt  in  1862.  The- 
first  mill  built  on  that  site  was  erected  in  1842. 

Knipp,  Frederick  F.,  Napoleon,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Crawford  county,  0.,  in  1842, 
and  was  a  son  of  Tobias  and  Margaret  (Kile)  Knipp,  who  were  born  in  Germany.  He  was  born 
in  Hesse  Darmstadt  in  1814.  They  settled  in  Crawford  county,  and  were  married  July  4,  1839,. 
and  had  a  family  of  five  children :  Peter,  F.  F.,  John,  Catharine  and  Elizabeth.  The  grandpa- 
rents, Tobias  and  Mary  (Striansinger)  Knipp,  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania  and  settled  in  Frank- 
lin county  in  1831  and  in  1834  settled  in  Crawford  county,  where  they  died.  They  had  a  family 
of  five  children.  F.  F.  Knipp  was  married  in  February,  1876,  to  PoUna  Youch,  who  was  born  in 
Saxony,  Germany,  in  1845.  They  have  had  three  children :  Julius  William,  Charles  T.  and  Lil- 
lie  May.     Mr.  Knipp  was  an  early  carpenter  and  builder,  but  is  now  engaged  in  farming. 

Knipp,  John  A.,  Flat  Rock,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Crawford  county,  0.,  in  1844,  and 
was  married  March  25,  1 869,  to  Mary  Knipp,  who  was  born  in  Richland  county  in  1846.  They 
have  had  five  children :  Joseph  Milton,  Charles  Alfred,  B.  Thomas,  Walter  Frederick  and  Mar- 
tha Netta.  Mary  was  a  daughter  of  John  Knipp  and  Susan  (Brick)  Knipp.  John  A.  has  held  most 
of  the  township  offices.  He  has  been  trustee  for  two  terms.  He  purchased  his  homestead  farm 
of  120  acres,  in  1875  and  was  a  son  of  Tobias  and  Margaret  (Kile)  Knipp.  Tobias  was  born  in 
Hesse  Darmstadt,  Germany,  in  1814  and  his  wife  was  also  born  in  Germany.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  Crawford  county,  O.,  July  4,  1839,  and  settled  in  Flat  Rock  in  1848.  Tobias  was  a  son 
of  Tobias,  sr.  and  Mary  (Striansinger)  Knipp  who  settled  in  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  in  1831,  and 
came  to  Crawford  county  in  1834,  where  they  died.  Three  of  their  sons  are  now  living:  Tobi- 
as, jr.,  John  and  Fred.  Tobias,  jr.,  had  a  family  of  five  children :  Peter,  Frederick  F.,  John, 
Catharine  and  Elizabeth. 

Kretz,  Joseph,  Freedom,  Ridgeville  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  in  1828  and  was  a. 
son  of  Charles  and  Mary  Kretz,  who  died  in  Germany.  They  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  four 
of  whom  are  now  living :  Adam.  George,  Barbara  and  Joseph.  Joseph  and  three  others  of  the- 
family  came  to  America.  Joseph  landed  at  New  York,  June  7,  1856,  and  went  to  Buffalo  in 
1857,  and  that  same  year  came  to  Defiance  county,  0.,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farming  until 
1878,  when  he  purchased  his  present  farm  of  170  acres  and  settled  in  Freedom  township.  He- 
was  married  at  Buffalo  in  1856,  to  Catharine  Creabel,  who  was  born  in  December,  1835.  They 
have  a  family  of  eight  children.  Mr.  Kretz  has  held  the  offices  of  school  director,  trustee  and 
supervisor.     He  has  now  cleared  about  120  acres  of  his  homestead  farm. 

Krontz,  Jacob,  Clinton,  PettisvUle  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  settler  in  Fulton  county,  was  born  in 
Holmes  county  in  1830  and  was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Catharine  (Hay)  Krontz.  Henry  was  born 
in  Bedford  county.  Pa.,  and  his  wife  in  Holmes  county,  O.  They  settled  in  Clinton  township  in 
1836  and  had  a  family  of  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living :  Jacob,  Simon  and  Mary  - 
Caroline,  Lucinda  and  Emmanuel  are  deceased.  Emmanuel  enlisted  and  served  in  the  War  of 
the  RebeUion.  Henry  was  boi'n  in  1800  and  died  in  1874;  his  wife  Catharine,  died  in  1840. 
Jacob  was  married  in  1859  to  Matilda  Peters,  who  was  born  on  November  27,  1841.  They  were 
married  in  1859  and  had  two  children,  Ida  and  Elsie.  Ida  married  John  N.  Krauss  and  Elsie 
married  Paul  Mohr.  Mr.  Krontz  settled  on  his  present  homestead  farm  of  100  acres  in  1865, 
paying  therefore  $1,500.  His  wife,  Matilda,  was  a  daughter  of  Leonard  and  Margaret  (Baker) 
Peters,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  settled  in  Dover,  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1854,  and  died  in  Clinton^ 
he  died  in  1870  and  his  wife,  Margaret,  in  1871. 


Brief  Personals.  679 


KruU,  Harmann,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Prussia,  in  1845  and  was  a  son  of 
Christian  and  Elizabeth  KruU,  who  emigrated  to  Defiance  county,  0.,  in  1855  where  Christian 
died  on  July  4,  1885,  leaving  a  widow  and  four  children:  Anna,  Harman,  Emma  and  Louisa, 
and  one  son,  William,  who  died  in  1878  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  years.  Harmann  KruU  was 
married  in  1871  to  Lottie  Yackee,  of  WiUiams  county.  They  have  had  four  children  :  Losetta, 
Frederick,  Christian,  Theodore  and  Regina.  Harmann  learned  the  tinning  and  plumbing  busi- 
ness and  settled  in  Holgate  in  March,  1887,  and  there  became  engaged  in  the  tinning,  plumbing, 
roofing  and  house  furnishing  goods  business,  and  the  first  of  September  he  removed  back  to  old 
Defiance  again. 

Kump,  Levi,  Franklin,  Fayette,  p.  c,  was  born  in  Dover  township,  York  county.  Pa.,  in  1832 
and  was  a  sou  of  Daniel  and  Polly  (Gross)  Kurap,  who  were  born  and  married  in  York  county. 
Pa.,  and  with  a  family  settled  in  Trumble  county,  now  Mahoning,  in  1833,  where  they  now  re- 
side, having  a  family  of  twelve  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living.  'One  son,  John,  en- 
listed and  served  on  the  one  hundred  day  call.,  Levi  was  married  in  May  1855  to  Sarah  Kime, 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Esther  Kime,  of  Mahoning.  She  was  born  in  1832.  They  had  a  fam- 
ily of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living  :  Reuben  J.,  Adah  S.  (now  Mrs.  Bowser),  01- 
vier  F.,  Ella  D.  Mr.  Kurap  settled  in  Franklin,  Fulton  county,  in  1860  and  purchased  a  timber 
farm  of  185  acres  for  which  he  paid  $1,200,  70  acres  of  which  he  sold  in  1864  for  $2,100  and 
purchased  his  present  homestead  in  1873  of  thirty-six  acres  for  which  he  paid  $3,000.  He  has 
now  150  acres  of  highly  improved  land  with  fine  farm  buildings.  Reuben  J.  was  married  in 
1887  to  Sarah  Punches.  Oliver  F.  married  Ella  Ely  in  1882.  Adah  was  fitted  for  and  became 
a  teacher.     She  was  married  to  N.  W.  Bowser  in  1880. 

Lamphier,  John,  Liberty,  a  pioneer  of  Henry  county,  was  born  in  Sullivan  county,  TSf.  Y.,  in 
1826  and  settled  in  Washington  township  in  1842  and  became  engaged  in  farming.  He  was  a 
son  of  Samuel  and  Subrina  (Oakley)  Lamphier,  who  were  born  in  Columbia  county,  N.  Y.,  and 
married  at  Hudson,  IST.  Y.,  and  came  to  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1844.  They  had  twelve  children, 
two  of  whom  are  now  hving:  John  and  Austin.  Samuel  died  in  1847  and  his  widow  in  1880 
at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years  having  been  born  in  1799.  Austin  enlisted  in  the  14th  Ohio  Reg- 
iment, was  discharged  for  disability  and  afterwards  enlisted  in  the  3d  Ohio  Cavalry  and  was 
again  discharged  for  disability,  he  finally  re-enlisted  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he 
was  discharged.  Alonzo  enlisted  in  the  14th  Ohio  and  died  while  in  the  hospital.  The  father, 
Samuel,  served  as  an  ofiicer  in  the  war  of  1812.  John  Lamphier  was  married  in  1854  to  Mary 
Ann  Hawk,  of  Crawford  county,  where  she  was  born  in  1836.  Mary  Ann  was  a  daughter  of 
Benjamin  and  Catharine  (Young)  Hawk  of  Crawford  county.  They  settled  in  Henry  county 
in  1851.  John  was  in  the  employ  of  the  U.  S.  A.  during  the  early  part  of  the  rebellion  was  en- 
gaged in  transporting  supplies,  retired  in  1863  setthng  on  his  farm  which  was  purchased  in  1855. 

Lambenthal,  Jacob,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  owner  and  proprietor  of  the  Holgate  Steam 
planing  and  saw-mill,  a  general  lumber  dealer  and  manufacturer,  was  born  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Prussia,  Germany,  in'  1845,  and  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Catharine  (Hammes)  Lambenthal,  who 
settled  in  Lorain  county,  0.,  in  1852,  with  a  family  of  four  children :  Nicholas,  Jacob,  Antone, 
and  Elizabeth.  Nicholas  enlisted  in  the  107th  Ohio  Vols,  from  Lorain  county  and  served  for 
three  years.  Jacob  Lambenthal  was  married  in  Lorain  county  in  1869,  to  Theresa  Bear,  who 
was  born  in  Austria.  They  have  had  eight  children  :  Mary  A.,  John  N.,  Maggie  M.,  Frank  J., 
Charles  J.,  George,  Fred  N.  and  Mary  Rosetta.  Jacob  settled  in  Deshler,  Henry  county,  in 
1875  and  came  to  Holgate  in  1877  and  erected  his  planing-mill  and  in  1879  added  his  sawing 
power  of  forty  horse,  and  now  gives  employment  to  five  men  and  several  teams.  He  now  man- 
ufactures sash,  doors,  blinds  etc. 

Lawrence,  John  S.,  Clinton,  Pettisville  p.  o.,  a  veteran  soldier  who  served  from  1861  to  the 
close  of  the  late  war,  being  discharged  August  4,  1865,  at  Nashville,  Tenn.  He  served  in  Com- 
pany H,  3d  Ohio  Cavalry,  and  was  wounded.  He  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1833,  and 
was  a  son  of  Benjamin  and  Susanna  (Snyder)  Lawrence,  who  had  a  family  of  eight  children  : 
Nancy,  Mary,  John  S.,  Aaron,  Lucinda,  Simon  and  Harriet.  Rebecca  died.  John  S.  settled  in 
Chnton,  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1859  and  was  married  in  Wauseon,  in  1866,  to  Elizabeth  K.  Rob- 
inson, who  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0.  They  purchased  their  present  homestead  of  eighty 
acres  in  1866,  paying  therefor  $22.50  per  acre,  which,  with  the  improvements  now  made  would 
readily  sell  for  $80  dollars  per  acre.  John  S.  was  taken  prisoner  and  confined  for  several  months 
in  Libby  and  Andersonville  prison,  where  he  suffered  treatment  beyond  description,  which  can 
never  be  forgotten  if  forgiven. 

Leist,  Jonas,  E.,  Liberty,  Liberty  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Henry  county  in  1849  and  was  a  son  of 
Blias  J.  and  Susanna  (Gravel)  Leist.  They  had  nine  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living : 
Jonas  E.,  Bliphaz,  Celesta,  David  E.,  Florence  E.,  Lulu  and  Marshal  H.  Blias  J.  was  a  son  of 
David  and  Elizabeth  Leist  who,  with  Blias  settled  in  Henry  county,  in  1848.  David  died  in 
1852  leaving  a  widow  and  eight  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living :  Levy,  Elmira,  Blias,  Su- 


68o  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

san  and  Ellen.  Elias  J.  has  held  many  of  the  township  offices,  having  been  treasurer  two  terms, 
supervisor  and  trustee  each  four  terms.  Jonas  B.  Leist  was  married  in  1872  to  Mary  Grinder, 
who  was  born  in  Frederick  county,  Md.  They  have  one  adopted  daughter,  Laura.  Eliphaz 
was  born  in  1850  and  married  in  1875  to  Sarah  Estep,  of  Virginia.  They  have  had  one  child, 
Harley  H.  They  are  farmers  and  lumber  manufacturers,  having  a  large  steam  saw-mill.  They 
owned  the  first  steam  engine  ever  brought  to  the  county  for  threshing  purposes. 

Layman,  Jacob,  German,  Archbald  p.  o.,  a  settler  of  German  township  coming  therein  1840, 
was  born  in  Franklin  county.  Pa.,  July  5,  1816,  and  was  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Ester  (Berk- 
holder)  Layman.  They  settled  in  WilUams  county  in  1839,  where  they  resided  up  to  the  time 
of  their  deaths.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children :  John,  Jacob,  Benjamin,  Abraham,  Samuel, 
Mary  and  Nancy.  Jacob  settled  in  German  township  in  1840  and  purchased  his  homestead  of 
80  acres  for  which  he  paid  $1,700.  He  now  has  116  acres  of  well-improved  land.  He  was 
married  in  1841  to  Elizabeth  Kibler,  who  was  born  in  Germany.  She  died  in  1846  leaving  two 
children,  Susan  and  Elizabeth.  He  was  married  in  1854  to  Barbara  Roth,  who  was  born  in 
Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1835.  They  have  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  five  of  whom  are  uow 
living :  Magdalena,  Henry,  Jacob,  Benjamin  and  Esther.  Peter,  Christian  and  Daniel  are  de- 
ceased. Peter  died  leaving  a  widow  and  one  son,  Edward  Layman.  Jacob  has  retired  from  ac- 
tive farm  labor. 

Lee,  Josiah,  Chesterfield,  Oak  Shade  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  farmer  was  born  in  Holmes  county,  0., 
October  16,  1823  and  was  married  in  1842  to  Nancy  Stickle,  who  was  born  in  Washington 
county,  Pa.,  in  1824.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living:  Mary 
Ann,  Mrs.  Silas  Borton :  James  C.  and  Harman  A.  One  son,  William  W.,  was  born  in  1846 
and  enhsted  February  9,  1864  in  the  67th  Ohio  Voluntreers  and  died  at  the  Ladies'  Hospital  at 
New  York,  March  16,  1864 ;  Martha  J.  married  F.  Gray  and  died  leaving  one  daughter,  Sada 
Gray.  Josiah  Lee  moved  to  what  was  then  Lucas  county,  in  1845  where  he  remamed  for  over 
three  years,  when  sickness  in  his  family  compelled  him  to  return  to  Holmes  county.  In  18B5 
he  moved  to  Fulton  county  and  settled  in  Chesterfied  township  on  section  22,  at  which  time  he 
purchased  120  acres  for  which  he  paid  $1,500.  He  now  owns  157  acres.  He  has  held  different 
offices  of  trust  in  the  township  for  the  past  twenty  years.  He  has  been  assessor  for  the  past 
three  years.  He  erected  his  brick  residence  in  1863,  where  he  still  resides.  His  wife  died  April 
12,  1883  and  he  remained  a  widower  until  December  20, 1886,  when  he  married  Miss  Nettie  M. 
Vroman,  of  Dover  township,  Fulton  county.  He  was  the  son  of  James  and  Margaret  (Wells) 
Lee,  of  Maryland,  who  came  to  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1814,  on  horseback.  They  brought  all 
their  possessions  on  three  horses,  $2.50  being  their  capital,  and  there  entered  160  acres  of  land 
in  1817.  They  sold  out  and  purchased  in  Holmes  county,  where  they  resided  until  their  deaths. 
They  owned  662  acres  of  lands  and  other  property.  They  had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  seven 
of  whom  are  now  living. 

Lee,  Lewis  A.,  Chesterfield,  Oak  Shade  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  of  1835,  was  born  at  Franklin,  Oak- 
land county,  Mich.,  and  was  a  son  of  Wilham  and  Sarah  (Marlatt)  Lee.  WiUiam  Lee  was  born 
at  West  Bloomfield,  N.  T.,  in  June  1797,  and  died  in  Chesterfield,  0.,  in  1854.  Sarah  (Marlatt) 
Lee  was  born  at  Mendon,  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  in  March  1803  and  died  in  Chesterfield,  0.,  in 
1878.  They  settled  in  Michigan  about  1825  and  came  to  Gorham  township  in  1835,  where  they 
lived  till  1845.  Mr.  Lee  was  a  tanner  and  courier  by  trade  and  upon  settling  in  Gorham  be- 
came engaged  in  that  business.  He  was  justice  of  the  peace  and  clerk  of  Chesterfied  township 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children :  Mrs.  Mary  Colvin,  Mrs.  Eliza 
Post,  Lewis  A.,  Morris  M.,  Almon  M.  Lewis  A.  was  married  in  1853  to  Mary  J.  Patterson,  who 
was  ijorn  in  Alleghany  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1835,  by  whom  he  had  five  children ;  Edward  W.,  born 
August  12,  1855,  married  in  1880  to  Adell  Hough;  Leon  D.,  born  November  5,  1857,  married 
in  1885  to  Effie  E.  Hough;  Viola  S.,  born  January  8,  1860,  married  in  1877  to  C.  W.  Ranger; 
Elmer  E.  born  October  11,  1861  and  Jennie  E.  born  February  19,  1868.  Mr.  Lee  in  early  life 
was  engaged  in  carpentering  and  building,  which  was  his  trade.  He  served  as  trustee  and  con- 
stable for  several  years  in  his  township,  and  in  1886  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Oak  Shade,  0. 

Liddle,  John,  Washington,  Texas  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Washington  township,  Henry  county, 
in  1854,  and  was  a  son  of  George  and  Barbara  (Johnson)  Liddle,  who  were  born  in  Linlithgow, 
near  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  where  they  were  married,  and  came  to  America  in  1851,  and  settled 
in  Washington,  Henry  county.  They  have  had  two  children,  Ahce  and  John.  Barbara  died  in 
1865,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years.  Her  husband  was  born  in  1817.  John  Liddle  was  married  in 
1875  to  Elizabeth  Hendricks,  of  Sandusky  county,  0.  They  have  a  family  of  six  children: 
George,  Emma,  Arthur,  Myrtle,  Ross,  and  an  infant.  Elizabeth  was  a  daughter  of  Jonas  and 
Elizabeth  Hendricks.  George  Liddle  purchased  a  homestead  of  80  acres,  and  now  owns  a 
handsome  farm  of  160  acres.     George,  his  father,  was  a  son  of  John  Liddle,  of  Scotland. 

Leininger,  Peter,  Clinton,  Pettisville  p.  o.,  was  born  in  German  township,  Fulton  county,  O., 
November  12,  1843 ;  was  brought  up  on  a  farm,  and  married  in  1864  to  Anna  Fankauser,  who 


Brief  Personals.  68  i 


was  born  in  Switzerland,  January  6, 1843,  and  settled  in  Clinton  township  in  1866.  They  have 
had  a  family  o£  nine  children  :  Rosanna,  John,  Emma,  Elizabeth,  Adolph,  Harman,  Julia,  Martin, 
and  Walter.  Mr.  Leininger  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  80  acres  in  1864,  for  which  he 
paid  $1,000,  and  which  he  now  has  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  Connected  with  his  farm 
interest  he  has  a  large  vineyard  consisting  of  1,100  vines  of  the  Concord  variety.  Last  season 
(1886)  he  produced  from  these  vines  1,150  gallons  of  pure  grape  wine,  which  is  pure  and  free 
from  all  compounds,  and  much  sought  after  for  medicinal  purposes,  fee  started  this  vineyard 
in  1878.  He  is  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Binder)  Leininger.  John  was  born  in  Alsace,  in  1821, 
and  his  wife  in  Switzerland,  in  1822.  They  were  married  in  Fulton  county,  0.,  m  1841,  and 
had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  ten  of  whom  are  now  Uving:  Peter,  John,  Henry,  Solomon, 
Daniel,  Frederick,  George,  Simon,  Mary,  Christian. 

Leist,  Noah  S.,  G-orham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Pickaway  county,  0.,  in  1846,  and  was 
a  son  of  Samuel  and  Lavina  (Schlotman)  Leist.  She  was  born  in  New  York,  and  he  in  Pickaway 
county,  and  was  a  son  of  Peter  Leist.  Samuel  died  in  Seneca  county,  in  1849,  leaving  a  widow 
and  two  sons,  Noah  S.  and  Martin  Luther.  Mai  tin  Luther  now  resides  in  Fairfield  county. 
Noah  came  to  Gorham  township  in  1859,  with  his  grandfather,  Daniel  Schlotman,  and  in  1865 
went  to  Fairfield  county.  He  was  married  September  12,  1867,  to  Orpha  Critz,  who  was  born 
in  Pickaway  county.  They  have  five  children  now  living:  Minnie,  Lucy,  Ollie,  William,  and 
Mary.  Danver  died  at  an  early  age.  Mr.  Leist  purchased  his  homestead  of  80  acres  in  1874, 
for  which  he  paid  |4,400.  He  has  now  a  farm  of  120  acres  o£  well  improved  land,  with  fine 
buildings.     His  daughter,  Minnie,  married  Mr.  Orrin  Borton. 

Leitner,  William,  Washington,  Colton  p.  o.,  the  postmaster  at  Colton,  was  born  in  Seneca 
county,  in  1844,  and  was  a  son  of  Gideon  and  Seine  (Sitts)  Leitner.  Seine  was  born  in  Seneca 
■county,  and  Gideon  in  Pickaway.  Seine  died  in  Seneca  county,  leaving  a  family  of  three  chil- 
dren: William,  Angeline  and  David.  Gideon  settled  in  Washington,  Henry  county,  in  1866, 
and  died  leaving  three  children  by  his  first  marriage,  and  five  by  a  second  marriage.  He  died 
January,  1872.  William  enlisted  in  Co.  K,  in  the  First  U.  S.  Chasseurs,  July  15,  1861,  served 
until  he  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  May  31,  1862,  and  was  discharged  February 
3,  1863,  at  Fairfax.  He  now  receives  a  government  pension  as  a  slight  reward  for  injuries  re- 
ceived. He  was  married  in  1863  to  Kate  V.  Browning,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.  He  settled  in  Colton, 
in  1863,  and  became  engaged  in  bridge  building  and  railroading,  and  was  appointed  postmaster, 
July  1,  1885. 

Leonhardt,  Frederick  B.,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  a  manufacturer  of  carriages,  wagons,  sleds, 
and  also  engaged  in  a  general  blacksmithing  business  and  repairing  all  kinds  of  farm  implements, 
at  Florida;  was  born  in  Tuscarawas  county,  near  Port  Washington,  0.,  in  1850,  and  was  a  son 
of  John  and  Catharine  Leonhardt,  who  were  born  in  Prussia,  emigrated  to  America  in  1848, 
and  settled  in  Henry  county,  0.,  in  the  fall  of  1852.  They  have  had  seven  children  :  Frederick 
B.,  John,  William,  George,  Catharine,  Julia,  and  Caroline.  John,  sr.,  was  born  in  18fl9,  and  his 
wife  in  1820.  Frederick  B.  learned  the  trade  of  wagon  and  carriage  making  in  1871,  at  Florida, 
0.,  and  in  1881  purchased  the  bu.siness  of  his  employer.  He  was  married  in  March,  1877,  to 
Rebecca  E.  Degler,  who  was  born  in  Berks  county,  near  Straustown,  Pa.  They  have  had  a 
family  of  five  children:  Dora  C,  Elsie  B.,  Emma  E.,  Charles  D.,  and  Frank  A.  Rebecca  was  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Bhzabeth  Degler,  of  Berks  county.  Pa.  Mr.  F.  B.  Leonhardt  was  elected 
treasurer  of  Flat  Rock  township,  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1883,  '84,  '85  and  1886,  and  resigned  for 
year  1887. 

Lindley,  Josiah  B.,  Freedom,  Ridge ville  Corners  p.  o.,  one  of  the  successful  farmers  of  the 
county,  was  born  in  Summit  county,  O.,  in  1828,  and  was  married  June  27,  1852,  to  Nancy  Dur- 
kee,  of  New  York,  who  settled  in  Henry  county  in  May,  1853,  and  on  their  present  homestead 
in  1864.  Nancy  died  in  June,  1884.  They  had  a  family  of  four  children :  Caroline,  Serepta, 
Ella,  Antonette,  Ida  Eveline,  and  Thaddeus  0.  Nancy  was  a  daughter  of  Joel  Durkee,  of  Lo- 
rain county.  Josiah  B.,  a  son  of  Ichabod  and  Barbara  Lindley,  who  were  natives  of  Connecticut, 
and  early  settlers  in  Summit  county,  0.,  coming  there  as  early  as  1810.  They  died  leaving  a 
family  of  fourteen  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  hving :  Caroline  S.  married  Arba  Tubbs,  in 
1872 ;  Ella  A.,  married  James  J.  Fauver,  in  1875 ;  Ida  E.,  married  Michael  W.  Harms,  in  1880. 

Lingle,  Edward  L.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Clinton  county,  December  17,  1857, 
and  was  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Lucinda  (Williams)  Lingle,  who  were  married  in  Clinton,  Fulton 
county,  in  1838.  Lucinda  was  born  in  1819,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Elisha  and  Hannah  (Harri- 
son) Williams.  Thomas  was  born  in  1807,  and  died  on  March  23,  1886.  They  had  a  family  of 
■eleven  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living:  Oscar  B.,  Elmore  Y.,  Edward  L.,  aud  NeUie  M. 
Four  died  at  an  early  age,  and  three,  William  A.,  Amanda  M.,  and  Melvin  0.,  died  at  matured 
ages.  William  enlisted  in  the  68th  Ohio  Regiment,  Co.  E,  served  three  years,  re-enlisted,  and 
served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  His  brother,  Oscar,  served  in  the  same  regiment.  Elmore  also 
served  to  the  close  of  the  war.     Amanda  married  E.  Higbed,  who  died  in  the  army.     Edward 


682  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

L.  Lingle  was  married  in  1881,  to  Francis  M.  Richardson,  who  was  born  in  Henry  county,  O. 
They  have  had  two  children,  Melvin  0.  arid  Edward  Everet.  Thomas  Lingle  settled  in  Pulton 
county  in  18 — ,  at  which  time  he  purchased  a  farm  of  160  acres,  paying  therefor  $1.25  per  acre. 

Lingel,  Thomas  S.,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Butler  county,  0.,  in  1848,  and  was  a  son  of  Ed- 
ward and  Margaret  (Weaver)  Lingel,  of  Butler  county,  0.  He  settled  in  Napoleon  township 
May  1,1850.  They  had  five  children :  Thomas  S.,  Mary  M.,  Sarah  E.,  Ida  M.,  and  Dora  L  Ed- 
ward who  was  born  in  1818,  died  in  1877,  his  wife,  Margaret  was  born  in  1824.  Thomas  S. 
was  married  in  1870,  to  Lydia  Rehl,  of  Napoleon.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three  children: 
Henry  Edward,  Thomas  W.,  and  Bernice  Beryl.  The  first  80  acres  of  their  homestead  was  en- 
tered by  their  grandfather,  Henry  Weaver,  who  paid  $1.25  per  acre  for  it.  The  homestead  farm 
now  consists  of  168  acres. 

Long,  Gr.  D.,  Napoleon,  of  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Butler  county,  0.,  in  1818,  was  a  son  of 
Armel  and  Hannah  (Grrundel;  Long,  who  had  a  family  of  four  children.  The  parents  died  in 
Butler  county,  and  Gr.  D.  Long  is  the  only  one  of  the  family  now  living.  He  was  married  in 
1847  to  Elizabeth  Weaver,  who  died  in  1858,  leaving  three  children:  John,  Noah,  and  Louisa. 
His  second  wife  was  Elizabeth  Treuby.  They  had  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living : 
William  H.,  Charles,  Herman,  and  Nettie.  Mr.  Long  settled  m  Flat  Eock,  Henry  county,  in 
1853,  and  became  an  extensive  farmer.  He  purchased  his  present  homestead  farm  of  100  acres, 
for  which  he  paid  .$68  per  acre. 

Lowry,  Joseph,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,was  born  in  Flat  Rock,  Henry  county,  in  1833,  and 
was  a  son  of  the  pioneers  Henry  and  Ellen  (McKinley)  Lowry,  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  They 
were  married  in  Warren  county,  0.,  and  settled  in  Flat  Rock,  in  October,  1829.  John  died  in 
1863,  and  his  wife  died  in  Napoleon,  in  1882.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children,  four  sons  and 
two  daughters :  G-eorge  W.,  Catharine,  Rebecca  Jane,  Joseph,  William  B.,  and  John  B.  Joseph 
was  married  in  1855  to  Samantha  Sapp,  of  Henry  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four 
children :  John  Hamilton,  Genevieve,  George  B.,  and  May.  Joseph  now  owns  the  old  home- 
stead, which  was  purchased  by  the  father  on  his  settlement  in  1829,  and  has  now  in  all  about 
440  acres  of  well  improved  and  tilled  land.  His  two  brothers,  John  and  William,  enlisted  and 
served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 

Lowery,  Hannah,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Stark  county,  0.,  in  1838,  and  was  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  (Wyant)  Brewbaker.  John  was  born  in  Franklin  county.  Pa.,  in 
1812,  and  Sarah  was  born  in  Stark  county,  0.,  in  1814.  They  were  married  in  1836,  and  had  a 
family  of  nine  children :  Francis  M.,  Christopher  W.,  Alfred  K,  Daniel,  Emanuel  W.,  Hannah, 
Mary,  Clarissa,  and  Jacob.  They  settled  in  Flat  Rock,  in  1847.  John  was  a  son  of  David  and 
Elizabeth  (Barnes)  Brewbaker,  who  died  in  Ashland  county,  0.  Hannah  was  married  November, 
1857,  to  Isaac  L.  Stout  They  had  a  family  of  three  children :  George  W.,  John  W.,  and  Mi- 
nerva Ann.  Isaac  L.  enlisted  in  the  124th  Ohio,  in  1862,  and  died  at  Franklin,  Tenn.,  in  1863. 
Mrs.  Hannah  then  married  for  her  second  husband,  Martin  Lowery,  a  son  of  Archibald  Lowery. 
They  had  a  family  of  six  children :  Mary,  Clary,  Sarah  E.,  William  H.,  Daniel  E.,  Grace  Alberta. 
Martin  Lowery  died  in  October,  1878. 

Lowery,  Archibald,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  a  general  farmer  of  Flat  Rock,  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania in  1821,  and  was  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Nancy  (Armstrong)  Lowery,  who  settled  in  Henry 
county  in  1840,  where  Samuel  died.  His  wife,  Nancy,  died  in  Indiana.  They  had  two  sons, 
Archibald  and  Martin.  Archibald  was  married  in  1840,  to  Ehzabeth  Brookley,  who  was  born  in 
Holmes  county,  0.    She  died  in  1880.     They  had  three  children,  only  one  of  whom  is  now  living. 

Mcintosh,  Henry,  Ridgeville,  was  born  in  Portage  county,  in  February,  1825,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  and  Jerusha  (Ferris)  Mcintosh.  He  was  born  in  New  Hampshire,  and  his  wife,  Jerusha, 
was  a  native  of  Virginia.  They  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Portage  county,  0.  John  died 
in  1852,  leaving  five  sons:  Ebenezer,  Henry,  Joseph,  George  and  Newell.  Four  of  the  sons  en- 
listed in  the  late  war.  Henry  enlisted  in  Co.  B,  184  Ohio,  in  January,  1865,  and  was  discharged 
at  Nashville.  He  was  married  in  1850  to  Maria  C.  Tilden,  who  was  born  in  Portage  county,  in 
1829.  They  had  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living :  Alice  Lorinda,  Adelaide  Lodiska, 
Mary  Janet,  Kate  Rose,  and  Carl  Tilden.  Mary  C.  was  a  daughter  of  Aurna  and  Candece  Tilden. 
Aurna  was  born  in  Windham  county,  Vt.,  and  his  wife  was  a  native  of  Rhode  Island.  Henry 
settled  in  Napoleon  in  1851,  and  purchased  his  present  homestead  in  Ridgeville,  in  1853.  His 
farm  now  consists  of  ninety-six  acres.  His  daughter,  Adelaide  L.,  married  Theodore  Taylor, 
and  Alice  Lorinda  married  Thomas  Willeman. 

McBnerny,  Thomas,  Washington,  Naples  p.  o.,  was  born  in  the  Town-land  of  Gurteen,  par- 
ish of  Feenaugh,  county  of  Limerick,  Ireland.  His  father  and  mother's  names  were  John  Mc- 
Enerny  and  Honora  Guiry.  His  wife,  Anna  O'Donahue,  was  born  March,  1832,  in  TuUilease, 
parish  of  Milford,  county  Cork,  Ireland.  Her  father  and  mother's  names  were  Thomas  O'Dona- 
hue and  Catharine  Kellaher.  Thomas  McBnerny  had  six  brothers  and  one  sister.  Four  of  the 
youngest  brothers  emigrated  to  the  United  States.     The  other  brothers  and  sister  remaining 


Brief  Personals.  683 


with  their  parents  in  their  native  land.  Daniel.Jthe  oldest  of  the  immigrants  came  to  the  United 
States,  August,  1853;  Thomas,  1854;  James  and  Patrick,  May,  1856.  They  located  in  Cham- 
pagne and  Madison  counties,  O.,  following  the  occupation  they  were  raised  to,  farming.  Thomas 
was  married  in  Urbana,  Champagne  county,  0.,  May  18,  1856.  In  the  following  spring  he  and 
family,  removed  to  Madison  county,  0.,  and  commenced  to  crop  on  a  rented  farm,  remaining  in 
Madison  county  until  the  fall  of  1864,  he  and  his  youngest  brother,  Patrick,  removed  to  Wash- 
ington township,  Henry  county,  and  purchased  farms  on  which  he  resides  up  to  the  present  day. 
There  was  born  to  Thomas  McEnerny  and  wife,  as  aforesaid,  nine  children ;  their  names  as  they 
were  born  are  John,  Thomas,  James,  Nora,  Katie,  Jose,  Michael,  Minnie  and  Anna.  Anna  died 
when  she  was  six  months  old.  John  Thomas,  jr.,  and  James  were  graduates  of  college,  and  also 
law  students.  John  and  James  graduated  in  the  Union  Law  College,  Chicago.  Thomas,  jr., 
graduated  for  the  law  in  Ann  Arbor  University,  Michigan.  John  died  one  year  after  leaving 
■college,  and  was  twenty-eight  years  old.  Thomas,  jr.,  and  James  are  prominent  practicing  law- 
yers in  Chicago  at  present.  The  other  surviving  five  children,  being  the  youngest,  still  remain 
with  their  parents,  and  received  a  Normal  school  business  education  so  far.  Thomas  McEnerny 
is  an  industrious,  thriving  farmer.  He  owns  400  acres  of  land,  well  improved,  and  in  a  good 
state  of  cultivation,  of  which  there  is  350  cleared  and  underdrained. 

McEwen,  James  M.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  the  pioneer  general  grocer  of  Holgate,  was  born 
in  Seneca  county,  O.,  in  1838,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  with  his  parents,  Robert  and  Marga- 
ret McEwen,  who  were  born  in  Harrisburgh,  Pa.,  and  married  in  Seneca  county,  and  settled  in 
Harrison  township,  Henry  county,  in  1849.  They  had  thirteen  children,  five  of  whom  are  now 
living.  James  M.  enlisted  in  Co.  B,  38th  Ohio  Regiment  in  1861,  serving  under  Colonel  Bradley. 
At  the  end  of  his  term  of  service  he  enlisted  in  the  same  company,  and  served  to  the  close  of 
the  war,  being  discharged  in  July,  1865.  His  father  enlisted  in  the  same,  company  and  regiment, 
in  1861.  He  died  in  1876,  and  his  widow  in  1885.  Robert's  father  and  mother  had  a  family  of 
■twenty-one  children,  twenty  of  whom  lived  to  rear  families,  and  eight  are  now  Uving  all  at  ad- 
vanced ages.  James  McEwen  was  married  in  1859  to  Sarah  Ingle,  of  Harrison.  They  have  had 
six  children :  Eliza,  Virginia,  Mirtie,  Delia,  Fannie  and  Bessie. 

McLain,  S.  B.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  general  stock  farmer  and  grower,  and  breeder  of 
blooded  horses  and  cattle,  was  born  in  Mount  Vernon,  Knox  county,  0.,  in  1836.  In  early  life 
he  became  engaged  in  farming,  and  in  1862  settled  in  Iowa  as  a  farmer,  and  became  engaged  in 
the  general  stock  business.  He  was  married  in  1865  to  Mary  E.  Crawford,  who  was  a  daughter 
■of  Q-eorge  Crawford.  They  have  had  two  sons,  George  H.,  and  Burton  C.  Mr.  McLain  pur- 
chased his  present  stock  farm  of  100  acres  in  1869.  .He  also  owns  320  acres  in  Seneca  county. 
They  are  largely  engaged  in  the  importation  of  Norman  and  Holstein  stock.  S.  B.  McLain  was 
a  son  of  Charles  S.  and  Ruth  R.  McLain.  Charles  S.  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1813,  and  his 
wife  was  born  in  Ohio. 

McLain,  John  C,  Damascus,  McClure  p.  o.,  a  representative  man  of  his  town,  was  born  in 
Jefferson  county,  0.,  in  1830,  and  settled  in  Damascus  in  1857.  He  purchased  his  present  resi- 
dence of  120  acres,  and  was  married  in  1857  to  Delila  Rowland,  who  died  in  1858,  leaving  one 
son,  Arthur.  John  C.  then  married  his  second  wife,  Jane  A.  Whiton,  of  Loraine  county,  in 
1862.  They  had  two  children,  Lewis  and  Herman.  Lewis  died  when  nineteen  years  old.  John 
C.  was  clerk  of  the  town  for  ten  years,  town  trustee,  county  commissioner  six  years,  county 
treasurer  four  years.  He  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  and  became  a  contract  builder,  but  since 
1876  he  has  given  the  greater  part  of  his  attention  to  farming.  He  was  a  son  of  William  and 
Ehzabeth  (Clark)  McLain.  Elizabeth  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  her  husband  in  Jefferson 
county,  in  1808.  They  were  married  in  1829.  WiUiam  died  in  1878,  leaving  a  family  of  eleven 
children,  six  are  now  living:  John  C,  Lewis,  Jane,  Rachel,  Lucretia,  and  Emma.  The  grand- 
father, John,  came  from  Pennsylvania,  and  the  great-grandfather,  Robert,  was  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, of  Scottish  descent,  who  settled  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  Revolutionary 
Army.     His  son,  John,  served  in  the  War  of  1812. 

McLaughUn,  Joseph,  Franklin,  West  Unity  p.  o.,  an  old  pioneer  of  Franklin,  was  born  in 
Perry  county,  Pa.,  January  1,  1822,  and  was  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Isabella  McLaughlin,  who 
were  married,  and  with  a  family  of  five  children,  settled  in  what  is  now  Blooming  G-rove,  Rich- 
land county,  in  1823;  came  to  what  is  now  Franklin,  Fulton  county.  May  11,  1836.  Daniel 
died  in  Richland  county,  and  his  widow,  Isabelle,  and  her  mother,  Mrs.  Catharine  Drum,  came 
to  Franklin  with  Joseph,  who  was  then  about  fifteen  years  old,  but  although  so  young,  was  the 
managing  man.  Mrs.  Drum  died  in  1838,  aged  seventy-six  years.  Isabelle  died  in  1848,  Jo- 
seph was  married  in  1845  to  Mary  Beaty,  who  was  born  October  31,  1824.  They  have  had  a 
family  of  eleven  children,  ten  of  whom  are  now  living :  Harriet,  Mrs.  L.  B.  Shetler ;  John,  de- 
■ceased ;  Lovina,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Shilling ;  Cynthia,  Mrs.  B.  H.  Myers ;  Joseph,  jr.,  Laura,  Mrs.  J. 
M.  Van  Dervere ;  Lydia,  Mrs.  George  Johnson;  Anthony,  married  Miss  Eva  Clark;  Anna, 
Mis.  Theodore  Blood ;  David  Todd,  and  Mary  Ann  (her  nickname  being  Littlely). 


684  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Mangas,  Peter,  Pleasant,  New  Bavaria  p.  o.,  one  of  the  pioneers  and  a  successful  farmer  of 
Pleasant  township,  was  born  in  Prussia  in  1825.  He  was  a  son  of  Casper  and  Elizabeth  (Arfle) 
Mangas  who  emigrated  to  America  with  four  children  —  Peter,  Jacob,  Henry  and  John,  and 
settled  in  Pleasant,  Henry  county,  in  1837.  The  father  died  in  1860,  and  the  mother  in  1866. 
Peter  was  married  in  1853  to  Sarah  Jackman,  who  was  born  in  France  They  had  a  family  of 
eleven  children,  nine  sons  are  now  living  —  Henry  C,  Benjamin  F.,  Peter,  jr.,  Albert,  George 
F.,  Joseph  F.,  Andrew,  Frederic  and  Theodore.  Sarah  was  a  daughter  of  Gilbert  and  Mary  J. 
P.  Jackinan,  who  settled  in  Seneca  county  in  1837.  Mr.  Mangas  held  the  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace  for  one  term,  that  of  trustee  for  three  terms,  and  in  early  life  he  became  engaged  in 
various  branches  of  business,  teaming,  peddling  and  canalling,  and  when  a  boy  drove  horses  on 
the  packet.  He  now  owns  a  farm  of  180  acres,  and  has  well  arranged  farm  buildings  and  a 
handsome  brick  dwelling. 

Mason,  Mary  Ann,  Gorham,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Columbiana  county,  0.,  in  1832,  and 
was  a  daughter  of  Asa  and  Elizabeth  (Hazen)  Borton.  Mary  was  married  in  1848  to  Abraham 
Mason.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children  —  Elizabeth,  Ellen  A.,  Laura  C,  LeUa  A.,  Florence 
M.  and  Wilber  J.  Elizabeth  and  Lelia  were  fitted  for  and  taught  school  for  several  terms. 
Elizabeth  married  Willis  Clark  in  1873;  Ellen  A.  married  George  Oldfield  in  1874;  Laura  C. 
married  Henry  D.  Walters  in  1876;  Leha  A.  married  James  B.  Eiddle  in  1882,  and  Florence 
M.  married  John  Emmet  Riddle  in  1885  ;  Wilbur  J.  married  Cusebie  Conaway  in  1887.  Abra- 
ham Mason  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  July,  1828,  and  enlisted  in  Company  B,  60th  Ohio- 
Regiment  in  March,  1864,  under  command  of  Captain  Eddy  ;  was  wounded  in  action  October 
27,  and  died  October  29,  1864.  He  purchased  his  homestead  of  160  acres  in  1853,  paying 
therefore  11,000.  He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Charity  (Borton)  Mason,  of  New  Jersey,  who 
settled  in  Pulton  county,  with  a  family  of  six  children;  three  sons  and  three  daughters.  Mrs. 
Mason's  father,  Asa  Borton,  was  born  in  1806,  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Hazen,  was  born  in 
1804.  They  were  married  in  1825,  and  enjoyed  their  sixty-flrst  marriage  anniversary.  Their 
children  were  Deborah,  Ahimaaz,  Luoinda,  Mary  A.,  Sarah,  Ruth,  Mercy,  RoUand,  Arthur  W. 
and  Asa,  jr.     They  settled  in  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1848. 

Mattern,  B.  F.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1842  and  was 
a  son  Jacob  and  Mariah  (Goodman)  Mattern  of  Pennsylvania,  who  were  married  in  Seneca 
county  in  1838  and  with  a  family  of  five  children  settled  in  Gorham  in  1846.  Maria  died  in 
1885  and  her  husband,  Jacob,  in  1862.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  four  of  whom  are 
now  hving :  B.  F.,  J.  P.,  Margaret  J.,  John  E.  Jacob  enhsted  in  Company  K,  38th  Ohio  Reg7 
iment,  in  August,  1861,  under  Colonel  Bradley  and  was  discharged  on  account  of  disability  and 
died  at  his  home  in  May,  1862.  His  two  .sons,  B.  F.  and  J.  P.  enlisted  in  the  same  company 
and  regiment.  J.  P.  was  discharged  in  1863  on  account  of  disability  and  B.  F.  was  discharged 
at  Cleveland,  July  2,  1865,  and  now  receives  a  pension.  Jacob  married  the  second  time  and  at 
his  death  left  a  widow,  and  two  children  by  the  last  marriage.  He  was  engaged  in  the  carriage 
and  wagon  manufacture  and  was  deputy  sheriff  of  the  county  and  active  in  all  town  affairs.  He 
was  married  in  1866  to  Santha  8.  Ely,  of  Wilhams  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  two- 
children,  A.  W.  and  Julia  A.  In  1866  he  became  engaged  in  farming  and  in  1876  became  en- 
gaged in  the  lumber,  steam-sawing  and  planing-mill  business.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he 
was  thrown  on  his  own  resources  and  when  seventeen  years  of  age  became  a  teacher  and  taught 
in  Williams  county. 

Mauk,  Jacob  M.,  Freedom,  Ridgeville  p.  o.,  is  a  general  farmer  and  was  born  in  Lancaster 
county.  Pa.,  in  1848.  He  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  but  has  now  retired  from 
active  business  life.  He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Susan  (Metzgar)  Mauk,  of  Pennsylvania.  They 
settled  in  Napoleon  county,  0.,  in  1 874  and  had  a  family  of  nine  children.  One  son,  George,, 
enlisted  and  served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebelhon.  Jacob  M.  Mauk  settled  in  Henry  county  in 
September,  1866,  and  purchased  his  present  farm  in  1867,  which  he  has  entirely  cleared  of  trees- 
and  stumps  and  debt,  and  on  which  he  has  erected  new  and  comfortable  buildings.  He  was 
married  in  1869  to  Susan  Harmon.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three  children:  Nora,  Harry 
and  Charles.     Susan  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Rosanna  Harmon. 

Meeker,  William  A.,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Butler  county,  0.,  in  1831,  and  was  a  son.  of 
Chalon  and  Mary  (Ammons)  Meeker.  Chalon  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey.  The  parents  died 
in  Ottawa  county,  0.  Two  sons  are  now  living:  William  A.  and  Thomas  J.,  also  five  daugh- 
ters. One  son,  George  W.,  enlisted  in  Company  I,  26th  Illinois  Regiment  and  was  killed  at  the- 
battle  of  Chattanooga,  November  25,  1863.  William  A.  was  married  January  25,  1870,  to  Eliza 
J.  Gunn.  They  had  a  family  of  three  sons,  two  of  whom  died  at  an  early  age,  only  one  now 
living,  Lawson  A.,  born  February,  1874.  Mr.  Meeker  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1873  and  pur- 
chased his  homestead  of  152  acres,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the  stock  raising  business,  His  wifq 
was  a  daughter  of  Elliot  H.  and  Elizabeth  (Cover)  Gunn,  who  were  married  in  1845  and  had  a. 
family  of  five  sons  and  four  daughters.     Elliott  was  a  son  of  Squire  Charles  and  Elizabeth  (Mat- 


Brief  Personals.  685 


thews)  Gunn,  who  settled  in  Henry  county  about  3814.  Charles  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of 
1812-14.  He  was  married  in  Cleveland  in  1812  and  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  many  years. 
Merrill,  James  B.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  general  furniture  dealer  was  born  in  Fulton, 
in  1857  and  was  a  son  of  Ozias  and  Jane  (Vaughn)  Merrill.  Jane  was  born  in  Holmes  county  and 
Ozias  was  a  native  of  Maine.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four  children :  Horace,  James  E., 
Frank  and  Minnie.  Ozias  came  to  Fulton  county,  0.,  with  his  parents  io  1838.  His  father  was 
Levy  Merrill.  James  B.  Merrill  was  married  in  1878  to  Florence  N.  Arnold.  They  have  had 
two  children,  Ralph  and  Harry.  James  E.  Merrill  settled  in  Wauseon  in  1884  and  became  en- 
gaged in  furniture  business. 

Meyer,  Charles,  Flat  Rook.  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Wurtumburg,  Germany,  in  1831  and 
was  a  son  of  George  and  Christina  Meyers.  Charles  emigrated  to  America  in  1852  and  spent 
three  years  in  sight  seeing,  and  in  1856  settled  in  Napoleon  and  became  engaged  in  the  general 
blacksmith  business,  which  trade  he  had  learned  in  Germany.  He  was  married  in  1857  to  Mag- 
dalena  Bart,  who  was  born  in  Hesse  Darmstadt,  Germany.  They  have  had  a  family  of  eight 
children:  Henry,  Frank,  Letitia,  Rosa,  John,  Charles,  William  and  Lizzie.  George  and  Chris- 
tina had  a  family  of  three  children.  Charles  and  his  sister,  Rosa,  came  to  America.  Rosa  mar- 
ried Matthew  Reising.  Henry  now  resides  in  Germany.  Henry  enlisted  in  September,  1861, 
in  the  regimental  band  of  the  14th  Ohio,  under  Colonel  Steadman  and  was  discharged  in  1862. 
He  purchased  his  present  homestead  in  1873.  It  consists  of  160  acres,  125  of  which  he  has 
cleared  and  has  well  tilled,  and  in  1886  erected  his  present  fine  dwelling. 

Meyer,  Henry,  Freedom,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1861,  and  at  present  an  ex- 
tensive farmer  of  his  town,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  in  1838  and  came  to  America  in  1859 
at  which  time  he  settled  in  Henry  county.  He  enlisted  in  Company  C,  24th  Ohio  Regiment  in 
1861,  and  that  same  year  re-enlisted  in  Company  P,  18th  Ohio  Regiment,  and  was  discharged 
October  9,  1865,  at  Columbus,  Ohio.  He  was  married  in  1866  to  Eliza  Meyer,  who  was  born 
in  Hanover,  Germany,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Dietrich  and  Mary  (Longnieyer)  Meyer.  Henry 
and  Eliza  have  had  a  family  of  nine  children :  Minnie,  Mary,  Harmon,  Ella,  Charles,  Anna,  Hen- 
ry, Jr.,  Caroline  and  Christopher.  Henry  was  a  son  of  Detrich  and  Dora  (Otto)  Meyer,  who 
had  a  family  of  nine  children.  The  father  died  in  Germany  and  the  mother  came  to  Henry 
county,  0.,  in  1865  with  five  children,  where  she  died  in  1871.  Henry  purchased  his  homestead 
farm  of  80  acres  in  1864,  paying  therefor  |600.  His  farm  is  now  under  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion. 

Myers,  Henry  F.,  Ridgeville  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Crawford  'county  in  1865  and  was  a  son  of 
Jacob  and  Levina  (Shupp")  Myers,  of  Crawford  county.  Settled  in  Henry  county  in  1869. 
They  had  ten  children:  Henry  P.  Sem,  Daniel,  Elizabeth,  Jacob,  Cora,  Otto,  Catharine,  Edward 
and  Leo. 

Meyers,  John  G.,  Damascus,  McClure  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Wurtumburg,  Germany,  June  10,  1830 
and  was  a  son  of  GotUeb  and  Barbara  (Goodyear)  Meyers,  who  were  married  in  Germany  and 
with  a  family  of  four  children  emigrated  to  America  in  1838  and  settled  in  Lancaster  county. 
In  1843  they  settled  in  Fairfield  county  and  in  1849  came  to  Damascus,  0.  They  had  seven 
children  in  all:  Charles,  John  G.,  Christina,  Louisa,  Jacob,  August  and  Mary.  August  enlisted 
in  Company  B,  100th  Ohio  Regiment,  August  3,  1862,  was  taken  prisoner  and  died  in  Libby 
prison,  having  been  starved  by  the  rebels.  Gotlieb  was  born  April  5,  1799  and  died  March  29, 
1884-  his  wife,  Barbara,  was  born  in  1801.  John  G.  purchased  his  homestead  of  80  acres  in 
1859  at  a  cost  of  $700.  He  was  married  April  6,  1869,  to  Sarah  Beaver,  of  Fairfield  county 
where  she  was  born  in  1840.  They  have  had  three  sons :  William  Henry,  George  Ngwton  and 
Franklin  Edward.  Sarah  was  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Catharine  (Macklin)  Beaver,  who  were 
eariy  settlers  in  Fairfield'  county  and  came  to  Damascus  in  1846  where  they  died.  They  had 
eight  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living :  Sarah,  Elizabeth  and  Mary. 

Meyerholtz,  Hermann  A.,  Napoleon,  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the  county,  was  born 
in  Hanover  in  1835,  and  was  a  son  of  Dedrick  and  Christina  (Drier)  Meyerholtz,  of  Hanovor. 
His  parents  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1848.  The  father  died  in  1864  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years. 
His  mother  is  still  living.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children  only  two  of  whom  are  now  living : 
Hermann  and  Henry  F.  Hermann  was  married  in  April,  1864,  to  Louisa  Schultzer,  who  was 
born  in  Germany.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children,  two  whom  are  now  living  :  Joseph 
A.  and  John  F.  Mr.  Meyerholtz  has  held  most  of  the  township  offices  of  Ridgeville.  He  settled 
in  Napoleon  in  1866  and  has  held  the  treasurership  for  many  years,  has  been  trustee  of  "Napoleon 
township,  was  one  of  the  leadingl  councilmen  in  1883-4,  and  was  one  of  the  first  inBrmary  di- 
rectors of  Henry  county.  In  1866  Meyerholtz  Bros,  became  engaged  in  the  grocery  and  gen- 
eral provision  business,  and  in  1868  began  the  manufacture  of  tile,  which  is  now  one  of  the  most 
important  enterprises  in  the  county.  They  now  employ  about  twenty-five  hands  in  their  brick 
and  tile  factory. 


686  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Meyerholtz,  Henry  P.,  Napoleon,  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Meyerholtz  Brothers,  was  bom 
in  the  kingdom  of  Hanover,  Germany,  in  1844  and  was  a  son  of  Dedrick  and  Christina  (Drier) 
Meyerholtz,  who  settled  in  Henry  county  with  a  family  of  three  sons,  in  1848,  two  of  whom 
are  now  living,  Hermann  A.  and  Henry  F.  Henry  F.  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1866  and  was 
married  in  1868  to  Mary  G-ilson,  a  daughter  of  Hugh  Grilson,  who  was  an  early  settler  in  Na- 
poleon. They  have  had  two  sons,  Albert  D.  and  Willie  ¥.,  and  one  adopted  daughter,  Mary  E. 
Henry  F.  enlisted  October  28,  1861,  in  the  68th  Regiment,  0.  V.  I.,  and  served  until  January  22, 
1863  ;  re-enlisted  February  8,  1865  and  was  discharged  May  14,  1865,  at  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  is  now  engaged  in  the  grocery  business  and  the  manufacture  of  tile  and  brick  in  connection 
with  his  brother,  Hermann  A. 

Miley,  Dr.  L.  E.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  physician  and  surgeon,  was  born  in  Clinton  in 
1852,  and  was  a  son  of  George  and  Letetia  (Wells)  Miley.  George  was  born  in  Lancaster 
county.  Pa.,  and  his  wife  in  Muskingum  county,  0.  They  were  married  in  Holmes  county, 
0.,  and  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1843.  They  have  had  seven  children  —  Jesse  W.,  Ben- 
jamin F.,  William  B.,  L.  B.,  Enos,  George  H.  and  Laura  R.  The  three  first  enUsted  and  served 
in  the  late  war.  Laura  E.  married  D.  A.  Boyers.  Dr.  L.  E.  Miley  was  married  February  29, 
1884,  to  Ella  F.  Deyo,  a  daughter  of  Hon.  Alfred  Deyo.  Dr.  L.  E.  attended  the  Wauseon  High 
School ;  was  graduated  from  the  Bryon  Normal  and  Business  College,  where  he  afterwards 
taught  for  eight  years.  He  read  medicine  and  was  ^graduated  from  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan in  1881.  He  settled  in  Louisville,  but  owing  to  ill-health  returned  to  Wauseon,  his  native 
county,  and  settled  in  this  township  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  that  of  physician  and 
surgeon. 

Miller,  Benjamin,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,was  born  in  Hancock  county,  W.  V.,  in  1825,  and 
was  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  Miller,  who  were  born  and  died  in  West  Virginia.  John  spent 
his  life  on  the  farm  on  which  he  was  born.  He  died  in  1875,  at  the  age  of  ninety  years. 
They  had  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  three  of  whom  are  now  living — David,  Alexander  and 
Benjamin.  Benjamin  settled  in  Evansport,  Defiance  county,  C,  and  became  engaged  in  the 
cabinet  business  in  1846.  He  was  married  that  same  year  to  Isabel  Christy,  who  died  July 
3,  1875,  leaving  one  daughter — Florence.  He  married  his  second  wife,  Anna  Fleet,  a  daughter 
of  Albert  S.  and  Sophia  Fleet,  of  Wauseon.  They  were  married  in  1876,  and  have  had  a  family 
of  three  children— Earl  F.,  Albert  Rutherford  and  Mary  S.  Mr.  Miller  settled  in  Fulton  county 
in  1863  and  became  engaged  in  contract  building  in  1864,  and  in  1872  went  into  the  furniture 
business.  He  enlisted  and  raised  a-  company  in  August,  1861,  in  Company  D,  38th  Ohio,  re- 
ceived his  commission  as  captain  and  served  for  two  years,  resigned  at  the  end  of  his  term  of 
service  on  account  of  ill-health  He  now  receives  a  pension.  He  has  been  councilman  of  the 
town  for  four  years. 

Miller,  Clinton  S.,  Napoleon,  owner  and  proprietor  of  the  Napoleon  Gravel  Bed,  was  born 
in  Seneca  county,  0.,  1857,  and  was  a  son  of  Henry  P.  and  Elizabeth  A.  (Ford)  Miller,  who 
were  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  and  had  a  family  of  three  children — Laura,  Ira  Belle  and  Clin- 
ton S.  Clinton  S.  was  married  in  1877  to  Minnie  Altman,  of  Seneca  county.  They  have  had 
a  family  of  three  children — Bert  E.,  Aleta  and  John  Du  Bois.  Mr.  Miller  settled  in  Napoleon  in 
1886,  at  which  time  he  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  fifty-five  acres  and  built  his  present 
dwelling  and  out  buildings.  The  old  buildings  on  his  farm  were  used  as  barracks  during  the 
late  war,  and  later  was  the  home  of  JEev.  L.  F.  Ames.  Mr.  Miller  discovered  and  opened  a 
most  valuable  gravel  bed,  which  is  now  being  used  on  the  pikes,  and  for  many  miles  distant  in 
his  county. 

Miller,  Conrad,  Napoleon,  superintendent  of  the  county  infirmary,  was  born  in  Baden,  Ger- 
many, May  25,  1842,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  with  his  parents  in  June,  1854.  He  was  a 
son  of  Lorenz  and  Geneieve  Miller,  who  with  a  family  of  six  children— Christiana,  Conrad,  Flor- 
rie,  John,  Veronica  and  Joseph,  settled  in  Henry  county.  Conrad  was  elected  supervisor  two 
terms,  township  trustee  for  five  years,  and  director  of  infirmary  since  April,  1882,  when  he  was 
appointed  superintendent  of  that  institution.  He  was  married  January  2(3,  1880,  to  Margaret 
Carroll,  of  Lucas  county.     They  have  had  two  children. 

Miller,  John,  Napoleon,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  a  general  carriage  and  wagon  manufacturer,  was 
born  in  Baden,  Germany,  in  1848,  and  settled  in  Napoleon,  Henry  county,  in  1854,  with  his 
parents,  Lawrence  and  Geneva  B.  Miller.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children.  John  learned 
the  carriage  trade  and  became  established  in  business  in  1870.  He  was  married  in  1880  to 
Amelia  Hann.  They  have  had  one  daughter — Geneva.  His  factory  is  located  on  Perry  street, 
near  the  canal  bridge.  He  now  manufactures  carriages,  wagons,  sleighs  and  cutters,  and  in 
connection  with  this  carries  on  a  general  smithing  business. 

Minich,  Catharine  A..  Prankhn,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Eoss  county  in  1818,  and  was  a 
•daughter  of  John  and  CaroUne  Downing.  Catharine  was  married  in  1839  to  Peter  Minich,  and 
settled  in  Franklin  township  that  same  year.     They  had  a  family  of  one  son  and  three  daugh- 


Brief  Personals.  687 


tera — John  L.,  Emily  C,  Louisa  E.  and  Lodema  A.  Peter  died  in  December,  1881.  He  was 
born  in  Northampton  county,  Pa.,  in  1806,  and  was  a  successful  and  leading  farmer.  He  ac- 
cumulated a  fine  property.  His  parents  were  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Minioh,  who  died  in 
Luzerne  county,  Pa.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children.  Three  sons  settled  in  Fulton 
county — Peter,  Anthony  and  John.  Five  of  the  children  are  now  living— Julia,  Anthony, 
Daniel,  John  and  David.  Catharine  was  a  daughter  of  John  and  Caroline  Downing,  who  were 
married  in  Chillicothe,  in  1807.  He  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  his  wife  in  Lexington,  Ky.  He 
died  in  1847,  and  his  wife  in  1869.  They  had  a  family  of  fourteen  children,  three  of  whom  are 
now  living — John,  Catharine  A.  and  Lemuel.  The  parents  died  in  Seneca  county,  0.,  where 
they  settled  in  1824.  John  served  in  the  "War  of  1812,  and  his  widow  received  a  large  land 
warrant  of  160  acres.  Emily  C.  married  Levi  McConkey  ;  Louisa  married  Daniel  Clingerman, 
and  Lodema  A.  married  L.  Carter. 

Minich,  John,  Franklin.  Tedrow  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Luzerne  county.  Pa.,  April  28,  1816,  and 
was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Ehzabeth  Minich,  who  died  in  Luzerne  county.  They  had  a  family  of 
nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living — Julia,  Anthony,  Daniel,  John  and  David.  John 
first  came  to  Franklin  in  1844,  and  in  1854  returned  and  purchased  his  farm  of  eighty  acres, 
for  which  he  paid  $3100.  He  now  has  a  homestead  of  120  acres.  He  was  married  in  1861  to 
JuUa  Ann  Ritterhouse,  who  was  born  in  Morrel  county,  in  1833.  They  have  had  two  children 
—Ella,  born  October  25,  1861,  and  Emma,  born  June  14,  1867.  Ella  married  WiUiam  Garrett. 
Three  of  Mr.  Minich's  brothers  settled  in  Fulton  county — Peter,  Anthony  and  John. 

Mohler,  Frank  P.,  Washington,  Liberty  p.  o.,  was  born  in  "Washington  in  1853,  and  was  a 
son  of  David  and  Mariak  (Schriver)  Mohler,  David  of  Perry  county.  0.,  Mariak  of  Maryland. 
They  were  married  in  Henry  county,  and  had  a  family  of  six  sons.  David  died  April  7,  1886, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years,  having  been  born  in  1821.  He  was  one  of  the  representative 
men  of  his  town.  His  sons  are  Samuel  "W.,  Frank  P.,  John  S.,  Jacob  "W.,  James  P.  and  David 
C.  Frank  P.  was  married  in  1875  to  Caroline  E.  Kessler  of  Sandusky  county.  They  have  had 
one  son.  Earl,  who  was  born  in  1878.  Frank  P.  Mohler  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  forty 
acres  of' timber  land  in  1875,  it  is  now  well  improved  and  tiled.  He  has  added  forty  more 
acres  of  well  improved  land  to  the  first  forty,  having  in  all  about  eighty  acres. 

Morris  Gr.  "W.,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  proprietor  of  the  Excelsior  House,  was  born  in  Adams 
county.  Pa.,  October  4,  1829,  and  was  married  in  1846  to  Elizabeth  Bryan,  of  Ohio.  They 
have  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living— Albert  R.,  Nancy  L. 
(deceased),  Anna  I.,  Charles  R.,  Marv  Inez,  Flora  J.,  John  C.  and  Maud  S. 

Morrison,  John  H.,  Liberty,  Liberty  p.  o.,  a  general  farmer  of  Liberty  county,  0.,  was  born 
in  Chester  county.  Pa.,  in  1833,  and  came  to  Liberty  in  1853,  and  in  1855  settled  in  Seneca 
county  where  he  became  engaged  in  farming.  He  was  drafted  and  furnished  a  substitute, 
giving  'him  $300.  He  served  three  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  was  honorably  dis- 
charged John  H.  was  married  in  Seneca  county  August  21,  1864,  to  Ann  M.  Gnnder,  of 
Seneca  county.  They  have  had  four  children,  two  of  whom  died  at  an  early  age.  The  two 
now  living  are  Lottie  and  George.  Lottie  married  A.  B.  Long,  of  "Wood  county,  m  1887.  John 
H  returned  to  Henry  county  in  1804  and  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  forty  acres  m 
1863  He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Chariotte  Morrison,  who  were  born  and  married  m  Chester 
county,  Pa.  They  settled  in  Seneca  county,  0.,  in  1837,  where  they  died,  leaving  a  family  of 
seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  Uving— Rachel  Ann,  Sarah  Ann,  John  H.,  Josiah  W.  and 
James  A. 

Mowerv  John  F  Harrison,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Pickaway  county,  0.,  in  1841,  and 
was  married  in  May,  1861,  to  Emeline  Binkley,  of  Allen  county.  They  have  had  afamily  of 
eight  children— Lizzie,  Eli,  Albert,  Emma,  Milton,  Walter,  Hariey  and  Orhe  Bmeline  was  a 
daughter  of  Emanuel  and  Elizabeth  Binkley.  John  F.  settled  on  his  present  farm  and  erected 
his  present  brick  dweUing  in  1880.  His  homestead  farm  comprises  eighty  acres,  and  he  also 
owns  in  addition  the  farm  adjoming,  which  consists  of  sixty  eight  fcres.  He  was  a  son  of 
Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Gensel)  Mowery.  Samuel  died  m  Allen  county  m  1859.  They  had  a 
family  of  eight  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living— John  F  Jacob,  Leanna,  Heriry  and 
Samuel  J.  F.  and  William  settled  in  Henry  county.  The  grandfather,  Jacob,  and  his  wife, 
Catharine  Stepleton,  who  were  married  in  September,  1816  settled  in  Ohio  at  an  early  day. 
Jacob  was  from  Berks  county,  Pa.,  and  was  born  in  1792.  He  died  m  1866.  They  settled  m 
Pickaway  county,  0.,  in  1805,  and  had  a  family  of  seventeen  children. 

Munn  Dr  H  B.,  Washington,  Colton  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Hamden,  Conn.,  in  1849,  and  was 
a  son  of  Dr  S  B  Munn,  now  a  resident  of  Waterbury,  Conn.  Dr.  H.  E.  Munn  read  medicine 
with  his  father  and  was  graduated  from  the  Electic  Medical  College  of  New  York  city  m  1873, 
and  settled  in  Naugatuck,  Conn.,  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  that  of  surgery  and  medicine. 
He  came  to  Williams  county,  O.,  in  1876,  and  in  1882  settled  in  Colton,  Henry  county,  where 
he  now  has  a  general  prescription  business  as  well  as  his  profession.     He  was  graduated  from 


688  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

the  Toledo  Medical  College  in  1884,  and  is  now  a  professor  of  histology  and  pathology  in  the 
Toledo  Medical  College.  He  was  elected  town  clerk  in  1886.  He  was  married  in  1877  to 
EUezan  D.  Fried,  of  Bridgewater,  Williams  county. 

Murphy,  Linne  M.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  attorney  and  counsellor  at  Wauseon,  was  born 
in  Belmont  county,  0.,  in  1849.  His  father  was  Dr.  Joseph  L.  Murphy,  a  physician  much 
esteemed  for  his  learning  and  kindness  of  heart.  His  mother  is  a  member  of  the  MoCuUough- 
Harris  family,  celebrated  in  the  pioneer  history  of  eastern  Ohio  and  Virginia  as  reckless  and 
courageous  Indian  fighters  farther  west.  Major  William  MoCuUough  of  the  same  family  was 
slain  by  the  Indians  on  the  Bcourse  River  in  Michigan  in  1811,  and  James,  his  younger  brother, 
was  shot  dead  at  the  siege  of  Fort  Meigs.  Pursued  by  a  band  of  Indians  bent  on  captur- 
ing him,  Colonel  John  McCuUough,  on  horseback,  leaped  from  the  summit  of  a  cliff  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  high,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Ohio  River,  into  the  stream  below,  and 
escaped  unharmed.  He  was  the  great-grandfather  of  L.  M.  Murphy.  Several  members  of 
the  family  went  to  Tennessee  and  were  prominent  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  in  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion,  on  the  Confederate  side,  most  notably  General  Ben  McCuUough,  who  was  killed  at 
the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge.  Frank  B.  Loomis,  the  widely  known  special  correspondent  of  the 
Cincinnati  Oommeircial  Gazette,  has  recently  revived  a  tradition  in  a  series  of  articles  on  the 
early  history  of  eastern  Ohio,  published  in  that  journal,  that  James  McCuUough,  the  progenitor 
of  the  Virginia  McCulloughs,  married  the  daughter  of  Cornplanter,  an  Indian  chief,  and  that 
therefore  his  descendants  named  above  have  a  trace  of  Indian  blood  in  their  veins.  This  prob- 
ably is  mere  romance.  L.  M.  Murphy  received  an  excellent  scholastic  training,  and  taught 
school  for  six  years.  In  1876  he  began  the  study  of  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1879.  In  1880  he  settled  in  Wauseon  and  began  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  ap- 
pointed mayor  of  Wauseon,  serving  a  part  of  a  term,  and  was  twice  elected  to  that  office. 
In  1877  he  was  married  to  Martha  I.  Adrian,  of  Knox  county.  They  have  a  family  of  three 
chUdren  —  Maude,  Edith  and  Robert.  Mr.  Murphy  served  about  nine  months  in  the  Union 
army  during  the  rebellion,  in  an  Infantry  Regiment,  and  was  mustered  out  at  the  close  of  the 
war  at  Washington  city,  being  then  sixteen  years  old. 

Naugle,  DeWitt  B.,  Liberty,  Napoleon  p,  o.,  was  born  in  Lancaster  county  in  1851,  and  was 
a  son  of  Phillip  and  Margaret  (Dodson)  Naugle,  who  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  married  in 
Seneca  county,  0.,  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1849.  Philip  was  a  prominent  teacher,  and 
followed  that  profession  until  he  was  drafted  in  1862,  a  call  to  which  he  responded,  and  served 
in  the  38th  Ohio  Regiment ;  died  in  February,  1863,  at  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee,  Hospital,  leav- 
ing a  widow  and  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living  :  Olive  B.,  DeWitt  B.,  Elwood  D., 
and  Melissa  H.  DeWitt  B.  married  Anna  Kepler  in  1883.  They  have  had  two  children,  Daniel 
Philip  and  ISTellie  May.  DeWitt  B.  fitted  himself  for,  and  taught  school  for  several  terms.  He 
is  now  engaged  in  farming,  and  occupies  the  old  homestead  which  was  purchased  by  his  father 
in  1847. 

Oberhause,  Casper,  Napoleon,  a  resident  of  Napoleon  township,  was  born  in  Prussia,  Sep- 
tember 9,  1813,  and  was  married  in  1841  to  Mary  Q-unner,  who  was  born  in  Prussia.  They  came 
to  America  in  1844,  and  settled  in  Wood  county,  0.,  where  Mary  died  in  1845,  leaving  two  sons, 
one  of  whom  is  now  living,  Fred.  Casper  then  married  for  his  second  wife,  Mary  Hunderbrinker, 
who  was  born  in  Hanover,  G-ermany.  They  were  married  in  1847.  They  had  one  son,  Prans, 
and  three  daughters,  Sophia,  Caroline,  and  Louise.  Casper  settled  in  Napoleon  township  in 
1848,  and  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  eighty  acres  of  timber  land,  for  which  he  paid  one 
doUar  and  a  half  cent  per  acre.  He  now  owns  a  farm  of  150  acres  of  sections  three  and  four.  He 
erected  his  fine  brick  building,  two  story  residence,  in  1884.  Frans  was  married  in  1882  to 
Mary  Cordes,  of  Hanover.     They  have  one  daughter,  Anna,  born  in  1883. 

Overmier,  Rowland  C,  Washington,  Colton  p.  o.,  is  a  farmer.  He  settled  in  Henry  county 
with  his  parents,  in  1863.  Joel  and  Julia  Ann  (Geeseman)  Overmier,  were  his  parents.  Julia 
was  born  in  Perry  county,  in  1826,  and  her  husband  ip  the  same  county,  in  1822.  They  were 
married  in  Henry  county,  in  1845.  They  have  six  chUdren  living :  Rowland  C,  Wilbert  C,  Le- 
roy  E.,  Sarah  E.,  Bdvina  S.,  and  Edwin  F.  Three  of  the  children  died  at  an  early  age.  Joel 
was  a  son  of  George  and  Catharine  (Hoffman)  Overmier.  Catharine  was  born  in  Virginia,  in 
1784,  and  her  husband,  George,  was  born  September  24,  1784.  They  were  married  in  Perry 
county,  0.,  and  died  in  Sandusky  county.  George  served  in  the  War  of  1812.  He  was  asso- 
ciate judge  for  seven  years;  a  justice  for  many  years,  and  an  influential  citizen.  He  was  a  son 
of  Peter  and  Eve  (Hennick)  Overmier,  and  Peter  was  a  son  of  George  Overmier,  who  emigrated 
from  Baden,  Germany,  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1751.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
Pennsylvania.     Rowland  C,  is  of  the  fifth  generation. 

Parker,  Alfred,  Liberty,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Pembrook,  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  in 
1820,  and  was  a  son  of  Orrin  and  Abigail  (Harris)  Parker.  Orrin  was  born  in  Rutland,  Vt.,  and 
his  wife  in  Washington  county,  N.  T.     They  were  married  and  settled  in  Genesee  county,  N. 


Brief  Personals.  689 


T.,  in  1833,  and  settled  in  Napoleon,  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1837,  where  Orrin  died.  His  wife, 
Abigail,  died  in  Liberty.  They  had  a  family  of  four  children:  Joseph  H.,  Alfred,  Thurston  K., 
and  Orrin,  jr.  Alfred  was  married  in  April,  V8i0,  to  Nancy  Mann,  who  died  in  January,  1842. 
His  second  wife  was  Corlestia  Herkimer,  who  was  born  in  Herkimer  county,  in  1821,  and  mar- 
ried in  November,  1842.  They  had  two  children,  only  one  of  whom  is  now  living,  Imogene, 
who  married  Albert  FoUet,  and  has  had  five  children :  Cora,  Charles,  Russell,  Alta,  and  Lula 
B.  Follet.  Oorlesta  was  a  granddaughter  of  General  Herkimer,  of  Revolutionary  fame,  and  was 
a  daughter  of  Nicholas  and  Nancy  (Cupnell)  Herkimer.  Nicholas  died  in  Canada,  and  his  wife 
settled  in  East  Toledo,  where  she  died.  Alfred  Parker  was  drafted  in  1862,  furnished  a  substi- 
tute who  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  was  discharged. 

Parry,  Dr.  George  W.,  Plat  Rock,  Florida  p.  c,  physician  and  surgeon,  and  one  of  the  ex- 
tensive farmers,  and  blooded  stock  growers  of  the  county,  was  born  in  Florida,  Henry  county, 
February  22,  1851,  and  was  a  son  of  Dr.  Gibbons  and  Deborah  B.  (Way)  Parry,  of  Chester 
county.  Pa.,  who  settled  in  Defiance  county,  0.,  in  1840,  and  in  Henry  county  in  1850,  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  He  became  an  extensive  farmer  and  blooded  stock  grower,  and  one 
of  the  prominent  men  of  the  county.  His  wife  died  April  29,  1871.  They  had  a  family  of  six- 
teen children,  only  one  is  now  living,  Dr.  George  W.  George  W.  was  married  in  1881,  to 
Flora  B.  Halter.  They  have  had  two  children,  Carl  E.  and  James  W.  Dr.  G.  W.  was  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  Jeiferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia,  in  1875.  He  retired  from  practice  in  1884, 
and  settled  on  his  farm  of  385  acres,  and  now  devotes  his  time  and  attention  to  this  enterprise. 

Patterson,  Andrew,  Marion,  Hamler  p.  o.,  of  Marion  township,  was  born  in  Perry  county, 
0.,  June  29,  1828,  and  removed  to  Seneca  county  when  a  child  with  his  parents,  where  he  re- 
ceived his  education.  From  1851  to  1869,  he  traveled  through  Michigan  and  Ohio,  and  finally 
settled  in  Henry  county,  where  he  purchased  his  farm  of  64  acres,  and  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. He  was  married  in  1849  to  Martha  J.  Litchfield,  of  Crawford  county.  They  have  had 
eight  children :  James  K.,  Emma  J.,  Delida  S.,  Sarah  R.,  Charles  F.,  Catharine,  John  H.,  and 
Ira  T.  Mr.  Patterson  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  of  the  township  in  1884,  and  still  holds 
that  office. 

Patterson,  Edwin  H.,  Dover,  Emery  p.  o.,  a  farmer,  and  a  pioneer  of  Dover,  settled  in  Ches- 
terfield with  his  parents  in  1838.  He  was  born  in  Allegheny  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1823,  and  was  a 
son  of  George  >W.  and  Emily  Hopkins  Patterson.  They  were  born  in  New  Hampshire,  and 
married  m  Allegheny  county,  where  Emily  died  in  1831.  G.  W.  married  his  second  wife,  Jane 
Carter.  Emily  left  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  living :  Edwin  H.,  and  Edward  W. 
They  all  settled  in  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1838,  where  George  W.  died  in  1869,  leaving  a  widow 
and  three  children.  Edwin  H.  attended  the  common  schools  when  an  opportunity  favored  him. 
He  was  reared  on  a  farm.  He  chose  farming  for  an  occupation,  and  in  1844  became  engaged  in 
that  pursuit.  In  1847  he  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  80  acres,  paying  therefor  $240. 
He  now  owns  a  farm  of  245  acres.  He  was  married  in  1860  to  Clara  Eldridge,  who  was  born 
in  Summit  county,  in  1835.  They  have  had  a  family  of  two  children :  Cora  E.  and  Willis  E. 
Clara  was  a  daughter  of  Harvey  Bldredge  and  Eunice  (Brown)  Eldredge,  who  settled  in  Ches- 
terfield, in  1862. 

Patterson,  William  jr.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Tuscarawas  county,  0.,  in  No- 
vember, 1821,  and  was  married  in  1845  to  Hannah  Robinett,  who  was  born  in  Wood  county. 
She  died  in  1847,  and  he  then  married  his  second  wife,  Susanna  Hay,  who  was  born  in  Wayne 
county,  0.,  in  1837.  They  were  married  in  October,  1854,  and  have  had  a  family  of  thirteen 
children,  twelve  of  whom  are  now  living  —  Permelia,  Clinton,  Mary,  Lorinda,  Lawrence,  Alice, 
Martha,  Jane,  Elias,  Ira,  George  and  Ross.  Susanna  was  a  daughter  of  Valentine  and  Chris- 
tiana Hay.  Valentine  settled  in  York  township  in  1849.  They  were  born  in  1800.  Chris- 
tiana died  in  York  township  in  July,  1886,  leaving  a  family  of  six  children,  one  daughter,  Sus- 
anna, and  five  sons.  William  Patterson  was  a  son  of  William  and  Catharine  (Snyder)  Patter- 
son. He  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  his  wife  in  Pennsylvania.  They  were  married  and 
died  in  Tuscarawas  county,  and  had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  six  of  wliom  are  now  living- 
John,  Adam,  William,  Aaron,  Edward  and  Elias.  William  settled  in  CUnton,  Fulton  county, 
coming  there  from  Wood  county  in  1846,  and  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  eighty  acres 
in  1858  for  which  he  paid  $700.  He  now  owns  159  acres.  Mr.  Patterson  has  contributed 
much  toward  the  clearing  and  improving  of  the  township,  and  now  has  a  pleasant  homestead. 

Patrick,  George,  Liberty,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  a  prominent  and  extensive  farmer  of  Henry 
county,  was  born  in  this  same  county  September  6,  1834,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Esther 
(Teft)  Patrick.  Esther  was  born  in  Rhode  Island  January  11,  1800,  and  was  a  daughter  of 
George  and  Dorcas  Teft.  John  was  born  in  Columbia  county,  N.  Y.,  October  23,  1795,  and 
was  a  son  of  Ralph  and  Mary  Patrick.  John  and  Esther  were  married  in  Oneida  county,  N. 
Y.,  September  13,  1821.  They  had  a  family  of  eleven  children— Sarah,  Kenneth,  Ralph,  Mary 
B.'  Asenath  Jane,  George,  Hester,  Almira,  Mahala  and  an  infant  daughter.  John  Patrick  set- 
87 


690  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

tied  in  what  is  now  Liberty  township,  November  2,  1826,  on  the  banks  of  the  Maumee,  and 
became  a  tavern  keeper,  and  afterwards  a  large  land  owner.  He  died  December  13,  1863,  and 
his  wife,  Esther,  January  1,  1879.  Four  of  their  children  are  now  living.  They  are  Mary  E., 
born  1827;  Jane,  born  1831 ;  G-eorge,  born  1834,  and  Hester,  born  1837.  G-eorge  Patrick  now 
owns  and  occupies  the  old  homestead  which  was  purchased  on  settlement  by  his  parents.  He 
has  chosen  farming  as  his  occupation  for  life,  and  has  never  taken  to  himself  a  partner. 

Pennock,  Bdmond,  Liberty,  was  born  in  Panama,  Chautauqua  county,  N.  T.,  in  1835,  and 
was  married  in  1860  to  Amanda  Jones,  who  died  in  the  same  year.  He  was  married  in  1861 
to  Elmira  L.  Merritt,  who  died  in  1873,  leaving  one  daughter,  Julia  C.  He  then  married  his 
third  wife,  Esther  Jones,  in  1875.  They  had  one  son,  George  W.  Mr.  Pennock  settled  in 
Liberty  in  1863,  and  became  engaged  in  buying  and  selling  large  quantities  of  produce,  and  has 
also  been  engaged  in  the  milling  business.  He  was  elected  justice  in  1864,  and  has  held  other 
minor  offices  smce.  He  was  postmaster  under  President  James  Buchanan,  in  Wood  county, 
and  was  appointed  postmaster  in  June,  1885,  of  Liberty.  He  was  a  son  of  Benjamin  W.  and 
Christina  A.  (Lane)  Pennock.  B.  W.  was  born  in  Rutland,  Vt.,  in  1811,  and  his  wife  in  New 
York  State,  where  they  were  married  in  1834,Jand  settled  in  Chautauqua  county,  N.  T.,  and  in 
1855  came  to  Wood  county,  O.,  and  in  1863  settled  in  Henry  county,  where  Christina  died  in 
1875.  B.  W.  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  many  years,  and  resigned  that  office  in  1878  on 
account  of  poor  health.     He  had  a  family  of  two  sons  and  six  daughters. 

Perry,  E.  S..  G-orham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  general  hardware  merchant  of  Fayette,  and  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Perry  &  Allen,  which  was  formed  in  1881,  and  which  is  now  the  only  hardwai-e 
house  of  Grorham  township.  They  are  extensive  dealers  in  hardware,  stoves,  farm  implements, 
doors,  sash,  blinds,  and  paints,  oils,  glass,  etc.  Mr.  Perry  was  born  in  HoUey,  Orleans  county, 
N.  T.;  was  educated  at  the  academy,  and  in  1863  settled  in  Bloomington,  111.,  as  a  salesman, 
and  in  1878  settled  in  Fayette  as  manager  and  salesman  in  the  hardware  store,  and  in  1881  be- 
came a  partner  in  the  same  with  Arthur  Allen.  Mr.  Perry  was  married  in  1878  to  Delle  Wick- 
izer,  of  Bloomington,  111.  They  have  had  one  child,  Don  S.  Delle  was  a  daughter  of  J.  H.  and 
Mary  Wickizer.  Mr.  Perry  was  a  son  of  Horace  B.  and  Sarah  (Stewart)  Perry.  She  was  born 
in  Vermont,  and  was  a  sister  of  the  renowned  P.  P.  Stewart,  the  stove  manufacturer  of  Troy, 
N.  Y.  He  died  in  HoUey,  N.  Y.,  in  1861,  leaving  a  widow  and  three  children  —  Yirgil,  E.  S. 
and  Harriette  E. 

Pherson,  Dr.  Albert  M.,  Flat  Rock,  Florida  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Stark  county,  0.,  in  1847,  and 
was  a  son  of  Theophilus  Pherson,  A.  M.;  was  fitted  for  and  entered  the  university  at  Ann  Ar- 
bor, Mich.,  in  1871,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Miami  Medical  College  of  Cincinnati  in  1876. 
He  settled  in  Florida,  Henry  county,  in  that  same  year,  and  became  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession.  He  was  married  May  24,  1877,  to  Mary  E.  Moberly,  of  Shelby  county,  Ind. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  three  children — Adella  J.,  Albert  0.  and  Etta  Hester.  Albert  M. 
enlisted  on  January  30,  1865,  in  Company  C,  184th  Regiment ;  was  discharged  at  the  close  of 
the  war  at  Nashville.  His  parents  were  Theophilus  and  Eliza  (Tate)  Pherson.  They  had  a 
family  of  seven  children.  Two  sons,  Dr.  A.  M.  and  William  enlisted  in  1861,  and  served  to  the 
close  of  the  war.     The  parents  died  in  Stark  county. 

Pocock,  Jesse,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Tuscarawas  county,  0.,'in  1828,  and  was 
a  son  of  Eli  and  Catharine  (Kennestrick)  jPooock,  of  Maryland,  who  were  married  in  Ohio,  and 
settled  in  Tuscarawas  county  in  1819,  and  in  1842  came  to  Clinton  township,  Fulton  county, 
where  they  died.  She  in  1849,  and  her  husband,  Eli,  in  1865,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine  years. 
They  settled  on  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  26,  paying  therefor  ^3  per  acre.  They  had 
a  family  of  twelve  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living.  Three  of  the  sons  enlistee  and 
served  in  the  late  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Jesse  was  married  in  1849  to  Susanna  Robinett,  of 
Holmes  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  nine  children  —  Melissa  J.,  Isabella  A.,  Melinda 
E.,  Lydia  A.,  Ella  M.,  Cora  U.,  Mary  Ethel,  Abbie  and  Jesse  Franklin.  Mr.  Pocock  purchased 
his  present  homestead  farm  of  eighty  acres  in  1850,  paying  ^3  per  acre  for  the  tract.  His  wife, 
■Susan,  was  a  daughter  of  George  and  Hannah  Robinett,  who  settled  m  Holmes  county,  0. 
She  came  to  this,  Fulton  county,  in  1844. 

Polilmann,  Bros.  (C.  F.  &  H.  F.),  Napoleon,  stock  dealers  and  shippers  of  live  hogs,  sheep 
and  cattle,  also  proprietors  of  the  Pulton  Market.  They  were  born  in  Cuyahoga  county  and 
their  parents  were  Christian  and  Caroline  Pohlmann.  Christian  died  in  1884.  They  settled  in 
Henry  county  in  1879  and  became  engaged  in  the  stock  business  and  farming,  and  in  1881  came 
to  Napoleon,  and  opened  their  present  business. 

Poorman,  Barnard,  Liberty,  was  born  in  Perry  county,  0.,  in  1831,  and  was  a  son  of  Will- 
iam and  Nancy  Poorman,  who  died  in  Sandusky  county,  0.  They  had  a  family  of  seven 
sons,  six  of  whom  enlisted  and  served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  and  at  the  close  five  of 
them  returned.  They  were  Barnard,  John,  James,  William,  jr.,  Henry,  Joseph,  and  Thomas, 
who  died  in  Tennesee.     Barnard  enlisted  in  Company  K,  57th  Ohio,  in  1851,  and  re-enlisted 


Brief  Personals.  691 


in  1863  in  Company  I,  12th  G.  V.  C.  as  sergeant;  served  to  the  close  of  the  war;  was 
-wounded  ,  for  which  he  justly  receives  a  pension,  as  a  suffering  soldier's  reward.  He  was 
married  m  1851  to  Henrietta  Parrot.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  four  of  whom  are 
Uving— Emma,  Icy,  Nancy  and  Minnie. 

Powers,  Asel  A.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Chesterfield  in  1847,  and  was  a  son  of 
Peter  and  Julia  (Kennedy)  Powers.  Peter  was  born  in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  and  his  wife 
in  Massachusetts.  They  were  married  in  Chesterfield,  and  have  a  family  of  eight  children. 
Julia  was  a  daughter  of  Asel  and  Mary  Kennedy,  who  were  early  settlers  of  Chesterfield,  where 
Asel  died  m  1887,  aged  seventy-eight  years,  leaving  a  widow  and  seven  children.  Asel  A. 
Powers  purchased  his  farm  of  eighty  acres  in  Gorham  township  in  1871,  for  which  he  paid 
$800.  He  now  owns  240  acres  on  sections  23  and  24.  He  was  married  in  1873  to  Julia  Sut- 
ton, who  died  in  1874.  He  niarried  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Smith,  in  1875.  They  had 
five  children— Davis,  JuKa  Luella,  Villa  B„  Grade  May  and  Leola.  Elizabeth,  by  her  first  hus- 
band, had  two  daughters— Leonora  and  Mary  Almina.  Elizabeth  was  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  Smith,  who  were  born  in  Switzerland  and  emigrated  to  America.  They  were  married 
in  Columbiana  county,  0.,  in  1840,  and  have  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters  —  Jacob  P.,  Al- 
onzo,  Elizabeth  and  Mary.     They  settled  in  Gorham  in  1875. 

Powers,  Peter,  Chesterfield,  Morenci,  Mich.  p.  o.,  one  of  the  early  settlers  and  extensive 
farmers  of  Chesterfield,  was  born  in  Batavia,  F.  Y.,  in  1819,  and  was  a  son  of  Peter  and  Eurena 
(Clark)  Powers.  She  was  born  in  Elba,  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  and  Peter  was  born  in  Seneca 
county,  N.  Y.  He  died  in  1830  leaving  a  widow  and  five  children,  and  two  children  by  a 
former  marriage.  Eurena  emigrated  to  Barry  county,  Mich.,  with  her  five  children  in  1844, 
where  she  died  in  1851.  Peter,  jr.,  settled  in  Chesterfield,  0.,  1844,  and  purchased  first  forty 
acres,  for  which  he  paid  $200.  He  now  owns  440  acres,  and  has  280  under  cultivation.  He 
was  married  in  1845  to  Julia  D.  Kennedy,  who  was  born  in  Berkshire  county,  Mass.,  in 
1824,  and  have  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living — Asel  A.,  James 
A.,  Mary  U.,  John  F.,  Clark  C,  WiUie  L.,  Julia  E.,  Frank  B.  Julia  E.  was  married  to  Jacob  B. 
Brink,  Mary  U.,  married  Henry  Russell ;  Sarah  married  Byron,  who  died  leaving  one  son, 
George  B.  Brink;  one  son,  Henry,  enlisted  in  the  3d  Ohio  'Cavalry  September,  1862,  and 
died  in  Hillsdale  county.  Mich.,  in  1827. 

Price,  Isaac  D.,  Liberty,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Rockingham  county,  Va.,  in  1831, 
and  was  a  son  of  David  and  Catharine  (Hotner)  Price,  who  settled  in  Seneca,  county,  0.,  in  1849, 
where  they  resided  until  the  time  of  their  deaths.  They  had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  ten  of 
whom  are  now  living.  Isaac  D.  Price  was  brought  up  to  farming  and  chose  that  for  his  occu- 
pation through  life.  He  settled  in  Liberty  in  1860  and  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  100 
acres,  paying  therefor  $5  per  acre.  He  was  married  in  1860  to  Lydia  Ann  Hoover,  who  was 
born  in  1835.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three  children  :  John  W.,  Amy  and  Celestia  Catharine. 
Mrs.  Isaac  D.  Price  was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (Sockrider)  Hoover.  Mary  died  leav- 
ing a  family  of  eight  children.  Lydia  Ann  was  one  of  a  set  of  triplets..  Their  names  were  Sus- 
anna, Jacob  and  Lydia  Ann.  Susanna  died  at  the  age  of  eleven  years  and  Jacob  at  the  age  of 
two  years.  There  was  also  one  set  of  twins  ;  they  were  Anna  and  Elizabeth.  The  others  now 
living,  are  Michael,  Anna,  Isaac  and  Lydia  Ann. 

Prickitt,  Daniel  J.,  Franklin,  West  Unity  p.  o.,  a  veteran  soldier  of  the  late  war  who  served 
from  August  20,  1861,  to  August  15,  1865,  when  he  was  discharged  at  Columbus;  was  born  in 
Clinton  county  in  1840,  and  was  a  son  of  Phebe  Prickitt.  J.  L.  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and 
his  wife,  Phebe,  in  Clinton  county.  Daniel  J.  served  in  the  3d  Cavalry,  re-enlisted  in  January, 
1864,  and  served  under  Colonel  Holland.  His  brother,  James,  also  enlisted  and  served.  J.  L. 
and  Phebe  had  ^  family  of  six  children :  Daniel  J.,  James  H.,  John  B.,  Abigail  B.,  Mary  B.,  and 
Jay  C.  T.  Phebe  and  J.  L.  were  married  in  1839  and  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1845.  Daniel  J. 
was  married  in  1865  to  Lydia  G.  Borton,  who  was  born  in  New  Jersey.  They  have  a  family 
of  six  children :  Anna  M.,  Jemimah  B.,  L.  Gertrude,  Daniel  J.,  Jessie  E.,  and  Mary  B.  Lydia 
G.  was  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Abigail  W.  Borton.  He  was  born  in  1809,  and  his  wife  died 
in  1861,  leaving  two  children,  Sarah  C.  and  Lydia  G.  Benjamin  then  marrried  for  his  second 
wife,  Elizabeth  Wright,  in  1863.  Mr.  Borton  settled  in  what  is  now  Franklin  township,  in  1839, 
and  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  160  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $1,800.  They  now  own  245 
acres,  and  Daniel  J.  Prickitt  is  now  the  manager  of  the  estate. 

Punches,  Henry,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Pulton  county,  was  born 
in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1821,  and  was  a  son  of  WiUiam  and  Catharine  (Miller)  Punches. 
Catharine  was  born  in  Lehigh  county.  Pa.,  and  William  was  born  in  Northumberland  county. 
Pa.  They  settled  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  where  they  died.  They  had  a  family  of  eleven  chil- 
dren, eight  of  whom  are  now  living :  Mr.  Punches  had  four  children  by  a  previous  marriage, 
two  of  whom  are  now  living.  Catharine  died  in  1875.  Henry  Punches  was  married  in  1846  to 
Elizabeth  Deal,  of  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.     They  settled  in  Gorham  in  1850,  when  Mr.  Punches 


■692  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

purchased  his  present  homestead  of  80  acres,  which  is  now  finely  improved,  and  in  1867  erected 
his  present  dwelling.  They  have  had  a  family  of  nine  children  :  Francis  A.,  Edward,  Lawrence, 
Sarah  C,  Mary  M.,  Arthur,  Nathaniel,  Marion,  and  George  W.  Marion  was  educated  for  and 
and  became  a  teacher.  Mr.  Punches  has  been  town  treasurer  for  nine  years.  His  grandparents 
were  Martin  Punches  and  his  wife,  Anna  Barbara  (Emerick)  Punches.  Martin  was  a  Revolu- 
tionary soldier,  and  Mr.  Henry  now  has  a  $5  bill  of  Continental  money  issued  January  14,  1779, 
number  104594,  which  was  given  to  him  by  his  grandfather. 

Pugh,  John,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  county  auctioneer  and  real  estate  agent,  was  born  in 
Brooke  county,  West  Va.,  July  27,  1838,  and  was  a  son  of  Bethel  and  Wealthy  (Turner)  Pugh, 
natives  of  Virginia,  who  settled  in  Brooke  county.  They  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  and 
settled  in  Shelby,  Richland  county,  in  1833,  and  in  1856  came  to  Fulton  county,  where  Bethel 
died  in  1860,  aged  ninety-three  years.  His  wife  died  in  1865.  John  Pugh  was  married  in  1853 
to  Lovina  Murphy,  of  Crawford  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  seven 
daughters  and  four  sons.  Lovina  died  in  1870.  John  settled  here  in  1856  and  became  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock  dealing,  and  also  became  a  county  licensed  auctioneer,  giving  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  SI, 000.     He  is  now  doing  an  extensive  business  in  real  estate. 

Eandels,  James,  Franklin,  one  of  the  successful  and  leading  farmers  of  the  town,  was  born 
in  Columbiana  county  in  1831,  and  settled  in  Franklin  in  1858,  and  purchased  his  farm  of  160 
acres,  for  which  he  paifi  $7.50  per  acre.  He  has  since  erected  his  commodious  dwelling  and  out- 
buildings in  place  of  his  log  cabin.  He  was  drafted  in  the  war,  but  furnished  a  substitute  for 
the  term  of  three  years.  He  was  married  in  1853  to  Sarah  E.  Morfoot,  of  Columbiana  county. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children  :  Ida  M.,  Anna  L.,  John  C,  Emma  L.,  Bttie  F.,  and  Frank 
W.  His  wife,  Sarah,  was  a  daughter  of  Charles  Morfoot,  who  was  born  in  Virginia  and  moved  to 
Columbiana  county,  where  he  married  Rachel  Hart,  who  was  born  in  Redstone,  Pa.  They  had 
three  children:  John  W.,  Elizabeth  J.,  and  Sarah  E.  Charles  died  in  1831,  and  his  wife,  Rachel, 
in  1852.  James  was  a  sou  of  John  and  Lucinda  (Yates)  Randels,  who  died  in  Columbiana 
county ;  he  in  1870,  and  his  wife,  Lucinda,  in  1875.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children :  James, 
John  W.,  Elizabeth,  Hannah,  and  Martha,  John  Randels  was  born  in  London  county,  Pa.,  and 
Lucinda  in  Virginia. 

Read,  John  A,,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  the  druggist  and  prescriptionist  of  Wauseon,  and 
an  early  settler  in  this  township,  was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  county,  N.  T.,  in  1830,  and  settled 
in  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1858,  where  in  1863  he  became  engaged  in  the  drug  and  fancy  goods 
business.  He  was  married  in  1853  to  Emeline  Brooker,  of  Litchfield,  Medina  county.  They 
have  a  family  of  three  children :  Mary  J.,  Merton  B.,  and  Mabel.  John  A.  Read  was  a  son  of 
Daniel  and  Polly  (Ayres)  Reed,  who  settled  in  Medina  county,  in  1832,  where  Daniel  died  in 
1847,  leaving  a  widow  and  one  son,  John  A.  Daniel  was  born  June  12,  17^*0,  in  Worcester 
county,  Mass.,  and  his  wife,  Polly,  was  born  in  Fulton  county,  N.  Y.,  April  13,  1795. 

Reid,  Thomas,  Dama.scus,  McClure  p.  o.,  a  son  of  James  and  Jean  (CJemmell)  Reid,-  was  born 
in  Kirkmichael,  Ayrshire,  Scotland,  in  June,  1813.  He  was  one  of  a  family  of  six  children :  Ag- 
nes, Matthew,  Thomas,  Margaret,  James  and  Jane.  He  was  married  in  1836  to  Marion  Bone, 
who  died  December  4,  1841,  leaving  a  family  of  three  children:  James,  Janet,  and  Thomas.  He 
emigrated  to  America  in  1843  with  his  mother,  two  sisters,  Agnes  G-rassam  and  Jane  Reid,  and 
his  three  children.  He  settled  at  the  mouth  of  Turkey  Foot  Creek,  where  his  brother,  Matthew, 
had  located  two  years  before.  His  sister,  Margaret  Rankin,  came  to  America  nine  years  before 
her  brother,  Thomas,  and  settled  in  Canandaigua,  N.  Y,,  where  she  resided  until  her  death.  His 
brother,  James,  remained  in  Scotland,  and  has  been  dead  about  thirty  years.  Agnes  G.  Wilson 
is  still  living  in  Napoleon.  Jane  Crockett  hves  in  Grand  Rapids,  Wood  county,  0.  His  mother 
died  October  23,  1851.  In  1854  Thomas  was  married  to  Almira  Crockett,  a  daughter  of  James 
and  Mary  (Haskell)  Crockett,  of  Maine.  They  have  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  six  of  whom 
are  now  living:  Mary,  Knott,  William,  Charles,  Edwin,  and  Agnes.  His  son,  Thomas,  died  July 
14,  1862.  Mr.  Reid  died  at  the  old  homestead,,  January  14,  1878.  His  wife  still  resides  on  the 
homestead  farm. 

Reiser,  Matthias,  Napoleon,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  stock  dealer  and  shipper,  and  boot  and  shoe 
merchant,  was  born  in  Wurtumburg,  Germany,  in  1832  and  settled  in  Stark  county,  0.,  in  1847 
and  in  1850  settled  in  Henry  county  where  he  became  engaged  in  farming.  He  was  married 
in  1859  to  Rosina  Meyer.  They  have  had  four  sons:  John,  Matthew,  jr.,  Charles  and  Jacob. 
In  1864  Mr.  Reiser  removed  to  Napoleon  where  he  became  engaged  in  the  grocery  and  butcher 
business  and  in  1863  became  a  stock  shipper  and  in  1886,  in  connection  with  his  shipping  busi- 
ness, engaged  in  the  general  boot  and  shoe  trade  and  farming. 

Remow,  Frederick,  Clinton,  Pettisville,  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Plattsburg,  Clinton  county,  N.  Y 
in  1833  and  was  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Amelia  Remow.  Amelia  died  in  New  York  leaving  on 
son,  Frederick.  Thomas  married  the  second  time  and  settled  in  German  township,  0.,  in  1842 
where  he  died  in  1843  leaving  his  widow,  Margaret,  and  five  children  in  all,  only  one  of  whom 


Brief  Personals.  693 


Frederick,  is  now  living.  Frederick  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  in  1851  purchased  his  iirst  farm 
of  forty  acres.  He  was  married  in  1858  to  Sarah  Simmons,  of  Tuscarawas  county,  who  was 
born  m  1837.  She  was  a  daughter  of  James  W.  and  Eve  Simmons,  who  settled  in  Williams 
county,  in  1853,  where  Eve  died  leaving  a  family  of  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living : 
Benjamin,  Sarah,  James,  Alonzo,  Alvarado  and  Anna.  Frederick  settled  on  his  present  farm  of 
80  acres,  in  Clinton  township  in  1866,  paying  therefor  |2,500.  He  now  has  sixty  acres  of  well 
improved  land,  which  is  under  fine  cultivation.  Mr.  Remow  enlisted  in  Company  G,  68th  Ohio 
Volunteers,  under  Colonel  Steadman,  in  1862  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  being  dis- 
charged at  Cleveland,  July  15,  1865. 

Rexroth,  George  J.,  Napoleon,  the  skilled  general  blacksmith,  of  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Craw- 
ford county,  0.,  in  1848  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  A.  Rexroth.  George  learned  his 
trade  and  commenced  his  business  life  in  Illinois,  in  1870.  He  was  married  in  1870  to  MaryE. 
Moore,  of  Towanda,  McLean  county,  111.  They  have  had  three  children :  "William  E.,  Charles 
M.  and  Gracie  B.  They  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1884  and  Mr.  Rexroth  became  engaged  in  his 
present  business. 

Rhodes,  Joshua,  Napoleon,  was  born  in  York  coanty.  Pa.,  in  1808  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob 
Rhodes.  Joshua  was  married  in  1837  to  Maria  Hall,  of  Frederick  county,  Md.  They  had  a 
family  of  three  children :  William  H.,  Mrs.  Jennie  Hogue,  who  is  now  in  the  employ  of  the  gov- 
ernment at  Washington,  and  Mrs.  Fannie  Ainger.  Mr.  Rhodes  settled  in  Springfield,  Clark 
•county,  0.,  in  1837  and  became  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  where  he  remained  until 
1847,  when  he  went  to  Edgar  county.  111.  In  1850  he  went  to  Sandusky,  where  he  became  en- 
gaged in  the  drug  business.  He  sold  out  and  in  1855  settled  in  Dayton,  0.,  where  he  resided 
until  1857.  He  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1863  and  became  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business, 
from  which  he  retired  in  1864,  and  in  1867  purchased  his  homestead  of  133  acres  where  he  set- 
tled in  1871.  He  is  a  very  active  man  for  his  years  and  he  has  been  a  great  hunter  and  is  an 
«xpert  marksman.     His  gun  and  rifle  are  greatly  valued  by  him  as  health  supporters. 

Riddle,  Squire  James  S.,  Franklin,  Tedrow  p.  6.,  one  of  the  representative  men  of  his  town, 
was  born  in  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  June  9,  1812,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Jane  (Steel)  Riddle. 
Jane  was  born  in  MifiSin  county.  Pa.,  and  her  husband,  John,  was  born  in  county  Donegal,  par- 
ish of  Caldaf,  Ireland,  in  1775  and  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1797.  He  was  married  in  1808  and 
they  had  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living  :  Nathaniel,  James  S.,  Sa- 
rah and  Charles.  The  parents  settled  in  Fulton  county  in  1856  where  they  died,  Jane  in  1856 
and  John  in  1863.  James  S.  was  married  in  1833  to  Matilda  Siddens,  who  was  born  in  Wash- 
ington county,  Pa.,  in  1811.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children:  John  Q.,  Charles  C, 
Thomas  H.,  Mary  Jane,  Louisa  and  Irvin.  Thomas  H.  enlisted  in  the  late  war  while  a  student 
•at  Oberlin  College,  was  taken  prisoner  and  paroled.  James  settled  in  Franklin  in  1845  and  pur- 
chased his  homestead  of  80  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $2.50  per  acre.  He  has  been  a  justice  of 
the  peace  for  fifteen  years,  trustee,  infirmary  director  for  three  terms.  He  settled  here  first  with 
a  family  of  five  children  and  a  York  shilling  in  his  pocket,  and  as  you  may  say,  in  a  dense  for- 
est which  Franklin  was  almost  at  that  time. 

Ritter,  Elizabeth,  Harrison  township.  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  in 
1820  and  was  a  daughter  of  George  and  Barbara  (Hoy)  Shetterly.  George  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky in  1797  and  died  in  1882.  His  wife,  Barbara,  was  born  in  1800  and  died  in  1860.  George 
died  on  the  farm  on  which  he  had  resided  for  eighty-two  years,  and  on  which  he  had  settled 
with  his  parents,  Andrew  and  EHzabeth  Shetterly.  Elizabeth  was  married  in  1844  to  John  Rit- 
ter, who  was  born  in  Pickaway  county  in  1812  and  died  in  Napoleon,  Henry  county,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1871,  leaving  a  widow  and  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living  :  Joseph  N.,  Levi  T., 
Jerome  G,  Mrs.  0.  A.  Thompson,  Mrs.  Olive  H.  Hayes.  John  Ritter  purchased  the  Napoleon 
City  Mill  in  1860,  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  Peter.  In  1868  John  became  sole  owner  and 
in  1872  Mrs.  Ritter  sold  the  mill  to  its  present  owner,  Mr.  Kohler.  In  1880  Mrs.  Ritter  re- 
turned from  Napoleon  to  her  present  farm  in  Harrison  township,  Henry  county,  0. 

Ritter,  Jacob  P.,  Gorham,  Ritter's  p.  o.,  a  leading  and  influential  gentleman  of  Gorham  town- 
ship, was  born  in  Lycoming  county.  Pa.,  in  1824  and  was  a  son  of  Valentine  and  Catharine  (Lohr) 
Ritter.  His  father  died  in  Northumberland  county  in  1875  leaving  a  widow  and  family  of  ten 
•children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living.  Jacob  P.  apprenticed  himself  to  the  carpenter's 
trade  and  became  a  master  builder  and  jobber.  He  was  married  in  1 846  to  Caroline  Hecker, 
who  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1827.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four  children,  two 
of  whom  are  now  living :  Warren  L.  and  William  H.,  and  one  daughter,  Ella  C,  who  married 
Ervin  Baker.  She  died  leaving  one  child,  Minnie  E.,  who  married  C.  H.  Wolcott.  Mrs.  Caro- 
line was  a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Susan  (Frantz)  Hicker,  who  was  in  the  war  of  1812  and  who 
were  early  settlers  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  and  came  to  Fulton  county  in  1846.  Mr.  Ritter 
purchased  his  present  residence,  of  115  acres  in  1861,  for  which  he  paid  $3,000  and  erected 
his  buildings.     He  became  active  in  the  interest  of  the  building  of  the  Chicago  and  Canada 


694  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Southern  Railroad  and  was  one  in  procuring  the  right  of  way  and  was  tie  inspector  at  the  time 
of  their  suspension  and  he  is  still  in  the  employ  of  the  railroad,  having  been  with  them  from  a 
very  early  day.  He  is  ticket  and  station  agent  of  the  L.  S.  &  M.  S.  Railway,  and  established 
the  post-office  and  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Ritter.  He  has  been  justice  of  the  peace  for 
two  terms,  town  clerk,  assessor,  trustee,  and  in  1874  became  engaged  in  the  grocery  business  at 
Ritter's  Station. 

Robinson,  Anthony  B.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  retired  teacher,  farmer  and  county  engi- 
neer was  born  September  28,  1825,  in  Wayne  county,  0.  In  early  life  he  attended  the  Edin- 
burgh Academy,  at  Wayne  county  0.,  and  fitted  himself  for  teacher,  and  afterwards  taught 
school  for  twenty-eight  terms.  He  was  married  June  17,  1847,  to  Nancy  Hutchinson,  who  was 
born  in  Wayne  county  in  1824.  They  have  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are 
now  living:  Amanda,  Jimsey  V.,  Sarah  E.,  Rebecca  J.,  Harriet  E.,  James  0.,  Edward  B.  and 
Emma  Etta.  Willie  died  at  the  age  of  five  years ;  George  C.  died  leaving  one  son,  Caddie.  All 
of  Mr.  Robinson's  children  that  are  living  reside  in  this  immediate  vicinity.  His  wife,  Nancy,  was 
a  daughter  of  Jimsey  and  Rebecca  Hutchinson,  of  Pennsylvania.  They  were  married  and  died  in 
Wayne  Co.  Anthony  B.  Robinson  was  a  son  of  George  and  Sarah  (Fluhart)  Robinson,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, who  were  married  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1823,  where  George  died  in  1846  aged  fifty- 
one  years.  His  wife,  Sarah,  died  in  Fulton  county  in  1879.  They  had  a  family  of  ten  children 
eight  of  whom  are  now  living :  Anthony  B.,  Elizabeth,  Deziah,  Samuel,  Thomas,  Margaret, 
George  and  Nancy  E.  Samuel  and  George  enlisted  and  served  in  the  late  war.  Anthony  B., 
at  the  age  of  twenty  years  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  of  Wayne  county,  was  town  clerk, 
and  held  other  minor  ofiices.  He  settled  in  Clinton,  Fulton  county,  in  1862,  where  he  has  been 
county  surveyor  for  twelve  years,  a  justice  of  the  county  for  eighteen  years,  was  a  delegate  tO' 
the  State  convention  in  1854,  then  the  Fusion  party,  but  has  been  a  Republican  since  1856. 

Rockwell,  Samuel  "K.,  Liberty,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Jefierson  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1815, 
and  was  a  son  of  Samiiel  and  Polly  (Knapp)  Rockwell.  The  father,  Samuel,  was  born  in  Con- 
necticut, and  his  wife,  Polly,  was  born  in  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.  They  settled  in  Wyandotte 
county,  0.,  in  1829  and  came  to  Henry  county  in  February,  1833,  where  they  remained  until 
their  deaths.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living  :  Mrs.  Han- 
nah Tolen,  Mrs.  Elsie  Roberts,  David  and  Samuel  K.  Samuel  K.  Rockwell  was  married  in  1849 
to  Sarah  Skates,  who  was  born  in  Hancock  county.  She  died  February,  1866  leaving  four  chil- 
dren :  Angeline,  Philo  P.,  Linus  K.  and  Myron  S.  Mr.  Rockwell  then  married  his  second  wife, 
Mrs.  Susan  Bidson,  of  Henry  county,  in  1867.  They  have  had  one  son,  Edward.  Mr.  Rock- 
well may  well  be  termed  a  pioneer,  as  he  settled  in  the  wilderness  several  miles  from  any  neigh- 
bor, and  lent  a  hand  and  his  counsel  in  early  town  and  county  organization,  holding  many  of  the 
town  offices.  He  settled  on  his  present  homestead  of  eighty  acres  in  1852.  His  son,  Linus  K., 
was  born  in  1853,  fitted  himself  for  and  became  a  minister  and  is  now  clergyman  of  the  church 
of  Disciples. 

Rogers,  James  F.,  German  township,  Archbald  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  and  early,  leading  and  influ- 
ential citizen,  of  German  township,  was  born  in  Putnam  county,  N.  Y.,  December  19,  1814,  and 
was  a  son  of  Jonathan  and  Martha  (Haviland)  Rogers,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Putnam 
county,  N.  Y.  They  settled  in  Seneca  county,  0.,  in  1832  and  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  six 
of  whom  are  now  living:  James  F.,  John  A.,  Jackson  S.,  Stephen,  Eliza  (Mrs.  Baker),  Laura 
(Mrs.  Adam  Andre).     Mary  (Mrs.  Haviland),  died  in   1875.     Amos  died  in  1868  and  Haviland 

in  1844  and  Ann  (Mrs.  McOatchen)  died  in  1878.     Jonathan  settled  in in   1849  where 

he  and  his  wife  died.  He  was  a  carpenter,  cooper  and  farmer.  James  P.  in  early  life  assisted 
his  parents  with  the  farm  work,  working  by  the  month,  and  in  1839  went  to  German  township, 
Fulton  county,  and  purchased  a  farm  of  80  acres  paying  $175.  He  erected  his  cabin,  returned 
to  his  home  and  was  married  in  April,  1842,  to  Ann  Eliza  Crosson,  who  was  born  in  Steuben 
county,  N.  Y.  In  October,  1842  he  returned  to  German  and  stayed  in  his  log  cabin,  not  hav- 
ing money  enough  to  get  out,  but  by  his  perseverance  his  financial  condition  has  largely  changed. 
He  now  owns  a  fine  farm  of  140  acres  and  has  a  pleasant  home.  His  wife,  Ann  E.,  died  leav- 
ing a  family  of  five  children  :  Elmer  H.,  Frank,  James  0.,  Martha  J.  and  Marcus  P.  James  F. 
married,  for  his  second  wife,  Anna  Sourbeck,  who  was  born  in  Germany.  They  have  had  six 
children:  Henry  0.,  John  A.,  Thomas  W.,  Charles  O.,  Willie  and  Laura  Pearl.  Elmer  H.  en- 
listed in  the  68th  Ohio,  in  1861  and  served  for  three  years.  Marcus  and  John  were  engaged  in 
teaching. 

Rogers,  Leroy  W.,  Ridgeville,  Ridgeville  Corners  p.  o.,  was  born,  in  Locke,  Cayuga  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1821  and  was  a  son  of  Enos  and  Mary  Rogers,  who  came  from  New  York  to  Huron 
county  in  1831,  where  they  died.  They  had  seven  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living :  Le- 
roy W.,  Gertrude  and  Zoradie.  Leroy  W.  was  married  in  1844  to  Elsie  Slocum,  who  died  Au- 
gust 9,  1872,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children,  all  of  whom  are  novf 
deceased.     He  then  married  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Jane  (Johnson)  Clark,  of  Lorain  county,  Jan- 


Brief  Personals.  695 


uary  11,  1874.  They  have  had  two  children,  Elizabeth  and  Elmer  Clark.  Leroy  W.  enlisted 
Eebruary  1,  1865,  in  the  184th  Ohio  Volunteers,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was 
discharged  at  Nashville  and  received  his  pay  at  Columbus.     He  settled  in  Perry  county  in  1862. 

Eoessing,  Ferdinand,  Napoleon,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  the  brewer  of  Napoleon,  settled  in  Henry 
county  in  1871  and  purchased  his  present  brewery  property  in  1876.  He  has  added  many  re- 
cent improvements  in  machinery  and  with  his  skilled  ability  is  fully  abl?  to  compete  with  the 
trade  of  some  larger  cities  and  receives  a  liberal  patronage. 

Rozell,  Andrew  J.,  Liberty,  owner  and  proprieter  of  the  Liberty  steam,  shingle,  planing  and 
feed-mill,  was  born  in  Liberty  township  in  1859  and  was  a  son  of  Andrew  and  Susan  (KUng- 
man)  Eozell.  Susan  was  born  in  Stark  county  in  1822,  and  Andrew  was  born  in  December, 
1808  at  Clinton,  Hunterdon  county,  N.  J.  They  were  married  June  9,  1844,  and  Andrew  died 
January  2,  1880,  leaving  two  sons,  John  K.  (born  1845)  and  Andrew  J.  (born  in  1859).  The 
father,  Andrew,  settled  in  Liberty  in  1847,  purchasing  a  farm  of  240  acres.  He  was  a  wagon 
maker  by  trade  but  after  settling  here  became  ^  farmer.  His  parents  were  John  and  Jane  Roz- 
ell, who  settled  in  Seneca  cnunty,  where  they  died.  John  was  born  in  France  and  his  wife, 
Jane,  in  Ireland.  Susan  Rozell  was  a  daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  KUngman,  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  settled  in  Seneca  county,  0.,  in  1824,  where  they  died  leaving  a  family  of  eighteen  chil- 
dren. 

Rowland,  Robert,  Barton,  Custer  p.  o.,  son  of  Robert  and  EUzabeth  Rowland,  was  born  in 
Stark  county,  0.,  in  1833  and  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1835.  He  was  married  in  1833  to 
Catharine  Lines,  who  was  born  in  Connecticut.  Mr.  Rowland  enlisted  in  1861  in  the  21st  Ohio 
Infantry.     He  is  now  engaged  in  farming  and  owns  a  fine  farm  of  220  acres. 

Rupp,  Christian,  Clinton,  Pettisville  p.  o.,  a  successful  farmer  of  Fulton  county,  was  born  in 
Candor  Borton,  Switzerland,  in  1827  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Magdalena  (King)  Rupp,  who 
came  to  America  and  settled  in  German  township  in  1840.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  chil- 
dren, four  of  whom  are  now  living:  Christian,  Magdalena,  Joseph  and  Mary.  The  mother  died 
in  German  township  and  her  husband,  Jacob,  died  in  Indiana,  Allen  county.  Christian  Rupp 
was  married  in  German  township  in  1855  to  Elizabeth  Freyenberger  who  was  born  in  France 
in  1838.  They  have  had  a  family  of  fifteen  children,  eleven  of  whom  are  now  living :  Eli,  John, 
Magdalena,  Leah,  Hannah,  Catharine,  Mary  and  Lydia,  Louis,  Christian  and  Elizabeth.  Mr. 
Rupp  settled  on  his  present  farm  of  160  acres  in  1855,  which  was  then  heavily  timbered,  pay- 
ing for  the  same  |600.  He  now  has  one  hundred  acres  cleared  and  under  fine  cultivation,  and 
fine  farm  buildings  erected  thereon. 

Russell,  Benjamin  P.,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Gorham  township, 
coming  there  in  1844,  was  born  in  Rochester,  Monroe  county,  N.  T.,  in  1818,  and  was  a  son 
of  Simon  and  Polly  (Bailey)  Russell,  who  were  born-  and  married  in  Maine  and  set- 
tled in  Monroe  county  N.  T.  They  settled  in  Lake  county,  0.,  from  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in 
1818,  where  Simon  L.  died  about  1852,  leaving  a  widow  and  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom 
are  now  living:  Mrs.  Rebecca  Knight,  James,  Mrs.  Mary  Minkler,  Benjamin  F.,  Mrs.  Abi- 
gal  Chase,  Joseph,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Blakly  and  Mrs.  Caroline  Cram.  The  widow,  Polly, 
died  in  Henry  county,  Ohio,  in  1855,  aged years.  Benjamin  P.  Russell  be  came  en- 
gaged in  the  grocery  and  provision  business  at  Maumee  City,  in  1841,  and  sold  out  and  be- 
came a  salesman  in  Seneca,  Mich.,  in  1842.  He  was  married  in  1843  to  Elmina  Ford  of 
Gorham.  Elmina  was  born  in  Massachusetts  and  died  in  September,  1846.  They  had  three 
children,  all  of  whom  died  at  an  early  age.  Elmina  was  a  daughter  of  his  second  wife,  born 
March  3, 1852,  died  August  10,  1870,  died  from  the  poisonous  effects  of  a  potato  bug  bite.  Rus- 
sell married,  for  his  second  wife,  a  sister  of  his  first  wife,  Delia  Ann  Ford,  who  was  born  April 
29,  1827,  and  married  March  2,  1847.  They  have  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  five  of  whom 
are  now  living:  Amos  L.  (born  January  13,  1848),  L.  Fremont  (August  25,  1854),  Flora  May 
(May  Id,  1857),  Emily  Virginia  (October  7,  1860),  Mary  Ophelia  (born  September  12,  1862). 
Elmina  and  Delia  Ann  were  daughters  of  Ansel  andDebora  (Tower)  Foid  who  settled  in  Gor- 
ham township  in  1841  coming  there  from  Massachusetts.  On  settlement  here  Mr.  Russell  pur- 
chased a  farm  of  thirty  acres  for  which  he  paid  $120.  He  now  has  two  hundred  acres  on  sec- 
tion twenty-eight,  and  in  addition  to  this  owns  other  farms  of  240  acres.  He  has  been  an  ac- 
tive and  successful  man  and  has  now  retired  from  active  business  life. 

Russell,  Silas,  B.,  Gorham^  Fayette  p  o.,  was  born  in  Royalton,  Niagara  county,  N.  Y.,  April 
16,  1828,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Catharine  (Fogleman)  Russell.  John  was  born  in  Herki- 
mer county,  N.  Y.,  and  his  wife  in  Sunbury,  Pa.  They  settled  in  Gorham  township  in  1853, 
on  section  33.  Silas  B.  Russell  was  married  on  August  25,  1855  to  Catharine  Hoffhian,  who 
was  born  in  1836.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children,  four  sons  now  living :  Charles  H., 
William  F.,  Willard  Harvey  and  Albert  Walter.  Catharine  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Chris- 
tina (Zettlemeyer)  Hofiman  of  Pennsylvania,  who  settled  in  Gorham,  in  1844,  and  had  a  family 
of  seven  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  five  are  now  living :  Daniel, 


696  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Charles,  Samuel,  Isaac  and  Catharine.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Russell  now  own  140  acres  purchased  by 
Mr.  Hoffman  on  settlement  here.  Mrs.  Hoffman  died  at  Mrs.  Russell's,  aged  ninety-one  years, 
in  1887.  The  father,  Daniel,  who  was  born  in  1796  died  in  1871.'  John  Russell  was  born 
January  1, 1800,  and  died  December  1, 1878.  His  wife,  Catharine,  was  born  November  26,  1799, 
and  died  September  24,  1881.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  liv- 
ing :  George,  Silas  B.  and  Henry.  Three  of  the  brothers  enlisted ;  they  were,  Jeremiah,  Ran- 
som and  Rowland. 

Rychener,  Jacob  S.,  German,  a  teacher  and  farmer,  was  born  in  German  township  in  1859, 
and  was  a  son  of  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  German  township.  His  parents  were  Christian  and 
Magdalena  (Grieser)  Rychener.  She  was  born  in  France  in  1817  and  Christian  was  born  in 
Switzerland  in  1813.  He  came  to  America  in  1833  and  in  "Wayne  county  followed  the  black- 
smith trade  for  a  short  time,  then  in  1835  came  to  German  township,  Fulton  county  (then  Henry 
county)  where  he  purchased  forty  acres  of  land  for  which  he  paid  fifty  dollars.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  1841  in  what  was  then  known  as  Lucas  county,  and  were  the  first  couple  married  in  Ger- 
man township.  They  have  had  eleven  children :  Soloma,  Christian,  Joseph,  Mary,  Daniel, 
Gideon,  Magdalena,  Barbara,  Henry,  Fannie  and  Jacob  S.  Jacob  has  acquired  a  liberal  educa- 
tion and  has  taught  for  several  years,  and  has  now  completed  a  full  course  in  plain  penmanship 
at  the  Pen  Art  Hall,  Wauseon,  0. 

Sayles,  Benjamin  L.,  Gorham,  Fayette,  was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1830,  and 
settled  in  Fulton  county  with  his  parents,  George  W.  and  Sarah  (Mace)  Sayles.  Sarah  was 
born  in  Rockland  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1811  and  her  husband,  George,  was  born  in  Oneida  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1807.  They  were  married  in  1830  and  settled  in  Gorham  township  in  1838.  They 
had  a  family  of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Benjamin  L.,  Delia  A.,  Alvira  and 
George  C.  George  purchased  his  present  homstead  in  1838.  It  consisted  of  120  acres  for 
which  he  paid  $250.  Sarah  was  a  daughter  of  Wendell  Mace,  who  settled  in  Fulton  county  in 
1838,  where  he  died.  Benjamin  L.  settled  in  Gorham  in  1838.  He  was  brought  up  on  a  farm 
until  1861  when  he  became  engaged  in  the  carriage  and  general  smithing  business  at  Morenci, 
Mich.  He  sold  out  in  1863  and  went  into  the  livery  business,  and  in  1866  purchased  a  hotel 
at  Clayton,  Lenawee  county,  Mich.  In  1880  he  rented  the  hotel  and  came  to  Fayette  where 
he  is  engaged  in  the  livery  business.  He  was  married  in  1855  to  Almira  Holiday,  of  Onon- 
daga county,  N-.  Y.     They  were  married  in  Michigan. 

Schaeffer,  Dr.  Augustus  R.,  Ridgeville,  Ridgeville  Corners  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Goshen,  Elk- 
hart county,  Ind.,  in  1859.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Normal  School  at  Goshen,  in  1875,  after 
which  he  learned  the  baker's  trade ;  not  satisfied  with  this  business,  he  read  medicine  with  Drs. 
Wickham  and  Irvine,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Eclectic  Medical  College  of  Cincinnati,  in 
1880,  after  which  he  settled  in  South  Bend,  Ind.,  and  in  1883  came  to  Ridgeville,  and  now  re- 
sides here  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  that  of  a  physician  and  surgeon.  He  was  married 
in  1882,  to  Grace  E.  Price.  They  have  two  children,  Genevieve  and  Bessie.  Grace  E.  was  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Emma  Price.  Dr.  A.  R.  Schaffer  was  a  son  of  0.  N.  Schaffer  and  Chris- 
tina (Gould)  Schaffer,  who  emigrated  from  "Wurtemburg,  Germany,  and  settled  in  Indiana,  in 
1847.  They  had  two  children.  Dr.  A.  R.  and  Emma.  C.  H.'was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  but  is 
now  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Goshen. 

Schamp,  George,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  York  township,  Fulton  county,  0., 
January  8,  1858,  and  was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Catharine  (Batdorf)  Scharap,  who  were  married  in 
Wayne  county,  and  settled  in  York,  Fulton  county,  in  1854.  They  had  a  family  of  seven  chil- 
dren, five  of  whom  are  now  living :  James,  John,  George,  Mary,  Lucy,  and  one  died  in  infancy. 
David  died  in  1881,  at  the  age  of  twenty-live  years.  George  was  married  in  1880,  to  Hortansa 
Barnes.  They  have  had  two  children,  Stella  and  Dola.  Hortansa  was  a  daughter  of  Leonard  P. 
and  Annie  Bay  Barnes,  who  were  married  in  Holmes  county,  and  settled  in  Clinton,  Fulton 
county,  in  1847.  They  had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  nine  of  whom  are  now  living :  Catha- 
rine, William,  Perry,  Marian,  Samantha  Thornton,  Winfield,  Louisa,  Hortansa,  and  two  died  in 
infancy.     Sarah  Ellen  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-five. 

Schnetzler,  John  B.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  druggist  and  prescriptionist  of  Archbold,  0., 
and  is  at  present  county  treasurer  of  Fulton  county.  He  was  born  in  Switzerland,  in  1836,  apA 
was  a  son  of  Ulrich  and  Magdalena  (Ruedi)  Schnetzler.  Mr.  Ulrich  died  in  Switzerland,  in  1849, 
leaving  a  widow  and  two  sons.  Magdalena,  with  her  two  sons,  H.  Marcus  and  John  B.,  emigrated 
to,  and  settled  in  Cleveland,  in  1852,  and  in  1853,  settled  in  Toledo.  John  B.,  and  his  mother 
settled  in  Archbold,  in  1859,  where  Magdalena  died  in  1886.  John  B.  was  married  in  Toledo, 
in  1858,  to  Albertena  Heupel,  who  was  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany.  They  have  had  a 
family  of  seven  children :  Louisa  M.,  Emil  U.,  Emma  H.,  Mary  T.,  Albert  M.  C,  Edwin  J.,  and 
Julius  A.  John  B.  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Archbold,  in  1861,  and  held  that  oflice  until 
1885.  He  was  elected  county  treasurer  in  1885,  and  was  mayor  of  Archbold,  remainmg  in  office 
from  1870  to  1879,  a  term  of  eight  years.  He  became  engaged  in  the  drug,  book,  wall-paper  and 
toy  business  in  1871,  and  in  which  he  still  continues. 


Brief  Personals.  697 


Schwartz,  Charles  W.,  Clinton,  Wauseon,  the  general  grocer,  provision  dealer,  carrying  a  full 
line  of  fancy  goods,  was  born  in  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  0.,  in  1859.  He  was  a  son  of  Henry 
and  Margaret  Schwartz.  Henry  was  born  in  1818,  and  settled  in  Hancock  county  in  1830,  com- 
ing there  from  G-ermany.  Charles  W.  settled  in  Wauseon,  Pulton  county,  in  1882,  and  became 
engaged  in  the  grocery  and  provision  business.  He  was  married  in  1882  to  Herma  Benedict. 
They  have  had  one  son,  Henry  Benedict.  Herma  was  a  daughter  of  A.  J.  and  Clara  W.  Bene- 
dict, of  Wauseon.     He  was  for  a  long  time  railroad  agent  and  also  ticket  agent  at  Wauseon. 

Schletz,  George,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1850,  and 
was  a  son  of  Carl  and  Lena  (Lipp)  Schletz,  who  were  married  in  Lenawee  county  in  1852.  They 
had  a  family  of  three  children:  Philip,  George,  and  Julius.  Carl  died  in  1859.  Julius  died  at 
the  age  of  five  years.  His  widow,  Lena,  with  her  two  sons,  Philip  and  George,  settled  in  Wau- 
seon in  1865,  where  they  reside.  Lena  was  born  in  Heidelberg,  Germany,  and  came  to  America 
in  1849  with  her  parents,  George  and  Susan  Lipp,  and  settled  in  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  where 
they  died.  He  in  1872,  and  she  in  1881,  leaving  a  family  of  six  children.  George  was  married 
in  1885  to  Lottie  Bandow,  who  was  born  in  Prussia.  They  have  one  child,  Mmnie  Lena.  Lot- 
tie came  to  America  with  her  mother  in  1865,  and  settled  in  Toledo,  with  her  three  daughters, 
in  1867.  She  moved  to  Napoleon,  where  she  died  in  January  1880.  George  became  engaged 
in  the  general  flour  and  feed  business  in  company  with  his  mother,  and  in  1885  became  sole  pro- 
prietor of  the  business.     He  has  added  a  steam  feed  mill,  and  has  largely  increased  his  business. 

Schletz,  Philip,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  the  owner  and  proprietor  of  the  Wauseon  machine 
and  repair  shop,  engaged  in  general  jobbing,  engine  building  and  repairing  steam  heating  appa- 
ratuses, and  owner  and  inventor  of  the  self-adjusting  roller,  was  born  in  Lenawee  county,  Mich., 
in  1854,  and  was  a  son  of  Carl  and  Lena  (Lipp)  Schletz.  Philip  was  apprenticed  to  learn  the 
machinist  and  foundry  business,  with  a  Mr.  Andrews,  of  Wauseon,  in  1869,  and  in  1877  became 
engaged  in  business  for  himself  with  a  partner,  and  in  1879  sold  out,  and  in  1879  started  a  new 
shop,  which  has  steadily  increased,  being  the  only  machine  shop  in  Fulton  county.  Philip  was 
married  in  1884  to  Lavina  S.  Shibler,  of  Fulton  county,  in  1884.  They  have  had  one  daughter, 
Clara.  Phillip  was  a  son  of  Carl  and  Lena  (Lipp)  Schletz,  of  Heidelburg,  Germany.  Lena 
came  with  her  parents,  G-eorge  and  Susan  Lipp,  and  settled  in  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1849, 
and  in  1855  removed  to  Wauseon,  where  George  died  in  1872,  and  Susan  in  1881,  leaving  a 
family  of  six  children.  Carl  settled  in  Lenawee  county  in  1852,  and  died  in  1859,  leaving  a 
widow  and  three  children:  Phili,  George,  and  Julus.  The 'mother  settled  ^n  Wauseon  with  her 
family  in  1865,  where  she  now  resides. 

Schuyler,  Wilson  S.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  a,  general  merchant,  was  boi-n  in  Hudson  county 
in  1842,  and  was  a  son  of  John  Van  Rensselaer  and  Cynthia  (Nichols)  Schuyler.  Cynthia  was 
born  in  Ohio,  and  her  husband,  John,  was  born  in  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1797,  and  died 
in  1868,  leaving  a  widow  and  four  children :  Josiah,  William,  Wilson  S.,  and  Rachel  Jane  Wil- 
son S.  enhsted  from  Harden  county,  in  Co.  D,  34th  Ohio,  in  1861,  under  Colonel  S.  Piette,  served 
three  years  and  eight  months,  was  wounded  and  discharged  from  the  hospital  at  Cumberland, 
Md.  He  was  married  in  1862  to  Sarah  Pickle,  of  Harden  county.  They  have  one  adopted 
daughter,  Bertha  B.,  born  in  1884.  Sarah  was  a  daughter  of  Tobias  and  Margaret  Pickle. 
Wilson  S.  settled  in  Holgate,  and  became  engaged  in  the  ashery  business,  and  in  1876  went  into 
the  grocery  business ;  has  increased  his  stock  and  became  a  general  dealer  in  all  classes  of  dry 
goods,  clothing,  boots  and  shoes,  staple  and  fancy  goods.  He  is  now  proprietor  of  the  leading 
store  in  town. 

Scott,  Reason  W.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Clinton  township  in  1854,  and  was  a 
son  of  the  early  settlers,  Henry  and  Hannah  (Graham)  Scott.  Hannah  was  born  in  Holmes 
county,  and  was  married  in  1839.  They  had  four  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living :  Nancy, 
Mary  Jane,  and  John.  Hannah  died  in  1850.  Henry  married  for  his  second  wife,  Nancy  Barnes, 
who  was  born  in  Belmont  county,  in  1826.  They  were  married  in  1851,  and  had  three  children : 
Sarah  Ann,  Elizabeth  Ellen,  and  Reason  W.  Nancy  was  a  daughter  of  Richard  and  Sarah  Barnes. 
Henry  Scott  was  born  in  Columbiana  county  in  1817,  and  was  a  son  of  Matthew  and  Lucinda 
Scott.  Lucinda  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  Matthew  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  died  in  Wayne 
county,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years.  His  wife,  Lucinda,  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years. 
Five  of  their  children  are  now  living:  Henry,  Reason,  Seth,  Nancy,  and  Catharine.  Henry 
Scott  settled  in  Clinton,  Fulton  county,  in  1847,  at  which  time  he  purchased  his  present  home- 
stead which  then  consisted  of  80  acres  for  $245.  He  has  been  a  successful  farmer,  and  has  di- 
vided his  interest  liberally  with  his  children.  He  has  now  retired  from  active  life.  Reason  W. 
Scott  now  resides  on  the  old  homestead.  He  was  married  in  September,  1875,  to  Susie  C.  Mur- 
phy who  was  born  in  Henry  county  in  1854.  They  have  had  two  children,  Luella  and  Blanche. 
Susie  was  a  daughter  of  Cornelius  and  Eliza  Murphy.  Cornehus  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  his 
wife  Eliza,  was  a  native  of  Seneca  county. 

88 


$9,8  History  of  Henry  and  F.ulton  Counties. 

Scribner,  Allen  B.,  Napoleon,  a  general  hardware  dealer  of  Napoleon,  0.,  was  born  in 
Henry  county,  March  25,  1835,  and  was  a  son  of  Edwin  and  Lucinda  (Bucklin)  Scribner,  who 
were  married  in  October,  1831.  Lucinda  was  born  in  Vermont,  in  February,  13,  1813,  and  Ed- 
win was  born  in  Otsego  county,  N.  T.,  in  1808.  Edwin  settled  in  Henry  county  with  his  par- 
ents, in  1818.  He  was  a  son  of  Blisha  and  Nancy  Scribner.  Elisha  invested  in  land,  and  soon 
became  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  northwest.  He  held  many  of  the  town  and  county  offices, 
and  was  serving  the  office  of  side  judge  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1825.  Elisha 
and  Nancy  left  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom  Edwin  was  the  only  surviving  one  of 
his  family.  He  was  termed  the  pioneer  of  Henry  county,  and  the  oldest  resident  of  the  county 
living  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  May  16,  1887. 

Scribner,  David  C,  Washington,  Liberty  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Washington  township,  Henry 
county,  in  1844,  and  was  a  son  of  the  .early  pioneers,  Edward  and  Lucinda  (Bucklin)  Scribner. 
Edwin  settled  in  Washington  county  with  his  parents  in  1817.  He  was  a  son  of  Judge  Elisha. 
and  Nancy  Scribner,  who  came  to  Ohio  from  Otsego  county,  N.  T.,  where  Edwin  was  born  in 
1808.  Judge  Misha  died  in  Henry  county  in  1875,  leaving  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  of 
whom  Edwin  is  the  only  one  Jnow  living.  Edwin  was  married  in  1829  to  Lucinda  Buckling 
who  was  born  in  Vermont.  David  0.  Scribner  was  married  in  1873  to  Nellie  May  Austin,  who 
was  born  in  Belgrade,  Kennebeck  county.  Me.,  in  1846.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three 
sons  :  Frank  L.,  Harry  0.,  and  Ralph  Clark.  Nellie  was  a  daughtar  of  Leonard  and  Charlotte 
Austin.  Nellie  was  a  teacher  for  several  terms.  David  C.  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness in  Liberty,  and  also  in  Missouri,  and  settled  on  his  farm  in  Washington  township,  in  1875. 

Senter,  Harper,  Harrison,  Grelton  p.  o.,  one  of  the  leading  farmers  of  Henry  county,  was 
born  in  New  Hampshire  in  1812,  and  was  a  son  of  Leonard  and  Lucy  (Palmer)  Senter,  who  set- 
tled in  Muskingum  county  in  1818,  where  Lucy  died.  Harper  was  bound  out  to  Asa  Crockett^ 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  commenced  his  business  life  as  a  farmer.  He  was  married 
in  1835  to  Irene  Emery,  who  was  born  in  1815.  They  have  had  two  children :  Caroline  was  mar- 
ried in  1858  to  Alden  C.  Emery.  They  have  had  one  son,  Vernon  J.,  and  Asa  C,  who  was 
married  in  1878  to  Ellen  E.  Emery.  He  enlisted  in  the  1st  Brigade,  3d  Division,  10th  Army 
Corps,  in  1864,  and  served  to  the  end  of  his  term  of  enlistment.  He  settled  in  Harrison  in  1847, 
on  his  present  homestead  of  160  acres,  which  was  then  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of  timber, 
put  up  a  log  house,  and  gave  accommodations  to  a  family  of  ten  persons  during  the  winter. 
He  has  now  one  of  the  finest  improved  farms  in  the  county.  Mrs.  Senter  was  a  daughter  of 
Tristam  and  Lydia  (Whitmarsh)  Emery,  who  settled  in  Seneca  county  in  1833. 

Sergent,  Seymour,  Gorham,  Hitters  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Gorham  in  1852,  and  was  married  in 
1875  to  L.  Conrad,  of  Medina  township.  They  have  one  child,  Ernest,  born  November  3,  1878. 
Mrs.  Sergent  was  born  in  Medina  township,  April  16,  1858,  and  was  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Jane  Conrad  Seymour.  He  was  the  tenth  child  of  a  family  of  fourteen  children,  all  of  whom  are 
now  living.  Thirteen  are  married.  Seymour  was  a  son  of  Ephraim  and  Belle  Sergent,  Phebe 
was  born  in  Saratoga  county,  N.  T.  They  were  married  in  1847,  had  a  family  of  seven  chil- 
dren: Alma  Ann,  born  1849;  Martha,  born  in  1851 ;  Seymour,  born  1852;  Mary,  born  in  1854; 
Helen,  born  1857;  Sarah,  born  1859;  and  Ehzabeth,  1860.  Ephraim's  first  wife  was  Huldah 
Collins,  who  was  born  in  Elbridge,  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1808.  They  were  married  in 
1829,  and  had  a  family  of  seven  children :  Charles,  born  1829 ;  Warren,  1831 ;  Cynthia,  born  in 
1833  ;  Roxie,  born  1836 ;  Oscar,  born  in  1838  ;  John  born  in  1840,  and  Cortlandt,  born  in  1843. 
Huldah  died  in  1845.  Ephraim  was  born  in  Rutland  county,  Vt.,  in  1808,  and  was  a  son  of 
Ephraim  and  Hannah  (Wood)  Sergent.  Hannah  died  in  1818,  in  Pittsfield,  N.  Y.,  and  Ephraim 
and  his  father  settled  in  what  is  now  Gorham  township,  but  what  was  then  Luca,s  county  in 
1833.  He  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  80  acres  in  1836,  for  which  he  paid  $250.  He  has 
cleared  and  improved  his  farm,  and  liberally  educated  his  fourteen  children.  He  has  now  four- 
teen grandchildren, 

Serriok,  Effinger,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Limerick,  Montgomery  county,  Pa., 
in  1830,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Miller)  Serrick,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Berks 
county,  Pa.  They  came  to  Henry  county,  0.,  and  settled  in  Liberty  township  in  1836,  where 
Mary  died  in  1838,  leaving  a  family  of  seven  children :  Mary,  Catharine,  William,  Levy,  EfBn- 
ger,  Augustus,  and  Franklin.  John  died  in  Michigan  in  1866,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one  years, 
Ef&nger  Serrick  was  married  in  1870  to  Nancy  Ann  Andrews,  of  Fulton  county.  They  have 
had  two  children,  Lillie  and  Jennie.  Mr.  Serriok  is  engaged  in  farrhing,  of  which  he  has  made  a 
success,  and  now  owns  a  fine  farm  of  190  acres.  He  being  an  early  settler,  is  quite  famiUar  with 
the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  the  county  in  the  past  few  years,  and  the  youth  of  to-day 
could  hardly  credit  his  stories  of  the  Indians  and  the  abundance  of  game. 

Serrick,  William,  Chnton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  retired  farmer,  was  born  in  Berks  county.  Pa., 
in  1822  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Miller)  Serrick,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  settled  in  Marion  county,  0.,  in  1834  and  in  1836  settled  in  Liberty  township  where 


Brief  Personals.  699 

Mary  died  in  1838,  leaving  a  family  of  six  children :  Mary,  Catharine,  William,  Levy,  Effinger, 
Augustus  and  Franklin.  John  died  in  Michigan  in  1866  at  the  age  of  seventy-one  years.  Wil- 
liam Serrick  was  married  in  1852  to  Lucinda  Edgar,  who  was  born  in  Ireland,  in  1824.  They 
■were  married  in  1852.  Lucinda  was  a  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Mary  Edgar  who  came  to  Amer- 
ica from  Ireland  and  settled  in  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1853.  They  had  a  family  of  ten  children, 
SIX  of  whom  are  now  living.  Mary  and  her  brother  came  to  Henry  county  in  1851.  Mr.  Ser- 
rick settled  in  Clinton,  Pulton,  county,  in  1840. 

Shadle,  Jacob,  Dover  township,  Ottokee,  p.  o.,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  this  township,  was 
born  in  Lebanon  county.  Pa.,  August  16,  1815,  and  was  a  son  of  Phillip  and  Mary  Shadle,  who 
had  long  been  upon  the  soil  of  Pennsylvania.  Joseph  Shadle  was  married  October  17,  1833,  to 
Jane  Burk,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Rebecca  Burk  and  was  born  February  29,  1812. 
In  1836  himself  and  young  wife  left  Lebanon  county,  Pa.,  and  settled  in  Wayne  county,  0. 
Here  for  several  years  he  worked  a  farm  upon  shares  and  made  a  few  doHars  ahead.  He  then 
came  to  Fulton  county  and  with  his  past  few  years  earnings  purchased  160  acres  of  land  upon 
section  two,  town  seven  north,  range  six  east,  paying  therefor  the  sum  of  $400,  and  the  Novem- 
ber following,  13,  1845,  himself  and  family  came  to  Dover  township,  Fulton  county,  and  settled 
upon  his  purchase  and  immediately  erected  a  log  cabin.  He  afterwards  added  to  his  first  pur- 
chase several  times,  until  at  one  time  he  was  the  owner  of  600  acres  of  land,  the  major  por- 
tion of  which  he  has  cleared-and  built  thereon  and  established  his  sons  with  homes  to  begin  life. 
He  has  always  been  able  to  provide  enough  for  his  family  to  eat  and  wear  since  he  has  been  here 
and  occasionally  a  share  to  the  more  unfortunate.  He  has  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  all  of 
whom  are  now  living :  Hosea,  Richard  B.,  Rebecca,  Wm.  Allen,  Mary  A.  Ferdinand,  Luther, 
Emeline,  Harvey  and  Florence.  Himself  and  wife  have  lived  to  see  all  their  children  properly 
settled  in  the  race  for  Ufe  and  he  still  retains  a  hold  upon  120  acres  of  land  for  their  declining  years. 
He  is  one  of  the  successful  farmers  of  Dover  township.  He  had  four  sons  who  enlisted  in  the 
volunteers  and  served  the  Union  cause  in  the  great  rebellion.  Hosea  enhsted  in  the  67th  Ohio 
Voluneter  Infantry,  Richard  in  the  14th  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  Wm.  Allen  in  the  100th 
Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  Ferdinand  in  the  10th  Ohio  Volunteer  Cavalry  and  all  were 
honorably  discharged.  Joseph  Shadle  has  many  times  been  honored  by  his  township  with 
the  ofiice  of  trustee  and  constable,  and  once  with  the  office  of  land  appraiser  and  later 
with  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  but  for  this  did  not  qualify.  He  has  twice  been 
honored  with  the  office  of  county  commissioner  and  served  his  people  six  years,  and  in  this 
time  was  instrumental  in  establishing  a  county  infirmary  for  Fulton  county.  Mr.  Shadle  has 
always,  since  1845,  been  active  in  assisting  in  all  the  improvments  in  his  township,  including 
schools,  churches  and  church  societies,  and  the  development  of  the  county  in  every  particular. 
He  has  given  liberally  of  his  means  and  donated  bountifully  of  his  labor  for  roads,  etc.  He  has 
been  promment  as  a  great  harmonizer  among  his  towsnmen  in  the  differences  which  have  dis- 
turbed business  life,  and  always  a  friend  of  the  unfortnate  in  sickness,  poverty  and  despair.  He 
was  originally  a  Democrat  but  later  a  strong  and  active  Republican,  but  at  present  an  untiring 
worker  in  the  cause  of  temperance  and  a  strong  defender  of  the  home  against  the  saloon,  and 
to-day  he  is  thankful  that  he  has  lived  to  see  his  township  grow  from  a  wilderness  to  a  garden, 
settled  up  with  intelligent  and  worthy  people,  nearly  all  of  whom  are  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances, the  saloon  banished  and  not  a  place  in  his  township  where  it  is  permitted  to  be  sold. 
:i  Shafif,  Joseph,  Napoleon,  was  born  at  Nassau,  G-ermany,  in  1846  and  settled  in  Crawford 
county,  0.,  in  1854,  with  his  parents,  Phillip  and  Appolina  Shaffi  His  father  died  in  1859,  after 
which  his  mother,  with  four  children  settled  in  Henry  county.  The  mother  died  in  1882.  Jo- 
seph was  apprenticed  to  learn  the  carriage  and  wagon  business  and  commenced  his  present  busi- 
ness in  1870  as  a  manufacturer  of  carriages,  wagons,  sleds  and  cutters.  He  was  married  in  1876 
to  Kate  Lenhard. 

Sharpe,  Doctor  J.  W.,  Damascus,  McOlure  p.  o.,  a  physician  and  surgeon  of  McClure,  Dam- 
ascus township,  was  born  in  Simcoe,  Ontario,  Canada,  in  1858.  He  read  medicine  and  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Toronto  University  in  1879  and  settled  in  Ridgeville,  and  in  1870  came  to  Dam- 
ascus and  settled  here  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  erected  his  office  and  stocked  it  with 
medicine  and  drugs  for  the  especial  use  of  his  patients  and  his  large  practice.  He  is  a  son  of 
William  and  Anna  Sharpe,  who  have  a  family  of  four  children :  William  James,  Thomas,  Hel- 
len  M.  and  Doctor  J.  W.  William  James  is  a  physician  and  surgeon  at  Toledo,  O.,  was  a  grad- 
aute  of  McG-ill  University  at  Montreal. 

Shaw,  Nathan,  Gorham,  Fayette,  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  settler  of  Gorham  township,  0.,  coming 
here  in  1838,  was  born  in  Hampshire  county,  Mass.,  in  1820  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Polly 
(Whitmarsh)  Shaw  who  died  in  Massahcusetts  in  1826  leaving  a  family  of  three  children  :  Sile- 
na  M.  Lyanda  and  Nathan.  Lyanda  came  to  Lenawee  county,  Mich.,  in  1832  and  Silena  M. 
and  Nathan  also  removed  to  Michigan  in  1833.  Silena  M.,  married  N.  D.  Warner,  and  died 
leaving  one  son,  Almon  Warner.     He  enhsted  and  served  through  the  war,  was  wounded  at  the 


700  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

battle  of  G-ettysburg  and  died  in  1886.  Lyanda  married  Alonzo  Mitchell  in  1832  and  moved  to 
Michigan  the  same  year.  Nathan  was  fitted  for  and  taught  school  for  several  terms.  He  was 
married  in  Gorham,  Ohio,  in  1844,  to  Anna  B.  Ford,  who  was  born  in  Berkshire  county,  Mass., 
in  1824.  She  died  in  1877.  They  had  a  family  of  live  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living: 
Charles  A.,  John  F.,  Ernest  A.  and  L.  A.  0.  A.  is  deceased.  Mr.  Shaw  has  been  one  of  the  rep- 
resentative men  of  his  town ;  has  been  justice  of  the  peace,  township  treasurer,  town  clerk  and 
a  member  of  the  school  board  for  over  thirty  years,  was  notary  public  in  1880,  83  and  86,  and 
is  still  commissioner,  expires  1890.  He  retired  from  his  farm  life  in  1878.  He  purchased 
his  farm  in  1844  which  consists  of  80  acres,  for  $300.  Afterwards,  in  1854,  he  traded  his  farm 
tor  the  one  on  which  he  lives.  He  has  lived  to  see  the  wilderness  cleared  and  to  bud  and  blos- 
som as  the  rose,  a  country  inhabited  by  the  red  men  when  he  first  settled  there  and  now  settled 
by  civilized  men  and  dotted  over  with  school  houses  and  churches. 

Shepard,  Daniel  L.,  Damascus,  McClure  p.  o.,  was  born  in  York,  Adams  county,  0.,  in  De- 
cember, 1822  and  was  a  son  of  N.  L.  and  Nancy  (Nanna)  Shephard,  who  were  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  married  in  Adams  county,  0.,  in  1821.  Nancy  died  in  Adams  county  in  1840  leav- 
ing a  family  of  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living.  N.  L.  settled  in  Henry  county  in 
1847  where  he  died  in  1883  at  the  age  of  ninety-three  years.  In  early  life  he  was  a  carpenter, 
but  later  in  life  became  engaged  in  farming,  and  located  in  section  seventeen.  David  L.,  en- 
listed in  the  United  States  army  in  May,  1846,  served  under  G-eperal  fieorge  W.  Morgan,  of 
Ohio  in  the  Mexican  war,  as  sergeant  and  was  discharged  at  New  Orleans  in  July,  1847,  at  the 
close  of  the  war  and  the  battle  of  victory.  He  entered  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  for  his  land  war- 
rant, which  he  received  from  the  government,  and  now  owns  a  fine  improved  farm  of  120  acres. 
From  1849  to  1852  he  made  some  improvements  on  the  farm  and  also  built  his  log  house,  and  in 
1852  married  Maria  Hockman,  who  was  born  in  Fairfield  county,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
and  Polly  Hockman  who  settled  here  in  1846.  They  had  eleven  children,  nine  of  whom  are 
now  living :  J.  B.,  Mary  E.,  P.  N.,  Rebecca  A.,  M.  W.,  Florence  B.,  Huldah  J.,  Austin  and  Ed- 
ward.    Mr.  Shepard  erected  his  present  fine  residence  and  farm  buildings  in  1883. 

Sherman,  Joseph,  Freedom,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  a  successful  and  leading  farmer  of  his  town,  was 
born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1834,  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Mary  (Waltz)  Sherman. 
They  had  family  of  five  children  :  Antona,  Frederick,  Joseph  and  Oarly.  Joseph  emigrated  to 
America  in  May,  1854,  and  settled  in  Napoleon,  0.,  and  became  engaged  in  farming  and  lum- 
bering. He  enUsted  in  Company  C,  124th  Volunteers,  in  August,  1863,  under  Colonel  Payne, 
of  Cleveland,  and  was  promoted  to  second  sergeant.  He  was  discharged  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
July  9,  1865.  He  was  married  in  August,  1865,  to  Christina  Miller,  who  was  born  in  Baden, 
Germany.  January  2,  1841.  They  have  had  a  family  of  seven  children  :  John,  Joseph,  August, 
Charles,  Olesius,  Mary  and  Sophronia.  Christina  was  a  daughter  of  Lawrence  and  Jane  B.  Mill- 
er, who  came  from  Baden  to  Henry  county  in  1854,  with  a  family  of'six  children.  Joseph  pur- 
chased his  present  farm  of  72  1-3  acres,  in  1865.  He  now  owns  a  farm  of  160  acres  of  highly 
improved  land. 

Shilling,  John  jr.,  Franklin,  West  Unity  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Columbiana  county  in  1825  and 
was  a  son  of  John  and  Catharine  Shilling,  who  were  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany  and  mar- 
ried in  Mahoning  county,  O.,  about  1820.  They  died  in  Columbiana  county  at  advanced  ages. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children :  George,  John,  Hannah  (Mrs.  Strawhecker),  Caroline 
(Mrs.  Deemer),  Solomon  S.  John,  jr.,  was  married  October  25,  1849,  to  Anna  Hofimesteir, 
who  was  born  July  17,  1831.  They  have  had  a  family  of  ten  children  eight  of  whom  are  now 
living :  Wilham  H.,  Matilda,  Curtis  B.,  Leander  S.,  Clara  A.,  Rachel  C,  Mary  E.  and  John  Frank- 
lin. Mr.  Shilling  settled  in  Franklin,  Fulton  county,  0.,  in  1864,  and  purchased  his  homestead  of 
160  acres  for  which  he  paid  $6,000.  He  now  owns  a  farm  of  178  acres.  He  and  his  sons 
erected  a  steam  saw  and  feed-mill  and  became  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  and  laths 
in  1883.  Mr.  Shilling  has  been  an  active  man  in  all  public  afiairs.  He  was  a  trustee  for  sev- 
eral years  and  was  active  in  organizing  the  Brady  Farmers'  Fire  Insurance  Company  in  1875, 
and  was  president  of  the  same  for  two  years.  He  has  held  an  oflBce  in  said  company  ever  since. 
In  early  life  he  learned  the  miller's  trade  and  became  an  expert  in  the  business.  For  fourteen 
years  he  has  been  a  successful  agent  for  a  large  mower  and  reaper  firm. 

Shoner,  F.  T.,  Napoleon,  saddle  and  harness  manufacturer  of  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Bavaria 
in  1841  and  emigrated  to  America  in  1856  and  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1861,  where  he  became 
engaged  in  his  present  business.  He  now  carries  a  full  line  of  goods  pertaining  to  the  saddlery 
business  and  in  connection  carries  on  a  large  repair  trade. 

Showman,  Charles  M.,  Washington,  Liberty  Centre  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Fairfield  county,  July 
5,  1854,  and  was  married  in  1881  to  Delia  Young,  of  Liberty.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three 
children :  Cloise  M.,  Melville  B.,  and  Meme.  Charles  M.  Showman  is  engaged  in  general  farming. 
He  was  a  son  of  John  F.  and  Lavina  (Hammond)  Showman.  Lavina  was  born  in  Washington 
county,  Md.,  in  1816,  and  John  F.  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1812.     They  were  married  in  Mary- 


Brief  Personals.  701 

land  in  1836,  and  settled  from  Fairfield  county  in  Henry,  in  1837,  with  a  family  of  eight  chil- 
dren. They  first  settled  on  the  Judge  Corey  farm  of  285  acres,  which  they  purchased  in  1875. 
John  died  in  1877.  The  children  are  Robert  "W".  (born  in  1836),  John  H.,  Annie  L.,  William  R., 
Vardimque,  Frank  M.,  Charles  M.,  Sarah  E.,  and  two  who  died  in  infancy.  David  P.,  Joseph 
B.,  Robert  W.,  and  William  B.,  enlisted  and  served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 

Showman,  F.  W,,  Washington,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Fairfield  county  in  1850, 
and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Lovina  (Hammond)  Showman.  She  was  born  in  Washington  county, 
Md.,  in  1816,  and  her  husband,  John,  was  born  in  Kentucky,  in  1812.  They  were  married  in 
Washington  county,  Maryland  in  1886,  and  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
now  hvmg:  Robert  W.,  John  H.,  Annie  L.,  William  B.,  Frank  M.,  Charles  M.,  and  Sarah  C. 
Robert  W.,  enlisted  in  Co.  D,  14th  Ohio,  John  H.  and  William  B.  in  the  128th  Regiment.  Will- 
iam B.  now  receives  a  pension.  John  Showman  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1857,  on  the  Judge 
Corey  farm  of  285  acres  and  purchased  the  same  in  1865.  John  died  in  1877,  leaving  a  widow 
and  eight  children.     F.  M.  Showman  now  resides  on  the  old  homestead. 

Showman,  Robert  W.,  Washington,  Texas  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Washington  county,  Md.,  near 
Harpers  Ferry,  in  1836,  and  was  married  in  December,  1866,  to  Martha  Edwards,  who  was  born 
in  Washington  township,  0.,  in  1836.  They  have  had  four  children :  Blair  C,  born  in  1867 ; 
Cynthia  C,  born  1869;  Lilhe  M.,  born  1872;  Fanny  F.,  born  1874;  Robert  W.,  enhsted  in  Au- 
gust, 1861,  in  Co.  D.,  14th  Ohio  Regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  Steadman,  and  which  was 
attached  to  the  3d  Brigade,  3d  Division,  14th  Corps.  He  was  discharged  at  Atlanta,  September 
12,  1864.  His  wife,  Martha,  was  a  daughter  of  David  and  Cynthia  Ann  (Meek)  Edwards.  Cyn- 
thia was  born  in  Clark  county,  0.,  in  1804,  and  her  husband,  David,  was  born  in  Virginia,  in 
1797.  They  were  married  in  1824,  and  settled  in  1834  in  Henry  county,  on  the  Maumee  River, 
on  his  farm  which  he  had  purchased  in  1832.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children.  David  died 
in  1873,  and  his  wife  in  1858.  Mrs.  Martha  Showman  is  the  only  one  of  the  family  now  hving. 
Robert  W.,  was  a  son  of  John  F.  and  Lavina  (Hammond)  Showman. 

Shudel,  Ulrich,  Frankhn,  Fayette  p.  o.,  brick  and  tile  manufacturer,  was  born  in  Switzerland 
in  1821,  and  emigrated  to  America,  and  settled  in  Frankhn  township  in  1865.  He  was  married 
in  1846  to  Anna  Weaver.  They  have  six  children  now  living.  He  became  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  brick  on  settlement  here,  and  in  1872  added  to  this  enterprise  the  production  of 
tile,  which  is  considered  of  superior  quahty. 

Smith,  Abraham,  Liberty  Centre,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1816,  and  was  a  son  of  Henry 
Smith.  Abraham  was  married  in  January,  1838,  to  Rebecca  Bergstresa,  of  Yates  county,  N.  T. 
They  have  had  eleven  sons  and  one  daughter ;  seven  are  now  living  as  follows :  Catharine, 
Henry,  George,  William,  Charles,  Albert  and  Edward.  One  son,  Isaac,  enlisted  in  Co.  G-,  Ohio 
Vols.,  on  February  15,  1864,  and  died  July  13,  1864,  from  wounds  received  while  in  service. 
Nelson  died  leaving  a  widow  and  one  son,  Werdna.  Mr.  Smith  settled  in  Seneca  county  in 
1840,  coming  there  from  New  York,  and  in  1863  settled  in  Henry  county,  and  then  became  en- 
gaged in  farming. 

Smith,  Conrad,  Clinton,  Pettisville  p.  o.,  an  early  pioneer  of  Fulton  county.  0.,  was  born  in 
Bronswick,  Germany,  September  25,  1825,  and  was  a  son  of  Henry  Smith.  He  emigrated  to 
America  and  settled  in  Jefferson  county,  0.,  in  1851,  and  in  1855  came  to  Clinton  township 
Fulton  county,  0.,  where  he  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  80  acres,  at  |3  per  acre.  He 
cleared  a  space  and  erected  his  first  log  cabin.  He  was  married  in  1853  to  Hannah  Feltman,  of 
Germany.  They  had  a  family  of  four  children.  His  wife,  Hannah,  died  in  1882  at  the  age  of 
forty-nine  years,  leaving  three  children  :  Albert,  Minnie  and  Henry.  Minnie  married  Anthony 
Fluhart;  Albert  married  Miss  Hattie  Horton,  and  Henry  was  married  in  1883  to  Lizzie  Linin- 
ger.     They  have  had  two  children.     Mr.  Smith  had  one  brother,  who  died  in  Germany. 

Smith,  Francis  W.,  Washington,  Liberty  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Wayne  county  0.,  in  1833,  and 
was  a  son  of  Daniel  C,  and  Elizabeth  (McLaren)  Smith,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Penn- 
sylvania. They  settled  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1820,  and  in  1833  came  to  Damascus,  Henry 
county,  where  they  died ;  he  in  1840,  and  his  wife  in  1842.  They  had  a  family  of  eleven  chil- 
dren, but  two  of  whom  are  now  living :  James  M.  and  Francis  W.  Francis  W.  enlisted  in  Co. 
D.,  68th  Ohio  Volunteers,  on  November  11,  1861,  under  Colonel  R.  K.  Scott,  was  mustered  out 
at  Savannah,  December  19,  1864,  as  corporal.  He  was  married  in  1865  to  Lavonia  Buchanan. 
They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children :  LiUie,  Carrie,  Scott,  Gertrude,  and  Frank.  Lavonia  was 
a  daughter  of  Matthew  and  Rachel  M.  (Scott)  Buchanan,  who  were  married  January  28,  1830. 
Rachel  was  born  in  1816,  and  died  in  1850.  Her  husband  was  born  in  1806,  and  died  June  25, 
1887.  They  had  a  family  of  three  children :  Joanna  J.,  Elizabeth  M.,  and  Lavonia.  Matthew- 
settled  in  Henry  county  in  1854,  where  he  now  resides.  He  retired  from  business  and  has  trav- 
elled for  some  years. 

Smith,  John,  Flat  Rock,  Holgate  p.  o.,  one  of  the  extensive  and  successful  farmers  of  Henry 
county,  was  born  in  Marion  county,  0.,  in  1836.     He  was  a  son  of  Philip  and  Nancy  Smith. 


702  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

John  was  married  in  1859  to  Susan  Ourren,  of  Marion  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  seven 
children :  William  M.,  Mary  E.,  Martha  A.,  James  E.,  Philip  Sheridan,  Nancy  E.,  and  Rosetta. 
The  father,  Philip,  was  born  in  Prance,  in  1800,  and  his  wife,  Nancy,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania 
in  1810.  They  were  married  in  Pennsylvania,  and  settled  in  Marion  county  in  1832.  They 
have  had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living  :  John,  Phihp,  Mary,  Eliza, 
Magdalena,  Eebecca,  Hannah,  and  Catharine.  Susan  was  a  daughter  of  John  and  Margaret 
Curren.  Mr.  Smith  settled  in  Flat  Rook  in  1861,  and  purchased  his  homestead  of  40  acres  in 
1863,  and  now  owns  a  farm  of  260  acres.  He  is  engaged  largely  in  the  buying  and  selling  of 
stock. 

Smith,  John,  jr.,  Q-orham,  Payette  p.  o.,  an  early  settler  in  Chesterfield,  who  came  there  in 
1849,  was  born  in  Berne,  Switzerland,  in  1815,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Rosine  (Broker) 
Smith,  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1832,  and  settled  in  Detroit,  Mich.,  and  became  engaged 
in  farming.  They  had  four  sons  and  three  daughters.  John,  jr.,  was  married  in  1840  to  Eliza- 
beth Peiren.  She  was  born  in  Berne,  Switzerland.  They  have  a  family  of  four  children :  Ja- 
cob P.,  Alonzo,  Elizabeth  and  Mary.  John,  jr.,  settled  in  Chesterfield  township,  Pulton  county, 
in  1849,  and  purchased  a  farm  which  he  sold  in  1875,  and  settled  in  G-orham  township,  where  he 
purchased  a  farm  of  160  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $8,800.  He  retired  from  active  life  in  1884, 
and  now  resides  with  his  son  at  Handy  Corners.  One  of  his  sons,  John,  enlisted  in  December, 
1861,  in  Co.  A,  67th  Ohio  Regiment,  and  lost  his  life  at  Port  Waggoner,  with  others  of  his  com- 
pany. 

SmeUie,  Gavin,  jr.,  Dover,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Cuyahoga  county,  O.,  in  1833,  and  was 
a  son  of  Gavin  and  Amanda  (Norris)  SmeUie.  Amanda  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  Gavin 
was  born  near  Glasgow,  in  Scotland,  in  1801.  They  were  married  at  Cleveland,  0.,  and  had  a 
family  of  ten  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  John,  Gavin,  Susan  and  W.  R.  (the  pub- 
lisher of  the at  Cleveland).     Five  of  the  sons,  John,  Gavin,  jr.,  Charles,  Emerson  and 

William  enlisted.  Two  were  kiUed  while  in  the  service,  Emerson  and  Charles.  Gavin,  jr.,  en- 
listed in  Co.  K,  30th  Illinois,  September,  1861,  under  Colonel  Fouk,  served  three  years,  and  was 
discharged  at  Springfield,  111.,  in  1864.  He  was  married  in  1857  to  Julia  A.  Whittecar,  of  Madi- 
son county,  0.  They  have  had  five  children:  Alice  A.,  Charles  H.,  Harry  B.,  Emma  J.,  and 
Herman  G.  They  settled  in  Pulton  county,  on  their  present  homestead  farm  of  74  acres  in 
1869.     Mr.  Smellie  was  trustee  for  two  years,  and  is  at  present  treasurer  of  the  township. 

Sohn,  W.  H.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  the  manufacturer  and  dealer  in  marble  and  granite 
monuments  of  Wauseon,  settled  here  in  August,  1877,  where  he  has  established  a  fine  business 
by  square  and  honorable  dealing.  He  was  married  in  1880  to  Harriet  A.  Brigham.  They  have 
one  child,  Howard  B.,  born  March  29,  1886.  Harriet  was  a  daughter  of  pioneer  Joel  and  Bet- 
sey (Lyon)  Brigham,  of  Fulton  county,  born  February  28, 1854.  W .  H.  Sohn,  was  a  son  of  Will- 
iam and  Caroline  (Swauder)  Sohn,  who  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  But  emigrated  to  Tiffin, 
Seneca  county,  0.,  in  1833,  where  he  was  born  June  29,  1851.  Was  elected  a  concUman  of 
Wauseon,  in  the  spring  of  1886. 

Spafibrd,  Americus  M.,  Harrison,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.,  in 
181 9,  and  was  a  son  of  Abner  and  Betsey  CLeach)  Spaflford.  Abner  was  born  in  Jefirey,  N.  H. 
They  settled  in  Tecumseh,  Mich.,  in  1824,  where  Betsey  died  leaving  a  family  of  eight  children, 
three  of  whom  are  now  living :  Mrs.  H.  M.  Webster,  Cynthia  M.  Tilton,  and  Americus.  Abner 
died  in  Wisconsin.  Americus  M.  purchased  his  time  from  his  father,  paying  .therefor  by  a  note 
of  $50.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  became  engaged  in  driving  stage,  and  in  1844  settled 
in  Ohio,  and  became  an  employee  of  the  Toledo  and  Walfash  packet.  He  settled  in  Napoleon 
in  1845,  and  in  1847  married  Maria  Glass,  a  sister  of  Jeremiah  Glass.  She  was  born  in 
Trumbull  county,  in  1829.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living : 
Francis  C,  born  1853,  married  Alice  Omwake  in  1877,  had  two  children,  one  living ;  Harriet  L., 
born  1855,  and  Lester  V.,  born  1863.  Harriet  married  William  C.  Nibel  in  1876.  They  have 
had  four  children.  Mr.  SpafFord  has  been  treasurer,  trustee  and  supervisor  of  his  town.  He 
purchased  his  present  homestead  of  sixty  acres  in  1858.  The  Spaffords  are  descendants  of  one 
of  the  oldest  families  of  England,  and  were  early  settlers  in  America.  First  settled  in  George- 
town, Mass.,  in  1638. 

Spangler,  Daniel  W.,  Freedom,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Fairfield  county  in  1827,  and 
was  married  in  1860  to  Mary  Meyers,  who  was  born  in  Wells  county,  Ind.,  and  came  to  Ohio 
with  her  parents  at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  They  settled  in  Freedom,  Henry  county,  in  No- 
vember, 1862,  and  have  had  a  family  of  three  children :  Mary,  Elizabeth  (who  died  at  the  age 
of  six  years),  and  Daniel.  Mr.  Spangler  purchased  his  present  farm  in  1860.  He  was  engaged 
in  teaching  in  1865,  after  which  he  became  a  farmer,  erected  his  buildings,  and  cleared  his  farm. 
He  has  taken  an  interest  in  all  town  and  county  affairs,  holding  several  of  the  township  offices. 
He  was  sheriff  of  the  county  in  1877  and  1878,  but  owing  to  impaired  health,  was  obliged  to  re- 
tire from  active  public  life  in  1880.     He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Christina  Spangler.     John  died 


Brief  Personals.  703 


in  Fairfield  county,  in  1834,  leaving  a  widow  and  four  children :  Catharine,  Mary,  Christopher, 
and  Daniel  W.  His  widow,  Christina,  died  in  Henry  county  in  August,  1876,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-six years.  Mary  was  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Caroline  Meyers,  natives  of  Hanover,  Ger^ 
many. 

Spongier,  John,  Q-erman,  Blmira  p.  o.,  the  merchant  and  postmaster  of  Elmira,  was  born  in 
Switzerland,  in  May,  1823,  and  was  a  son  of  G-eorge  and  Margaret  Spengler,  of  Switzerland, 
who  with  a  family  of  two  sons,  John  and  Harmon,  emigrated  to  America  in  1847.  The  parents 
settled  in  Franklin  township,  where  they  died.  George,  who  was  born  in  1779,  died  in  1884. 
His  wife  died  in  1872.  John  learned  the  stone-cutter's  and  carver's  trade,  and  executed  a  large 
amount  of  fine  work  in  this  country,  in  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Buffalo,  Chicago,  and  San  Fran- 
cisco, as  well  as  on  the  capitol  at  Washington.  He  was  married  in  Switzerland  in  1848,  and 
came  to  America  and  settled  in  New  York,  where  he  became  engaged  at  his  trade.  That  same 
year  he  came  to  Fulton  county  and  became  engaged  in  farming,  but  soon  tiring  of  this,  he 
moved  to  Toledo,  then  to  Buffalo,  and  from  thence  back  to  New  York,  and  in  1854  went  to 
Washington.  For  five  years  he  was  engaged  in  mining,  and  did  much  of  the  work  on  the  Corn- 
stock  Silver  Mill,  after  which  he  worked  at  his  trade  in  Sacramento  City  and  Nevada.  In  1864 
he  visited  his  native  land,  and  in  1866  he  returned  to  New  York  city.  In  1868  he  came  to 
Bloomington,  111.,  then  went  to  Chicago,  and  in  1875  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  remained  until 
1876,  when  he  again  came  to  Fulton  county  and  settled  in  German  township,  and  became  en- 
gaged in  the  marble  and  granite  business.  In  1885  he  purchased  his  store  and  dwelling.  He 
was  appointed  postmaster  in  1885  at  Elmira  where  he  resides. 

Spring,  Cornelius  M.,  Dover,  Spring  Hill  p.  o.,  is  a  general  farmer  and  cheese  manufacturer, 
and  was  born  in  Edinburgh,  Portage  county,  0.,  in  December,  1842.  He  was  a  son  of  Milton 
and  Eunice  (Hall)  Spring.  Eunice  was  born  in  Portage  county,  and  Milton  was  born  in  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1806.  They  were  married  in  1834,  and  settled  in  Spring  Hill,  Dover  township,  in 
1853.  They  had  a  family  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living.  Three  sons  enlisted. 
Cornelius-  M.  enlisted  in  Co.  H,  86th  Ohio  Regiment,  under  Colonel  R.  C.  Lemert,  in  1862,  and 
was  discharged  at  Columbus,  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  enlistment.  He  re-enlisted  in  the 
130th  National  Guards,  in  1864,  at  the  one  hundred  days  call.  Nial  C.  and  Sylvester  I.  served 
in  the  67th  Ohio ;  the  other  children  were  Ellen  M.  and  Sarah  E.  CorneUus  M.  was  married  in 
1869  to  Sarah  Bldridge  of  Fulton  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  two  children,  Ada  Flor- 
ence and  Everett  E.     CorneUus  purchased  the  Spring  Hill  cheese  factory  in  1879. 

Stebbins,  Stephen  R.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  retired  farmer  of  Wauseon,  was  born  in 
Middlesex  county,  Conn.,  March  80,  1808,  and  was  a  son  of  Amasa  and  Sally  Stebbins,  who  set- 
tled in  Cuyahoga  county,  0.,  in  1817,  moving  there  with  two  ox  teams,  a  distance  of  650  miles, 
with  a  family  of  six  children.  They  had  eight  children,  two  being  born  after  settling  here. 
Six  are  now  deceased,  two  living,  Stephen  R.  and  Allen  R.  Stephen  R.  settled  in  Liberty  town^ 
ship  in  1844,  and  became  engaged  in  farming.  He  was  married  in  Cuyahoga  county,  January 
27,  1840,  to  Sarah  Abbott,  who  was  born  in  Vermont.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children,  two 
of  whom  are  now  hving,  Martha  Jane  and  Augusta  S.  Martha  J.  married  Elias  Dapdorf.  They 
have  had  one  child.  Pearl.  Augusta  married  Mr.  Borland ;  they  have  had  one  daughter,  Stella. 
Mrs.  Stebbins  died  October  9, 1885.  Mr.  Stebbins  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  and  has  also 
held  other  minor  offices  in  York  township.     He  returned  to  and  settled  in  Wauseon,  m  1883. 

Stephens,  Captain  Charles  L.,  Franklin,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Knox  county,  0.,  in  1835, 
and  in  early  fife  learned  the  carpenter's  and  joiner's  trade.  He  also  taught  school  for  several 
years.  He  was  married  in  1860  to  Hannah  Masters,  who  was  born  in  1840.  They  have  had 
a  family  of  seven  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  Uving :  Mary  A.,  Florence  B.,  Waldo  B.,  Alice 
G.,  Leroy  C.  and  George  M.  Charles  L.  purchased  his  present  homestead  in  1856,  of  80  acres, 
for  which  he  paid  $800.  He  now  owns  100  acres  on  sections  1  and  2.  He  was  elected  town 
clerk  two  terms,  justice  of  the  peace  for  one  term,  assessor  for  three  terms.  In  August,  1862, 
he  enhsted  in  the  67th  Ohio  Volunteers,  and  in  September  received  the  commission  of  first  lieu- 
tenant. Went  out  under  Colonel  A.  C.  Voorhees,  and  served  for  three  years  and  five  months. 
He  was  promoted  to  captain'  in  March,  1864,  was  wounded  at  the  attack  of  Fort  Wagoner,  S.  G, 
and  now  receives  a  pension  of  $8.50  per  month.  He  was  discharged  at  Columbus,  0.  His  par- 
ents were  William  H.  and  Armenia  E.  (Morrison)  Stevens,  who  settled  m  Fulton  county  m  1850. 
They  had  a  family  of  six  sons  and  one  daughter.     All  of  the  sons  served  in  the  late  war. 

Stevens,  Royal  C,  FrankKn,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Richland  county,  in  1834,  and  was 
the  son  of  William  H.  and  Armenia  (Morrison)  Stevens.  Armenia  was  born  m  Richland  county 
in  1812  and  William  H.  was  bom  in  Pennsylvania  in  1809.  They  had  six  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter- Royal  C,  Charies  L.,  Daniel  L.,  Sylvanus  M.,  William  H.,  John  S.,  and  Sarah  0.  All  six 
sons  enhsted  and  served  during  the  late  war.  Three  in  the  67th  0.  V.  Inf.,  and  three  m  the  44th 
Illinois.  Royal  C.  was  wounded  in  the  left  side;  Charies  L.  in  the  thigh,  and  Daniel  L.  died 
while  in  service  from  disease  caused  by  exposure  in  1863,  while  William  H.  lost  his  left  arm 


704  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

while  serving  his  country.  Armenia  died  in  1845  and  her  husband  December  21,  1876.  He 
settled  in  Franklin  township  irf  1850,  and  purchased  160  acres  of  land  for  $1.25  per  acre.  He 
was  trustee  of  Franklin  township  for  several  terms.  Royal  C.  enlisted  in  Co.  A,  Ohio  Regi- 
ment under  Colonel  Voorhes,  of  Akron,  in  August,  1862,  and  was  discharged  ai  the  hospital  at 
Hampton,  Va.,  on  account  of  wounds  received  in  June,  1865.  He  was  married  August  13, 1855, 
to  Sarah  J.  Borton,  who  died  June  16,  1862,  leaving  three  sons :  Charlie  B.,  Frank  M.,  and  Har- 
vey M.  He  was  married  the  second  time  March  7,  1866,  to  Alice  A.  Poorman,  a  daughter  of 
Adam  and  Julia  Poorman.  She  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  Franklin  township,  after  its 
organization.  Royal  C.  has  one  son  by  his  last  wife,  Wilbert  H.  Charles  B.,  the  oldest  son 
had  his  left  arm  taken  off  in  a  threshing  machine ;  John  S.  is  now  a  banker  in  Missouri.  His 
only  sister  married  J.  H.  Masters,  and  is  now  living  in  Kansas. 

Stephens,  Sylvanus  M.,  Franklin  Tedrow  p.  o.,  a  veteran  soldier,  serving  from  July,  1861; 
until  May,  1865,  was  born  in  Richland  county,  0.,  in  1839,  and  was  a  son  of  William  H.  and  Ar- 
menia (Morrison)  Stevens.  Sylvanus  M.  was  married  in  1868  to  Sarah  Bstella  G-ilbert,  who  was 
born  in  Fulton  county  in  1851.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
now  living :  Daniel  Lament,  Ettie  Blanche,  and  Sylvanus  Walter.  Mr.  Stevens  chose  farming 
for  his  occupation.  He  has  held  the  office  of  trustee  for  several  terms,  and  also  other  minor 
offices.  Sylvanus  M.  enlisted  in  Co.  D,  44th  Illinois,  under  Colonel  Nobles  Dorph,  in  July,  1861, 
and  was  discharged  at  Springfield,  111.,  in  May,  1865.  He  was  taken  prisoner  and  held  at  An- 
dersonville  for  nine  months,  where  he  suffered  greatly,  from  six  to  eight  dying  in  his  ward  daily. 
He  was  removed  for  dead,  but  fortunately  for  him  life  was  still  in  his  body,  and  he  was  re- 
turned. The  number  dying  daily  at  AndersonvlUe  was  estimated  to  be  about  100.  Mr.  Stevens 
is  now  receiving  a  pension.  .His  father's  family  consisted  of  six  boys  and  one  girl:  Royal  C, 
Charles  L.,  Daniel  L.,  Sylvanus  M.,  William.  H.,  John  S.,  and  Sarah  C.  All  the  boys  enlisted 
and  served  in  the  late  war. 

Steward,  Squire  Frederick,  Liberty,  Liberty  Centre  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Huron  county,  0.,  in 
1845,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Jerry)  Steward,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Eng- 
land, near  Lynn.  They  emigrated  to  and  settled  in  Huron  county  in  1837,  with  a  family  of 
four  children.  They  came  to  Liberty  in  1852.  They  had  ten  children  in  all,  eight  of  whom  are 
now  living :  John,  Robert,  Thomas,  Ann,  Richard,  Joseph,  Frederick  and  Matthew.  Three  sons 
enlisted,  Frederick,  in  Co.  D,  124th  Ohio  Vols.,  on  February  24,  1864 ;  Joseph  enlisted  in  the 
124th  in  October,  1862,  and  Richard  in  the  68th  in  1861.  Joseph  was  wounded,  but  at  the  close 
of  the  war  all  the  boys  returned  home,  and  all  on  the  same  day.  Frederick  S.  is  at  present  jus- 
tice, having  held  that  office  for  three  successive  terms.  He  was  married  in  1870  to  Emeline 
Hoover,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary  Hoover.  They  had  two  children.  Squire  Frederick 
Steward  purchased  his  homestead  in  1874.  It  consists  of  100  acres,  90  of  which  have  been  im- 
proved and  are  under  cultivation. 

Stough,  Joshua  J.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  one  of  the  leading  successful  farmers  of  Clinton 
township,  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  0.,  in  1824,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Anna  C.  E.  (De  Bolt) 
Stough,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Fayette  county.  Pa.  They  settled  in  Wayne  county, 
0.,  and  in  1854,  came  to  Clinton,  Fulton  county,  where  they  purchased  a  farm  of  160  acres,  pay- 
ing therefor  $1,150.  John  died  in  1857,  aged  seventy-seven  years,  leaving  a  widow  and  seven 
children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living  Joshua  J.,  G-eorge,  and  Mrs.  Lavina  T.  Eddington. 
Joshua  J.  Stough  was  married  in  1848  to  Sarah  Harbaugh,  who  was  born  in  Wayne  county. 
She  died  in  1860,  leaving  a  family  of  seven  children:  John  A.,  Catharine  I.,  Daniel  W.,  Robert 
C,  Paulina  J.,  and  Mary  0.  Joshua  then  married  for  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Rhoda  Tibbitts,  who 
was  born  in  Rome,  N.  Y.,  in  1829.  She  had  one  son  by  her  first  husband,  J.  S.  Tibbitts.  J.  J. 
Stough  now  owns  the  old  homestead  of  160  acres,  and  also  180  acres  in  addition,  which  he  has 
had  highly  improved,  and  now  occupies  a  beautiful  home. 

Stout,  Doctor  J.  M.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Knox  county,  0.,  in  1839,  and  was 
a  son  of  WiUiam  and  Ellen  Stout,  who  settled  near  Napoleon  in  1866,  and  in  1871  settled  in 
Missouri.  They  had  a  family  of  six  sons,  and  four  of  them  enlisted  and  served  in  the  late  war. 
The  sons  were  Felix  D.,  Benjamin  F.,  Brad  W.,  J.  M.,  Stephen  H.,  Isaac  N.  Doctor  J.  M.  Stout 
fitted  himself  for  and  became  a  teacher.  In  1861  he  enlisted  in  Co.  H,  3d  Ohio  Vols.,  under  Col- 
onel I.  M.  Morrow,  and  wag  discharged  July,  1862,  on  account  of  disability.  He  read  medicine 
in  St.  Louisville,  Licking  county,  0.,  after  which  he  settled  in  Knox  county,  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession.  He  settled  in  Florida,  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1872,  afterward  m  Holgate  in  1882, 
where  he  has  been  engaged  as  a  physician  and  surgeon  ever  since.  He  was  married  in  1866  to 
Sophia  B.  Q-ilson,  who  died  in  1878,  leaving  one  son,  William  B.  Dr.  J.  M.  then  married  for 
his  second  wife,  Christina  Stout,  in  1880.     She  had  one  child  by  her  first  husband. 

Sutton,  William,  Q-orham,  Morenci,  Mich.,  p.  o.,  was  born  May  2,  1808,  in  Seneca  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Rebecca  (Barnett)  Sutton.  John  was  born  in  New  Jersey 
and  served  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  under  General  Green.     Rebecca  was  born  June  27, 


Brief  Personals.  705 


1812,  and  was  married  to  John  Sutton,  June  29,  1829,  after  which  they  resided  in  Ontario  county, 
N.  Y.,  until  1835,  when  they  went  to  Morenci,  Mich.,  where  Mr.  Sutton  became  engaged  in  the 
hotel  business.  He  purchased  a  farm  of  320  acres  in  Pulton  county,  and  in  1838  removed  to 
this  farm,  where  he  resided  until  1868,  when  he  bought  120  acres  in  Medina,  Mich.,  where  he 
resided  until  1878,  when  he  sold  out  and  purchased  120  acres,  about  three  miles  from  there, 
which  place  he  now  owns.  His  wife,  Rebecca,  died  May  31,  1886.  Mr.  Sutton's  general  busi- 
ness was  farming,  but  he  was  a  first-class  carpenter.  When  he  first  came  West  he  was  engaged 
as  agent  for  selling  lands  by  different  companies,  and  was  employed  by  John  D.  Patterson,  of 
Chautauqua  county,  N.  Y.,  as  agent  for  his  fine  wool  sheep.  He  has  travelled  all  through  the 
northern  and  western  States.  He  was  the  father  of  fourteen  children.  His  son,  Harvey  was  a 
veteran  of  the  late  war.  He  enlisted  August  11, 1861,  in  Co.  P,  11th  Michigan  Inf.,  in  which  he 
served  for  three  years.  He  re-enlisted  in  Co.  A,  30th  Michigan  Inf.,  and  served  to  the  close  of 
the  war,  being  discharged  June  30,  1865.  He  was  born  in  G-orham,  December,  7,  1842,  and 
was  married  in  Waldron,  Mich.,  November  10,  1874,  to  Catharine  Demay,  who  was  born  in  Hol- 
land, in  1853.  They  have  had  three  children :  Leroy,  Verna,  and  Verta.  Catharine  was  a 
daughter  of  John  and  Malinda  Demay,  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1868,  and  settled  in  Hills- 
dale county,  Mich.,  with  a  family  of  four  children :  Abraham,  Catharine,  Johnny,  and  Mary. 
Mr.  Sutton  purchased  his  homestead  of  80  acres  in  1874. 

Tate,  Joseph,  Liberty,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  a  general  farmer  of  Liberty,  was  born  in  Warren 
county,  0.,  in  1820,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Susan  (Whitehill)  Tate,  who  were  born  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  married  in  Ohio,  where  they  died.  They  had  nine  sons  and  one  daughter:  Thomas, 
Joseph,  John,  William,  James,  Andrew  K.,  David  M.,  Robert  and  Susan,  and  also  one  son  who 
died  at  an  early  age.  Seven  of  their  sons  enlisted  and  served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  one 
was  wounded,  but  recovered  and  all  are  now  living.  Joseph  was  married  in  1850  to  Martha 
White,  who  was  born  in  1825.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children :  Ada,  James,  Anna  E., 
John,  Susan,  and  Joseph  W.     They  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1875. 

Thieson,  John,  Napoleon,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  present  mayor  of  Napoleon,  and  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  sash,  doors,  blinds,  and  mouldings,  and  dealing  in  laths,  builder's  supplies,  and 
lumber.  A  member  of  the  firm  of  Theison,  Hildred  &  Co.,  was  born  in  Prussia,  Germany, 
in  1834,  and  settled  in  Toledo,  0.,  in  1853,  and  became  engaged  in  the  lumber  business.  In  1859 
went  to  Dayton,  0..  and  in  1864  came  to  Napoleon,  where  he  commenced  his  present  successful 
business.  He  was  elected  mayor  of  Napoleon  in  1886.  He  has  also  held  several  other  town- 
ship offices. 

Thomas,  Calvin  W.,  Gorham,  Morenci,  Mich.,  p.  o.,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Fulton  county,  0., 
was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.,  on  January  10,  1822,  and  was  a  son  of  Marshall  and  Han- 
nah (Wheaton)  Thomas,  who  were  born  and  married  in  Connecticut,  and  settled  in  Seneca 
county,  N.  Y.,  in  1832,  after  which  they  came  to  Pierpont,  O.,  where  they  died.  They  had  a 
family  of  three  children :  Eoxana  A.,  Calvin  W.,  and  Rebecca,  who  married  Hira  Harvey, 
and  Roxana  married  Richard  Harcourt.  0.  W.  Thomas  was  married  in  January,  1844,  to  Re- 
becca Harvey,  who  was  born  in  Richland  in  1825.  She  died  in  1873.  They  had  a  family  of 
twelve  children,  eleven  of  whom  are  now  living:  Minerva,  Alice  A.,  George,  BUza,  Harriet, 
Martha,  Laura  A.,  Francis,  Marshall,  Orlan  and  Harvey.  Mr.  Thomas  settled  in  Gorham  in 
1859.  He  came  from  N.  Y.  State  to  Ashtabula  county  in  1843,  and  in  1855  to  Pike  township, 
Fulton  county.  He  was  an  early  merchant,  and  in  1857-58  was  engaged  in  manufacturing 
lumber  in  Pike  township.  He  purchased  his  present  homestead  of  fifty  acres  in  1859.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  school  board  for  twenty-two  years. 

Thrapp,  William,  Napolean,  of  Napoleon,  was  born  in  Licking  county,  0.,  in  1829,  and  mar- 
ried in  1847  to  Martha  Painter,  of  Licking  county.  They  have  had  two  children,  Isaac  I.  and 
Alice,  who  married  Dr.  T.  M.  Gehrett.  Isaac  L.  was  married  in  1872  to  Mary  Ellen  Gibson, 
who  died  December  12,  1881,  leaving  three  children:  Earl  H.,  J.  Raymond,  Carrie  Alice.  He 
then  married  his  second  wife,  Nellie  Jackway,  February  1,  1882.  They  have  had  one  child. 
Wilham  was  a  son  of  Rev.  John  and  Jane  (Van  Derburgh)  Thrapp.  He  was  born  in  Virginia,  and 
his  wife  in  New  Jersey.  They  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1854.  They  were  married  Decem- 
ber 1,  1814.  Four  of  their  children  are  now  living.  Rev.  John  was  a  Methodist  minister,  and 
died  i'n  1880  at  the  age  of  86  years.  William  Thrapp  enlisted  in  Co.  B,  100th  Ohio  Regiment, 
in  August,  1862,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  being  discharged  July  5,  1865.  He  went 
out  under  Colonel  Groom. 

Todd  Martha,  Gorham,  Ritter  p.  o.,  was  born  in  <3-orham  in  1851,  and  married  in  1870  to 
Elmer  Todd,  who  died  January  22,  1883,  leaving  three  children:  Jessie  L.,  Charles  and  Estelle 
L  Mr.  Elmer  was  born  in  Adrian,  Mich.,  February  21,  1849,  and  was  a  son  of  Ransom  and 
Sarah  (Waid)  Todd.  Ransom  died  in  1883,  leaving  a  widow  and  eight  children.  Martha  was  a 
daughter  of  Bphraim,  jr.,  and  Phebe  (Ball)  Sergent,  who  were  married  in  1847,  and  had  a  family 
of  seven  children  :  Ahna  Ann,  Martha,  Seymour,  Mary,  Helen,  Sarah  and  Ehzabeth.     Ephraim, 


7o6  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

jr.,  had  by  his  first  wife,  Huldah  Collins,  a  family  of  seven  children.  She  died  in  1841.  They 
were  married  in  1829.  Their  children  were  Charles,  Warren,  Cynthia,  Roxey,  Oscar,  John  and 
Corlandt.  Of  the  family  of  fourteen  children,  thirteen  are  now  living.  Ephraim  was  born  in 
Rutland  county,  Vt.,  in  1808,  and  was  a  son  of  Ephraim  and  Hannah  (Wood)  Sergent.  They 
settled  in  Q-orham  in  1833.  In  1836  they  purchased  the  Sergent  homestead  of  80  acres,  for 
which  they  paid  $250,  and  where  Mr.  Sergent  now  resides,  aged  79  years. 

Touvelle,  W.  W.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  counselor  and  attorney  at  law,  was  born  at 
Steubenville,  Jefferson  county,  0.,  in  1847,  and  received  a  liberal  education.  He  was  appointed 
to  a  position  in  a  naval  academy  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  in  1864,  by  Hon.  P.  C.  Leblon,  which  he  re- 
signed in  1866,  and  began  to  read  law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1868,  and  continued  his 
law  studies  until  1869,  when  on  June  10th  he  settled  in  Wauseon,  (coming  there  from  Celina),  and 
began  the  practice  of  law.  He  was  prosecuting  attorney  from  1872  to  1876.  He  was  also  a 
delegate  to  the  convention  at  Chicago,  at  the  nomination  of  President  Garfield.  He  has  been 
city  collector  for  three  terms.  He  was  married  in  1876  to  Mama  E.  Read,  a  daughter  of  John 
and  Emeline  Read.  They  have  had  one  son,  Arthur  B.  W.  W.  Touvelle  was  a  son  of  George 
W.  and  Mary  Touvelle. 

Tubbs,  William  B.,  Ridgeville,  Tubbsville  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Adams  township,  Henry  county, 
0.,  November  6,  1837.  He  was  married  March  21,  1862,  to  Hannah  Comstock.  They  have 
had  four  children :  Mary  C,  Charles  H.,  Alfred  S.,  and  Arba  B.,  (twins).  William  B.  has  held 
the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  two  terms,  trustee,  township  clerk,  assessor  of  the  township,  and 
real  estate  assessor,  and  was  school  director  for  nineteen  years,  and  was  appointed  postmaster, 
January  14,  1887.  He  was  drafted  October  2,  1862,  into  the  TJnion  army  for  nine  months,  but 
furnished  a  substitute  who  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  a  term  of  three  years.  He  was  a  son  of 
Charles  and  Lucy  M.  (Stow)  Tubbs,  of  N.  Y.  State  Charles  was  born  in  Mexico,  Oswego  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1810.  They  settled  in  Adams  township,  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1836,  and  Lucy  died  in 
August,  1870,  leaving  two  children :  William  B.  and  Arba  P.  Charles  married  for  his  second 
wife  Mrs.  Lottie  (Newel)  Robinson.  They  have  had  one  daughter,  Alice.  William  B's.  brother, 
Alfred  S.,  enlisted  in  Co.  E,  111th  Ohio  Vols,  in  1862,  and  died  at  the  hospital  at  DanviUe,  Ky., 
November  19,  1862,  aged  twenty-two  years. 

Tuttle,  Andrew,  Flat  Rock,  Ploridap.  o.,  a  merchant  of  the  firm.of  Messrs.  Long  and  Tuttle, 
which  firm  was  formed  in  1882.  Mr.  Tuttle  was  born  in  Defiance  county,  in  1845,  and  was 
brought  up  in  the  mercantile  business.  In  1863  he  enlisted  in  the  47th  Ohio  Regiment,  under 
Colonel  Perry,  and  was  discharged  at  the  close  of  the  war,  at  Port  Dennison.  He  was  married 
in  1870  to  Elizabeth  Long.  They  have  had  a  family  of  three  children.  He  became  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business  in  1882,  and  formed  his  present  partnership.  They  also  do  a  large  busi- 
ness in  the  buying,  shipping  of  grain  and  produce,  in  connection  with  their  mercantile  trade. 

Van  Hyning,  Julius,  Napoleon,  one  of  the  early  and  prominent  settlers  of  Henry  county, 
was  born  in  Summit  county,  0.,  in  1822,  and  in  1848  came  to  Napoleon  and  purchased  his  pres- 
ent farm  of  160  acres  of  canal  land  at  two  dollars  and  a  half  cent  per  acre,  and  received  his  title 
from  the  State.  He  was  married  in  1843  to  Sarah  Williard  of  Summit  county,  and  settled  on  his 
farm,  cutting  a  wagon  road  from  there  to  Napoleon,  and  erected  his  log  house,  where  they  com- 
menced their  home  life.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  children :  Henry,  OUie,  Henrietta,  Charles, 
Clara,  and  Lillie.  Mr.  Van  Hyning  enlisted  in  Co.  A,  68th  Regiment,  in  October,  1861,  and  was 
discharged  at  Columbus,  on  account  of  disability.  He  now  receives  a  pension.  He  erected  a 
steam  saw-mill  in  1866.  He  was  a  grandson  of  the  Revolutionary  soldier.  Van  Hyning,  of  Sara- 
toga county,  N.  Y.     His  parents  settled  in  Ohio  in  1802. 

Van  Ostrand,  Charles  H.,  Gorham,  Payette  p.  o.,  one  of  the  representative  citizens  of  his 
town,  was  born  in  Huron  county,  0.,  in  1837,  and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Parmeha  (Merritt) 
Van  Ostrand.  Jacob  was  born  in  Half  Moon,  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.,  and  his  wife  was  born  in 
Ulster  county,  N.  Y.  They  were  married  and  settled  in  Huron  county,  O.,  in  1834,  and  in  1860 
came  to  Gorham,  where  he  purchased  a  farm  of  120  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $25  per  acre.  Ja- 
cob died  in  1876,  aged  seventy  years.  He  left  a  widow  and  family  of  three  children,  two  of 
whom  are  now  living :  Charles  H.  and  Prances  L.  Mayette  married  C.  B.  Herrick,  and  died 
leaving  one  son,  Floyd.  Charles  H.  was  married  in  Huron  county,  in  May,  1860,  to  Mary  C. 
Hitchcock.  They  have  a  family  of  three  children :  Carrie  E.,  Carl  J.,  and  Nina.  Charles  H. 
was  drafted,  and  responded,  but  on  account  of  the  advanced  age  of  his  father,  furnished  a  sub- 
stitute for  three  years.  He  was  elected  county  commissioner  for  one  term  (1883),  and  appointed 
one  term  (1881).     His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Asa  and  Ursula  Hitchcock. 

Van  Rensselaer,  WiUiam  D.,  Napoleon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  general  furniture  dealer,  of  Wau- 
seon, was  born  in  Port  Clinton,  Ottawa  county,  0  ,  in  1852  and  was  a  son  of  P.  S.  and  Jane 
(De  Pew)  Van  Rensselaer,  and  a  grandson  of  Phillip  M.  Van  Rensselaer.  .  William  D.  learned 
the  carpentering  business  and  became  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  board  and  timber  in  St. 
Louis,  and  later  became  an  engineer  on  the  lake.     In  1886  he  settled  in  Wauseon  and  became 


Brief  Personals.  707 


engaged  in  the  general  furniture  business.     He  was  married  in  January,  1879,  to  Clara  Ransom 
of  Fremont.     They  have  two  children :  Sanders  H.  and  Hazel  P. 

Van  Scoyoc,  Isaac  B.,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  a  son  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  Van  Scoyoo,  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  born  in  Richland  county,  0.,  January  25,  1841,  and  was  married  in  Putnam 
county,  in  1867,  to  Martha  McBride,  who  was  born  in  Richland  county,  October  31,  1844.  They 
had  a  family  of  eight  children :  John  W.,  born  October  26,  1867  ;  Malinda  May,  born  March  13 
1869;  Clara  E.,  (deceased,  died  October  7, 1875  aged  four  years)  ;  Emmet,  born  September  28,  1875 
Perry  E.,  born  March  16,  1879 ;  Charles  L.  born  February  14,  1881 ;  Coral  B.,  born  August  14,  1883 
Blanche  Dora,  born  May  7,  1886.     Mrs.  Van  Scoyoc  was  a  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Abigal  Mc- 
Bride.    Samuel  was  born  in  Virginia  and  his  wife  in  Ohio.     Isaac  B.  Van  Scoyoc  was  in  the 
service  of  his  country  for  two  years  and  seven  months,  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.     He  had 
one  brother  who  also  served  in  that  war. 

Van  Valke'nburg,  Smith  A.,  Q-orham,  Payette  p.  c,  was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y., 
December  26,  1846,  and  was  a  son  of  Abraham  and  Nancy  (Hale)  Van  Valkenburg.  Abraham 
was  born  in  Kinderhook,  N'.  Y..  in  1820,  and  Nancy  was  born  in  1822  in  Otsego  county,  N.  Y. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Gardnerand  Rhoda  (Perry)  Hale.  Abraham  and  Nancy  were  married 
in  1843  and  have  had  a  family  of  six  children  :  Hannah  A.,  Smith  A.,  Mary  B.,  Abraham,  jr., 
Adrian  and  Will.  They  settled  in  G-orham  township  in  1847,  where  he  purchased  his  home- 
stead farm,  in  1845,  of  eighty  acres  for  which  he  paid  $500.  Smith  A.  was  married  in  1 873  to 
Ortensia  Salsbury,  of  De  Kalb,  Indiana.  They  have  had  two  children,  one  of  whom.  Lulu,  died 
at  an  early  age.  Ai  is  now  living.  Ortensia  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Fannie  Isabel  Sals- 
bury.  Smith  A.  chose  farming  for  his  occupation  and  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  forty 
acres  in  1870. 

Verrier,  Frank,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  a  general  grocer  and  provision  dealer,  was  born  at 
Haute  Rinhear,  Bellfore,  France,  July  29,  1836,  and  was  a  son  of  Lauren  Verrier  who  received 
a  liberal  education.  His  parents  died  and  soon  after,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  Frank  came  to 
America  and  settled  in  Utica,  Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  where  he  attended  school,  learning  the  Bn^ 
glish  language.  In  1853  he  learned  the  carriage  and  wagon-makmg  business.  He  was  married 
in  1859  to  Mary  A.  Stoul.  They  have  had  two  children,  William  L.  and  Fannie,  who  married 
Fred  Lewis  in  1881.  Mr.  Verrier  settled  in  Chesterfield,  Fulton  count?,  0.,  in  June,  1859,  where 
he  became  engaged  in  the  carriage  trade.  In  1870  he  settled  in  Fayette  and  in  1872  became 
engaged  in  the  livery  business  and  mercantile  trade.  He  was  burned  out  by  the  big  fire  in 
1880  but  rebuilt  his  store  with  some  changes  in  business  and  purchased  his  stock  of  general  gro- 
ceries, fancy  and  staple  goods,  in  1887.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  corporation  council  and 
is  now  one  of  the  active  business  men  of  the  borough  and  town. 

Voigt,  Frederick  H.,  Pleasant,  Holgate  p.o.,  the  general  druggist  and  prescriptionist,  of  Holgate, 
was  born  in  the  province  of  Hanover,  Germany,  in  1850,  and  was  a  son  John  and  Elizabeth  Voigt. 
Frederick  H.  came  to  America  in  1869  and  settled  in  Napoleon,  0.,  and  there  attended  school. 
In  1870  he  became  engaged  in  the  drug  business  at  Logansport.  He  went  to  Toledo  in  1873 
and  in  1874  visited  his  home  in  Europe,  and  in  the  fall  of  1874  returned  to  America  and  settled 
in  Holgate,  Henry  county.  He  became  engaged  in  a  general  mercantile  business  in  1882,  sold 
his  stock  and  became  a  general  druggist.  He  was  married  in  1876  to  Mary  Vogle,  of  Holgate. 
They  have  had  five  children  :  Frederick,  Gustus,  Eugene,  Winna  and  Anna.  Frederick  H.  has 
been  town  treasurer,  clerk  and  also  held  other  corporation  offices.  His  parents  died  in  Germany 
leaving  six  children.  Frederick  H.  and  his  brother,  Henry,  are  the  only  ones  who  settled  in 
Holgate. 

Vogt,  jr.,  John,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Hesse  Darmstadt,  Germany,  in  1853,  and 
was  a  son  of  John  and  Catharine  (Berg)  Vogt,  who  emigrated  to  Toledo,  0.,  in  1857  with  a 
family  of  two  sons,  Conrad  and  John.  Catharine  died  in  1864  leaving  four  children  :  Conrad, 
John,  Amelia  and  Henry.  John,  jr.,  settled  in  Deshler  in  1871  and  in  1874  John  and  his  brother, 
Conrad,  became  engaged  in  the  general  mercantile  business,  in  which  they  continued  until  the 
death  of  Conrad  in  1879,  when  John  became  the  sole  proprietor.  He  was  married  in  October, 
1879  to  Lizzie  G.  Kannen,  of  Richland  county.  They  have  had  two  children,  Bessie  and  Gene- 
vieve. Mr.  Vogt  has  been  township  treasurer  and  corporation  treasurer,  each  for  a  term  of  five 
years',  and  president  of  the  school  board.     He  was  also  the  pioneer  merchant  of  Deshler. 

Waffle,  Joseph  J.,  Clinton,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  dealer  in  pianos  and  organs  at  Wauseon,  was  born 
in  Medina' county,  0.,  in  1843  and  was  a  son  of  William  and  Clarissa  Waffle.  Clarissa  was  born 
in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  and  her  husband,  William,  was  born  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.  They  settled 
in  Medina  county  and  came  to  Pike  township,  Fulton  county,  in  1851.  They  have  one  son, 
'Josiah  J.  Josiah  enlisted  in  Company  F,  86th  Ohio  Regiment  under  Colonel  Lemert  and  re- 
enlisted  in  Company  E,  6th  Ohio  Vol.  Cavalry,  serving  to  the  close  of  the  war  as  chief  bugler. 
He  was  discharged  August  17,  1865.  While  in  service  he  received  two  wounds.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1875  to  Clara  Crane,  of  Bryon.     They  have  had  one  son,  Leroy  Augustus.     Mr.  Waffle 


7o8  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

became  engaged  in  the  piano  and  organ  business  in  1869  and  has  continued  in  the  same  ever 
since. 

Wahl,  Frederick,  Flat  Rock,  Holgate  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1846  and 
was  a  son  of  George  and  Eve  Wahl,  who  emigrated  to  and  settled  in  Medina  county,  0.,  in  1850 
and  in  1 855  settled  in  Pleasant,  Henry  county.  They  had  a  family  of  six  children :  Jacob,  Me- 
na.  Catharine  (born  in  America)  and  Frederick,  Christopher  and  Rosa,  born  in  Germany.  Fred- 
erick enlisted  in  December,  1864,  in  Company  B,  100th  Ohio,  under  Colonel  Slevens.  He  was 
transferred  to  183d  regiment  and  discharged  July  17,  1865.  He  was  married  in  1869  to  Chris- 
tina Frantz,  who  was  born  in  Germany.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children :  Charles  A., 
Julia  C,  Henry  A.,  Minnie  and  William.  Frederick  purchased  his  homestead  farm  of  eighty 
acres  in  1S65,  a  part  of  which  was  a  four  mile  tract  of  timber  adjoining  Holgate.  He  erected 
his  farm  buildings  in  1882  and  1884. 

Waid,  Wm.,  Dover,  Emery,  p.  o ,  was  born  in  Crawford  county.  Pa.,  April  18,  1818,  and 
settled  in  Dover  township  in  September,  1845,  on  the  farm  which  he  improved  and  lived  upon 
until  his  death,  April  25,  1880.  He  was  widely  known  as  an  enterprising,  industrious,  honest 
farmer.  His  wife,  Orpha  G.  Candfield,  was  born  in  Bloomfield,  N.  T.,  March  8,  1824  and  came 
west  with  him  immediately  after  their  marriage.  They  had  a  family  of  four  children :  Minnie, 
Charles,  Emma  and  Lemuel.  Their  mother  died  April  2,  1864.  Wm.  married  for  his  second 
wife,  Hannah  E.  Bartlett  in  1865,  who  died  in  February,  1872.  He  then  married  his  third  wife 
Maria  Kipp,  of  Wayne  county,  N.  T.,  in  1872.  They  have  had  one  son,  Clarence  W.  Maria 
was  a  daughter  of  Peter  and  Prudence  Kipp.  Peter  was  born  in  New  York  city  in  1789  and 
died  in  1854.  Prudence  was  born  on  Long  Island  in  1797  and  died  1879.  Minnie  M.  Waid 
married  F.  L.  S.  Darby,  of  Fulton  county.  Charles  H.  Waid  married  Lizzie  Hack,  of  Delaware, 
0.  Emma  L.  Waid  married  W.  0.  Knapp,  of  Wauseon,  0.  Lemuel  F.  Waid  married  Ida  E. 
Kipp,  of  Shortsville,  N.  Y. 

Wait,  Leroy,  Flat  Rock,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  a  pioneer  settler  of  Flat  Rock,  was  born  in  Scioto 
county,  0.,  June  23,  1820  and  was  a  son  of  Reuben  and  Mary  Wait,  of  Chenango  county,  N.  Y., 
who  settled  in  Flat  Rock,  Heniy  county,  in  1833,  where  they  died.  They  had  a  family  of  seven 
children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living :  Julia,  Silas,  William,  Louisa,  Leroy,  Carrie  and  Henry. 
Louisa  married  Jefferson  MoCrackin  of  Batavia,  N.  Y.  They  have  had  a  family  of  five  children. 
Renben  Wait  was  a  prominent  man  of  the  county  and  was  appointed  associate  judge  on  the  or- 
ganization of  the  county,  which  oflftoe  he  filled  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  many  friends.  He  was 
also  justice  of  Scioto  county,  being  appointed  by  the  governor.  He  served  in  the  war  of  1812 
by  sending  a  substitute.  Mr.  Leroy  Wait  is  a  gentleman  of  large  personal  qualities  and  has  for 
several  years  been  in  poor  health,  books  and  papers  being  his  constant  companions. 

Walters,  George  W.,  Dover,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  the  hardware  merchant  and  farm  machinery 
dealer,  of  Spring  Hill,  was  born  in  York  township  in  1855  and  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Susanna 
(Dull)  Walters.  Joseph  settled  in  Pike,  in  1837  and  his  wife  died  in  1881,  after  moving  to  Do- 
ver township.  They  had  nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living :  Malinda,  Orlando,  Henry 
D.,  George  W.  and  Elizabeth.  Two  sons,  Samuel  and  Jacob,  enlisted  and  died  while  in  service. 
Samuel  died  in  the  hospital  at  St.  Louis,  from  disease  contracted  in  the  Mississippi  campaign; 
Jacob  died  in  the  hospital  at  Nashville  from  wounds  received  in  an  engagement  at  Murfreesboro, 
Tenn.  The  father  settled  in  Dover,  in  1864.  George  W.  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  followed 
that  occupation  until  1883,  when  he  became  engaged  in  the  general  mercantile  business  at  Spring 
Hill.  He  now  deals  in  all  kinds  of  hardware,  mowers,  reapers,  and  all  kinds  of  farm  imple- 
ments. He  was  married  in  1877  to  Gertrude  Fieldraire  of  Fulton.  They  have  had  a  family  of 
three  children :  Chloe,  Edna  and  Zulah.  Jlr.  Walters  has  been  trustee  for  two  terms,  treas- 
urer for  two  terms,  justice  of  the  peace  one  term,  and  was  postmaster  from  1884  to  July  1,  1886. 
He  has  held  many  of  the  village  minor  oSioes. 

Ward,  E.  M.,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Putnam  county,  0.,  in  1842.  He  enlisted 
in  1862  in  the  86th  Ohio  Infantry  and  was  married  in  1865  to  Frances  Keller,  of  Crawford 
county.  They  have  had  seven  children :  George  M.,  Alvah  J.,  Thomas,  Rebecca  M.,  Guy,  Clif- 
ford and  one  who  died  in  infancy.  B.  M.  Ward  was  a  son  of  Joseph  Ward  who  was  born  in  1809 
and  was  a  pioneer  settler  in  Wood  county,  0. 

Warden,  E.  P.,  Bartlow,  Deshler  p.  o.,  attorney  and  counsellor  of  law,  was  born  in  Lorain 
county,  in  1859.  He  fitted  himself  for  and  entered  Oberlin  College  in  1876  and  was  graduated 
from  there  in  December.  He  read  law  at  Cleveland,  0.,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Colum- 
bus in  1883.  He  settled  in  Norwalk  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  and  in  October,  1883,  set- 
tled in  Deshler.  He  was  married  December  10,  1884,  to  Agnes  L.  Noble.  Mr.  Warden  in  early 
life  was  engaged  in  teaching  and  is  now  active  in  all  the  affairs  of  his  town. 

Weaver,  Henry  S.,  Flat  Rook,  Florida  p.  o.,  one  of  the  leading  farmers  of  Henry  county,  was 
born  in  Butler  county  in  1833  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Esther  (Clark)  Weaver.  She  was 
born  in  New  Jersey  and  John  was  born  in  Pennsylvania.     They  settled  in  Wayne  township, 


Brief  Personals.  709 


Butler  county,  where  they  died.  Henry  S.  Weaver  was  married  in  1853  to  Catharine  Jane 
Wolverton,  of  Butler  county.  They  have  had  a  family  of  four  children,  Eugene  and  David  are 
the  only  two  now  Uving.  Henry  S.  settled  in  Flat  Rock  in  1854  and  purchased  his  homestead 
■of  150  acres  from  the  State,  and  now  owns  in  all  230  acres  of  highly  cultivated  land,  130  acres 
of  which  are  highly  cultivated  and  tiled.  His  farm  was  heavily  timbered  with  black  walnut, 
poplar  and  maple.     David,  his  son,  married  Elizabeth  Elkins  and  Eugene  married  Emma  Osborn. 

Weber,  Michael,  German,  Elmira  p.  o.,  is  one  of  the  successful  settlers  from  Switzerland, 
where  he  was  born  in  1839.  He  came  to  America  in  1858  and  settled  in  Archbald  and  became 
engaged  at  his  trade,  that  of  blacksmithing  and  wagon  making.  He  was  married  in  1861  to 
Catharine  Roth  who  was  born  in  1844.  They  have  had  three  children:  Mary  A.,  Jacob  J.  and 
Louisa  F.  Catharine  was  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Fanny  rKlopfenstein)  Roth,  who  were  mar- 
ried in  Wayne  county  in  Decomber,  1842,  and  had  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  eight  of  whom 
are  now  living,  seven  sons  and  one  daughter.  Jacob  Roth  settled  in  G-erman  township  in  1834 
and  purchased  his  farm  in  1835.  He  was  born  in  Alsace,  Prance,  in  1811  and  with  three  broth- 
ers came  to  Fulton  county.  They  were  Henry,  Jacob,  Christian  and  Nicholas.  His  wife, 
Fanny,  was  born  in  1824  and  died  January  28,  1875.  Fanny  was  a  daughter  of  Christian  KIop- 
fenstein,  who  settled  in  Wayne  county  at  an  early  date.  Michael  Weber  visited  his  native  land 
in  18G4  and  returned  to  his  home  in  Ohio  the  year  following  with  a  colony  of  sixty-four  per- 
sons of  his  early  friends  who  came  and  settled  here  with  him.  Michael  was  a  son  of  Jacoband 
Margaret  (Meister)  Weber  who  had  a  family  of  eleven  children.  Ten  of  the  children  came  to 
America  and  in  1873  the  parents  came  with  the  eleventh  child,  Eliza.  The  father,  Jacob,  died 
in  April,  1883  and  his  wife  in  September,  1883,  aged  eighty  years.  One  brother,  Martin,  died 
in  1866.  Michael  retired  from  his  smithing  business  in  1875  and  purchased  his  farm  of  eighty 
acres  which  was  taken  up  on  settlement  by  Jacob  Roth  and  is  now  erecting  thereon  a  fine  brick 
residence. 

Whiteman,  John  P.,  Liberty,  Liberty  Centre,  p.  o.,  a  manufacturer  of  brick  and  tile  and  en- 
gaged in  general  farming,  was  born  in  1836  and  was  a  son  of  Jesse  and  Nancy  (Myers)  White- 
man,  who  were  born  in  Virginia  and  settled  in  Ohio  where  they  died.  Mr.  Whiteman  was  born 
in  Pennsylvania  and  his  wife  in  Virginia.  They  settled  in  Ohio  where  they  resided  until  the 
time  of  their  deaths.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living:  Wil- 
liam, John  P.  and  Matilda.  One  brother,  G-eorge,  enliste'd  and  served  through  the  late  war  in 
the  68th  Illinois  regiment.  John  P.  Whiteman  was  married  in  1861  to  Martha  Petticord,  of 
Seneca  county.  They  have  had  seven  children :  Herbert  S.,  Estella,  Charles  C,  Milton,  Bertha, 
Fred  and  Bessie.  Estella  married  C.  Graffioe.  Mr.  Whiteman  settled  in  Liberty  township  in 
1877,  and  purchased  his  present  residence  of  120  acres,  and  then  became  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  brick  and  tile  by  steam  power,  and  now  gives  employment  to  several  men. 

Wickenhiser,  John,  Marion,  Hamler  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  July  31,  1856  and 
moved  to  Wood  county,  O.,  when  a  child  where  he  was  brought  up  and  educated  at  the  public 
schools  of  that  county.  He  came  to  Henry  county  and  located  in  Deshler  where  he  was  en- 
gaged for  two  years  in  the  mercantile  business.  He  removed  to  Hamler  in  1 882  and  became 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  and  at  the  present  time  is  the  representative  merchant  of 
this  township.     He  was  married  in  1885  to  Ada  Winter,  of  Detroit. 

Williams,  Henry  B.,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  now  a  retired  resident,  was  born  in  Lindley, 
Steuben  county,  N.  T.,  in  September,  1816  and  was  a  son  of  Cornelius  WiUiams.  Henry  B. 
spent  his  early  life  in  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  and  in  early  life  was  thrown  on  his  own  resources  and 
■compelled  to  take  care  of  himself.  He  settled  in  Geauga  county  in  1833  and  in  1837  came  to 
Medina  county  where  he  was  married  in  1838  to  Mary  Lyon,  who  died  in  1849.  They  had  a 
family  of  three  children ;  only  one  is  now  Hving,  Henry  Holmes,  born  in  1840.  One  son,  George, 
■enlisted  and  served  in  the  late  war.  Henry  Holmes  also  served,  enlisted  in  a  Wisconsin  regi- 
ment. Mr.  Williams  married  for  his  second  wife  Phebe  L.  Bond,  who  was  born  in  Augusta, 
Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1822.  They  were  married  in  March,  1852,  and  have  had  two  children, 
one  now  living,  Phebe  (Mrs.  S.  J.  Clark).  Henry  B.  settled  in  Lena,  Fulton  county,  in  1853 
and  in  April,  1866,  came  to  Wauseon  where  he  became  engaged  in  the  saw  and  planing-miU 
business  with  his  son,  Henry  Holmes.  He  retired  from  active  business  in  1880  and  his  son 
now  carries  on  the  business  under  the  firm  name  of  H.  H.  Williams  &  Co. 

Williams,  Henry  Holmes,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  manufacturer  of  oars  and  proprietor  of 
3,  planing  and  saw-mill  at  Wauseon,  0.,  was  born  in  September,  1840,  and  was  a  son  Henry  B. 
and  Mary  (Lyon)  Williams.  Mary  died  in  1849  leaving  a  family  of  three  children,  of  which 
Henry  Holmes  is  the  only  surviving  one.  His  brother,  William,  enlisted  and  died  while  in  serv- 
ice. Henry  Holmes  enlisted  August  12,  1862,  in  the  23d  Wisconsin,  under  Captain  Schlick 
and  Colonel  Dupuy,  and  was  discharged  July  4,  1865.  He  was  married  in  1869  to  Mary  Welsh 
of  Michigan,  who  died  in  1871.  He  then  married  his  second  wife.  Miss  Phebe  Munn,  Julv  22, 
1877.  Mr.  Williams  was  elected  county  commissioner  in  1886.  His  company  are  largely  en- 
gao'ed  in  the  manufacture  of  oars,  butter  tubs,  and  largely  engaged  in  the  lumber  business. 


7IO  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

Willet,  Garner,  Chesterfield,  Morenci,  Michigan  p.  o.,  one  of  the  few  pioneer  settlers  of  Ches- 
terfield, whom  we  now  find  living,  came  to  this  township  in  1835  and  purchased  a  farm  of  forty 
acres  in  1837  for  which  he  paid  $120,  and  in  1856  purchased  his  present  farm  of  160  acres  for 
which  he;-paid  $4.50  per  acre.  He  was  born  in  Somerset  county,  N.  J.,,  in  1816  and 
was  a  son  of  David  and  Rachel  (Smalley)  Willet,  who  were  born  and  married  in  New  Jersey 
and  settled  in  Seneca  county,  N.  T.,  in  1819.  The  parents  settled  in  Chesterfield  in  1839.  They 
had  a  family  of  fifteen  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living  :  G-arner,  John,  Charles,  Mary  and 
Warren.  The  parents  died  in  Chesterfield  township.  Garner  was  married  in  1845  to  Harriet 
H.  Parsons,  who  was  born  in  Cuyahoga  county,  0.,  in  1823.  They  have  had  two  daughters 
and  four  sons,  three  are  now  hving :  Clay,  Clara,  now  Mrs.  Goodale  and  George  Washington. 
Clay  married  Katie  Newville  in  1877.  She  was  born  in  Wood  county  in  1858.  They  have  had 
a  family  of  five  children :  Vernon,  Bertie  M.,  Florence,  Ernest  and  Scott.  Mrs.  Harriet  was  a 
daughter  of  Nathaniel  and  Experience  (Herring)  Parsons.  They  settled  in  Pulton  county  in 
1835.     Three  of  their  children  are  now  living :  Esther,  Harriet  and  Mary. 

Wilson,  John  B.,  Flat  Rock,  Black  Ash  p.  o.,  a  promment  pioneer  of  Southwest  Plat  Rock 
was  born  in  Harrison  county,  0.,  in  1824  and  settled  in  the  woods  on  his  present  homestead 
farm  of  160  acres  in  1851,  for  which  he  paid  one  hundred  dollars,  sixty-two  and  half  cents  per 
acre.  He  was  married  in  1849  to  Isabella  Karr,  who  was  born  in  Coshocton  county,  C,  in 
1830.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children ;  James  A.  (born  1849),  Thomas  M.  (born  1851), 
Maria  J.  (born  1853),  Martha  E.,  (born  1855),  Robert  W.  (born  1862)  and  RosaB.  (born  1868). 
John  B.  was  a  son  of  Andrew  and  Jane  Reed)  Wilson  who  were  born  in  Pennsylvania  and 
married  in  Harrison  county,  0.,  and  settledin  Plat  Rook  in  1851,  and  died  in  Defiance  county  in 
1875  and  his  wife  in  1876.  They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living: 
John  B.,  Andrew,  Margaret  J.,  William.,  Martha  E.  and  Sarah  E.  J.  B.  Wilson  owns  one  of 
the  finest  cultivated  farms  in  the  county. 

Windisch,  William,  Dover,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  the  tanner  and  currier  of  Dover,  was  born  in  Ce- 
lasia,  Prussia,  Germany,  in  1831,  and  was  a  son  of  Charles  and  Johanna  Windisch.  William  came 
to  America  in  1854  and  at  once  found  work  at  his  trade.  He  was  married  in  April,  1862,  to 
Mrs.  Frederica  Vanner  in  Toledo.  She  was  born  in  Erford,  Germany,  Oct.  14,  1835.  They  have 
had  a  family  of  five  daughters  and  three  sons :  Amelia,  Bertha,  Caroline,  Ida,  Zada,  Willie,  Ed- 
ward and  George.  Frederica  had  by  her  first  husband,  Frederick  Hayes,  two  children,  Henry 
and  Mena.  Mr.  Windisch  purchased  his  property  in  Dover  township  in  1865  where  he  has 
since  resided  and  been  engaged  in  the  tanning  business. 

Winzeler,  J.  W.,  German,  Archbald  p.  o.,  the  enterpising  manufacturer  of  tile  and  brick,  and 
engaged  in  general  farming  was  born  in  Williamsville,  Erie  county,  N.  Y.,  on  November  8,  1846 
and  was  a  son  of  Michael  and  Anna  Winzeler.  They  were  born  and  married  in  Germany  and 
emigated  to  America  in  1844  and  settled  in  Franklin  township,  Williamsville,  Brie  county,  N. 
Y.,  in  1855.  They  had  a  famity  of  ten  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living :  Mary,  J.  W., 
Jacob,  Gideon,  Eli  and  Sarah.  Mr.  Winzeler  opened  his  business  life  as  a  farmer  in  1850  and 
in  1878  added  to  it  the  manufrcture  of  brick  and  tile.  He  was  burned  out  sustaining  heavy 
loss  in  1882  after  which  he  purchased  his  present  location  and  erected  his  factory  in  which  he 
now  uses  steam  power,  giving  employment  to  from  eight  to  ten  men.  He  purchased  his  pres- 
ent homestead  of  eighty  acres  in  1873  for  which  he  paid  $7,000.  He  was  appointed  postmatser 
in  April,  1887.  He  was  married  in  1869  to  Magdalena  Lauber,  a  daughter  of  Christian  Lauber, 
who  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  the  town  of  German.  They  have  had  a  family  of  six  chil- 
dren :  Daniel,  Samuel,  Ella,  Henry,  Charles  and  Louie. 

Whipple,  Isaac,  Franklin,  Tedrow  p.  o.,  a  veteran  soldier,  enlisted  in  Company  C,  47th  Ohio- 
Regiment  under  Colonel  Perry  in  1861,  and  re-enlisted  in  1863,  was  discharged  in  1864  on  ac- 
count of  wounds  received  at  Atlanta,  for  which  he  now  receives  a  merited  pension.  He  set- 
tled in  Gorham  township  in  1856.  He  was  born  in  Delaware  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1839  and  was  a 
son  of  Abraham  and  Catharine  (Smith)  Whipple,  who  were  born  in  Delaware  county  where 
Abraham  died  leaving  a  widow  and  eleven  children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  hving.  Abraham 
enhsted  and  served  during  the  war  in  the  Van  Buren  regiment.  He  was  discharged  on  account 
of  disability  and  advanced  age,  after  one  and  a  half  years  service.  His  two  sons,  Isaac  and 
Richard,  enlisted.  Isaac  was  married  in  October,  1863,  to  Margaret  Faulkner,  who  was  born 
in  Germany.  They  have  had  a  family  of  nine  children.  In  early  life  Mr.  Whipple  was  engaged 
in  general  jobbing,  but  later  in  life  became  engaged  in  farming. 

Woodward,  Ward,  Liberty,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Cayuga  county,  N.  T.,  in  1818» 
and  was  married  in  1843  to  Phydelia  Young,  who  was  born  "in  Cortland  county  in  1822.  They 
have  had  a  family  of  five  daughters  now  living :  Malina,  Mary,  Amelia,  Helen,  and  Samantha. 
They  settled  in  Seneca  county,  0.,  in  April,  1845,  and  came  to  Liberty  in  1846,  where  he  be- 
came engaged  as  a  carpenter  and  contract  builder.  He  entered  claim  for  his  farm  of  eighty 
acres  in  1845  and  erected  a  steam  saw-mill  in  1860.     Phydelia  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  and 


Brief  Personals.  711 


Hannah  (Young)  Woodward,  who  settled  in  Henry  county  in  1849,  coming  there  from  Cortland 
county,  N.  Y.  They  had  two  daughters  and  two  sons.  Ward  was  a  son  of  Eleazer  and  Henri- 
etta (Ingraham)  Woodward,  who  had  a  family  of  seven  sons  and  two  daughters.  Bleazer  was 
born  in  Connecticut  and  died  in  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.  The  mother  and  seven  sona.  settled  in 
Henry  county.  They  were  Ward,  Jason,  Timothy,  Francis,  Clement,  Orestes,  and  Perry. 
MaUna  married  J.  F.  Brown  ;  Mary  married  W.  H.  Purchase  ;  Amelia  married  John  Dunovan ; 
Helen  married  A.  D.  Matthews ;  Samantha  married  D.  C.  Brown. 

Wolverton,  Daniel  F.,  Germany,  Blmira  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Steuben  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1840, 
and  was  a  son  of  John  A.  and  Maria  (Fleet)  Wolverton.  Maria  W£is  born  in  Steuben  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  her  husband  in  New  Jersey.  They  came  to  Fulton  county,  0.,  with  two  children 
and  settled  in  German  township.  They  had  a  family  of  three  children :  Adelia,  Daniel  F.,  and 
Ehzabeth.  The  mother  died  in  December,  1877,  and  the  father  on  May  17,  1882.  John  A. 
Wolverton  enlisted  in  Company  G,  68th  Ohio  as  a  drummer  in  1861,  and  served  for  three  years, 
being  discharged  in  November,  1864.  He  was  a  trustee  of  his  township.  Daniel  F.  was  mar- 
ried in  February,  1865,  to  Catharine  Haynes,  who  was  born  in  Sandusky  county  in  1840.  They 
have  had  one  son,  John  F.  Mr.  Wolverton  now  owns  and  occupies  the  old  homestead  of  eighty 
acres.     He  is  engaged  in  farming  and  steam  power  threshing. 

Woodward,  John  Kendal,  Liberty,  Liberty  Center  p.  o.  is  a  general  blacksmith,  making  horse- 
shoeing a  specialty.  He  was  born  in  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1836,  and  was  married  in  1859 
to  Hannah  E.  Thompson,  who  was  born  in  Williamson,  Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Anthony  and  Elizabeth  (Miller)  Thompson.  John  K.  and  Hannah  have  had  a  family  of 
eight  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living :  Ella  and  Delia  (twins),  Hattie,  Frank,  Mary,  Edwin, 
Kittie,  and  Willie.  Frank  died  at  the  age  of  eight  years,  and  Kittie  when  ten  months  old,  in 
1871.  Mr.  Woodward  came  west  and  settled  in  the  village  of  Clayton,  Mich.,  November  18, 
1862,  and  on  September  18,  1868,  moved  into  the  State  of  Ohio  and  settled  in  Fulton  county. 
In  1883  he  removed  from  Fulton  county  to  Texas,  Henry  county,  and  in  1885  settled  in  Lib- 
erty Center,  where  he  purchased  his  present  residence  and  commenced  business  with  his  son, 
Edwin,  as  his  assistant.  Mr.  Woodward  was  a  son  of  Levi  and  Catherine  (Johnson)  Woodward, 
of  Webster,  Monroe  county,  N.  Y. 

WooUace,  Amos,  Gorham,  Fayette  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Fairfield  county,  Ohio,  in  1853,  and 
was  married  in  1876  to  Amanda  Gambee,  who  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.  They  have 
had  a  family  of  two  sons,  William  Dayton  and  Earl  Gambee.  Amanda  was  a  daughter  of  Jacob 
and  Susan  (Schafifer)  Gambee,  of  Seneca  county,  N.  Y.  Amos  was  a  son  of  William  and  Mary 
(Schlotman)  WooUace,  who  were  born  in  Berks  county.  Pa.,  and  married  at  Seneca  county,  N. 
Y.,  in  1840.  William  was  born  in  1816,  and  his  wife  in  1816.  They  have  six  sons  living: 
Franklin,  Perry,  James,  William  A.,  Amos,  and  John  E.  One  daughter,  Lovina  E.,  died  August 
16,  1864,  aged  fifteen  years.  They  settled  in  Gorham  township  in  1857  where  Mr.  WooUace 
purchased  his  first  farm  of  eighty  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $1,700.  He  now  owns  two  hundred 
acres,  and  in  1883  purchased  his  homestead  in  Fayette,  where  he  retired  from  farm  labor,  his 
sons  becoming  his  successors.  In  early  Ufe  he  was  engaged  in  stone  cutting,  which  was  his 
trade,  but  later  in  life  became  engaged  in  farming.  Mary  (Schlotman)  WooUace  died  at  their 
home  in  Fayette  on  the  3d  day  of  October,  1887,  after  a  brief  iUness. 

Wulfi',  Hermann,  Washington,  Texas  p.  o.,  was  born  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Oldenburg, 
Germany,  in  1841,  and  was  a  son  of  John  and  Anna  B.  Wulfil  Hermann  emigrated  to  America 
in  1859,  and  settled  in  Henry  county,  0.,  in  1862.  He  returned  to  Germany  and  married  Anna 
CorneUus  in  1865,  and  in  1866  again  returned  to  Henry  county,  and  in  September  of  that  year 
purchased  a  homestead  of  eighty  acres,  paying  therefor  two  thousand  dollars.  He  now  has 
seventy  acres  cleared.  His  wife  died  in  1880,  leaving  a  famUy  of  five  children :  Henry,  Her- 
mann, CorneUus,  Ann,  and  Sophia.  He  then  married  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Ann  Stueve,  in 
1883,  who  had  by  her  first  husband  four  sons :  WiUiam,  Otto,  Henry,  and  Fred.  Mr.  Wulff  has 
held  the  office  of  supervisor  for  two  terms,  trustee  for  two  terms,  and  also  several  other  of  the 
district  offices. 

YameU,  PhiUp,  Freedom,  Napoleon  p.  o.,  was  born  in  Napoleon  in  1858,  and  was  married  in 
1880  to  Elma  Sworden,  who  was  born  in  1860.  They  have  had  two  chUdren  :  Bertha  and  Lela. 
Elma  was  a  daughter  of  George  and  Susan  (Baboock)  Sworden.  He  was  born  in  Marion  county, 
and  his  wife  in  Seneca  county.  George  died  February  15,  1887,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years,  leav- 
ing a  widow  and  a  family  of  eight  children:  Elma,  Jennie,  Olive,  Evert,  Charlotte,  Mary, 
Charles,  and  Dolly  B.  George  was  a  son  of  Zenas  and  Polly  (Bowen)  Sworden,  who  were 
early  settlers  in  Henry  county.  Philip  was  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Barbara  YarneU.  Barbara  died 
in  1871.  They  had  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living :  Byron,  Charles,  Sarah  J. 
Philip,  Celia,  Harry,  Daniel  jr.,  and  Leora. 

YarneU,  Daniel,  Wauseon,  Wauseon  p.  o.,  a  retired  farmer  and  representative  man  of  Henry 
county  0.,  was  born  in  Wayne  county  April  20, 1820,  and  in  early  Ufe  was  engaged  in  farming. 


712  History  of  Henry  and  Fulton  Counties. 

He  was  a  son  of  Philip  and  Ruth  Yarnell.  Ruth  died  leaving  a  family  of  eight  children,  two  of 
whom  are  now  living,  Daniel  and  Nancy.  Daniel  settled  in  Napoleon  in  1845,  and  became  pro- 
prietor of  the  Craig  Hotel.  He  sold  it  in  1848  and  became  engaged  in  the  general  grocery  and 
provision  business.  In  1851  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  the  county,  and  at  that  time  sold  his 
stock  of  goods.  He  was  elected  treasurer  1854  and  1856,  and  was  engaged  in  the  general  job- 
bing business  from  1858  to  1863.  In  1863  he  settled  on  his  farm,  which  consisted  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  acres,  and  now  owns  about  two  hundred  acres  in  Liberty  and  Freedom.  He 
was  elected  county  commissioner  in  1875,  and  again  was  elected  to  that  office  in  1878.  He 
returned  to  his  farm  in  1881,  and  became  a  resident  of  Wauseon  in  the  fall  of  1885.  He  was 
married  in  1848  to  Barbara  Funk,  who  was  born  in  Wayne  county.  She  died  September  20, 
1872.  They  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living :  Byron,  Charles,  Sarah 
J.,  Philip,  Harry,  Daniel  jr.,  Celia,  and  Leora.  Mr.  Yarnell  married  for  his  second  wife  Cath- 
erine Gehrett,  of  Fairfield  county,  in  September,  1875.  By  an  accident  in  1841  Mr.  YarneU  lost 
his  left  arm.     His  father  died  in  Napoleon  in  1858. 

Yetter,  Jacob,  Pleasant,  New  Bavaria  p.  o.,  was  born  in  the  kingdom  of  Wurtemburg,  Ger" 
many,  in  1826,  and  was  a  son  of  Louis  and  Catharine  (Rich)  Yetter,  who  emigrated  to  America 
and  settled  in  Madison  county,  C,  in  1831.  They  had  a  family  of  four  children:  Maria,  Bar- 
bara, Jacob,  and  Catharine.  The  parents  died  in  Madison  county;  the  mother  in  1837,  and  the 
father  in  1851.  Jacob  Yetter  was  married  February  15,  1849,  to  Mary  D.  Harmenn,  who  was 
born  in  Wurtemburg,  Germany,  in  1826,  and  died  June  4,  1880,  leaving  a  family  of  seven  chil- 
dren, five  of  whom  are  now  living:  Mary,  George,  John,  Caroline,  and  Henry.  Those  deceased 
are  William,  who  died  in  1877,  aged  twenty  years,  and  Julia,  born  in  1867  and  died  in  1880. 
Mr.  Yetter  married  his  second  wife,  Caroline  Hoffman,  who  was  born  in  Bavaria.  They  were 
married  on  July  29,  1880.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Philip  Hoffman,  who  settled  here  in  1845. 
Mr.  Yetter  has  been  justice  of  peace  for  one  term,  trustee  for  several  term.<!,  and  held  other  dis- 
trict offices.  He  settled  in  Pleasant  in  1851,  and  is  an  active  farmer,  owning  two  hundred  and 
twenty-six  acres. 

Younkman,  David,  Washington,  Colton  p.  o.,  owner  and  proprietor  of  the  Colton  House, 
was  born  in  Stark  county  in  1827,  and  married  in  1858  to  Mary  Rearick,  of  Sandusky.  They 
have  had  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living :  P.  I.,  William  A.,  Mary  G.,  Katie,  and 
Hettie.  Mary  G.  married  F.  P.  Goodell.  Mr.  Younkman  settled  at  Colton  in  1859  and  became 
engaged  in  the  general  mercantile  business,  in  which  he  continued  until  1863,  when  he  sold  his 
business  and  became  agent  for  the  Wabash  Railroad,  and  was  also  appointed  postmaster,  but 
resigned  in  1868  and  settled  in  Delta,  Fulton  county,  and  in  1882  he  returned  to  Colton  and 
purchased  his  present  hotel  property.  He  was  elected  justice  in  1884.  He  was  a  son  of  Daniel 
and  Martha  (Swank)  Younkman.  Martha  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  her  husband,  Daniel, 
was  born  in  mid-ocean  in  1800.  They  were  married  in  Stark  county,  where  they  died,  he  in 
1867,  and  she  in  1884.  Daniel  was  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Catharine  Younkman,  who  were  born 
in  Germany  and  emigrated  from  there  in  1800,  and  settled  in  Ohio  in  1816.  Daniel  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty-two  years  and  his  wife,  Catharine,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one  years. 

Young,  William  P.,  Marion,  Ridgeland  p.  o.,  of  Marion  township,  was  born  in  Wayne 
county,  0.,  March  25,  1825.  He  was  brought  up  in  Stark  and  Seneca  counties,  and  attended 
the  pubUc  schools  in  those  counties.  In  1863  he  moved  to  Putnam  county,  and  built  the  first 
dwelling-house  at  Liepsic  Station,  and  also  erected  a  grist-mill  at  that  place,  which  he  carried 
on  until  1868,  when  he  moved  to  Henry  county  and  located  in  Marion  township,  near  Ridgway, 
and  became  engaged  in  the  milling  business.  He  erected  a  grist  and  saw-mill  at  the  time  of 
settlement  here,  and  has  since  carried  on  this  business  in  connection  with  his  farming.  He  was 
married  in  1847  to  Mary  J.  Jackman,  of  Seneca  county.  She  was  a  native  of  France.  They 
have  ten  children :  George  W.,  Mary  J.,  John  P.,  Isabella,  Sarah,  William  P.  S.,  Abram  B., 
Doia  P.,  Isaac  P.  (deceased),  Lewis  P.,  and  Peter  Simon  P.  Mr.  Young  was  elected  treasurer 
of  the  township  in  1865 ;  has  been  postmaster  at  Ridgway,  and  held  both  of  the  above  offices 
for  the  past  eleven  years. 

Jones,  J.  W.,  Pleasant  Bend  0.,  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  nail  kegs  from  the  stump 
and  in  clearing  the  stumpy  land  into  farms.  He  employs  about  twenty-five  hands  in  his  fac- 
tory here  and  about  fifteen  in  his  factory  at  Chicago.  He  is  now  sixty-seven  years  old.  His 
father,  Philip  Jones,  was  among  the  first  settlers  in  Meigs  county,  and  was  also  the  first  treas- 
urer of  that  county.  He  was  commissioned  and  served  in  the  war  of  1812.  Mr.  Jones's  business 
career  has  been  varied,  and  he  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  better  projector  than  -organizer.  He  it 
was  that  cut  the  first  lath,  planed  the  first  lumber,  and  made  the  first  sash  and  doors  by  machin- 
ery, in  Meigs  county.  These  works  were  burnt  and  he  did  not  receive  any  insurance.  After 
the  burning  of  this  factory  he  built  other  lumber  and  cooper  works  in  Clifton,  W.  Va.,  and 
made  and  had  patented  many  improvements  in  cooper  machinery.  This  factory  was  burned, 
and  was  a  total  loss,  he  having  no  insurance.     He  then  sold  his  foundry  and  machine  works 


Brief  Personals.  713 


in  Middleport,  0.,  his  cooper  works  in  A.shland,  Ky.,  and  closed  out  his  flour  business  in  Middle- 
port,  and  located  his  stave  works  in  Williamstown,  Va.  He  then  had  large  contracts  in  Wheel- 
ing for  improved  nail  Icegs,  and  the  third  time  his  factories  were  burned  down  with  no  insurance. 
He  then  bought  timber  land  in  Wetsel  county,  W.  Va.,  and  built  large  works  there,  and  in  lienor 
to  him  the  town  was  named  Jonestown.  In  connection  with  his  factory  he  erected  three  cooper 
shops,  one  at  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  one  at  Bellaire,  0.,  and  one  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  In  liis  early 
business  career  he  purchased  one  and  a  half  sections  of  timber  land  in  Ripley  county,  Ind.,  and 
erected  tliereon  saw  and  planing-mills,  thereby  using  up  the  timber  and  clearing  400  acres  of 
land.  He  otherwise  improved  the  farm  by  adding  a  good  dwelling  and  the  largest  barn  in  the 
county.  The  farm  and  farming  was  a  failure  from  the  fact  that  the  sub-soil  was  what  they  called 
hardpan,  and  was  sold  to  the  county,  now  being  called  the  county  poor  farm  and  is  well-named. 
Mr.  Jones  has  traded  on  the  Mississippi  River  and  timbered  on  the  Ohio  River.  He  has  worked 
much  with  machinery.  He  has  had  seven  stave  factories  and  four  saw-mills,  and  has 
carried  on  business  in  five  different  States  and  in  as  many  different  cities.  In  all  his  misfortunes  and 
mistakes  he  never  allowed  his  friends  to  pay  his  debts,  and  never  asked  for  an  extension.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Whig,  then  a  Republican  and  is  now  in  a  doubtful  mood.  He  thinks  that  the 
economic  disturbance  that  now  shadows  our  country,  occasioned  by  machinery  taking  the  place 
of  muscular  labor,  that  neither  party  is  qualified  to  successfully  meet  the  emergency  he  is  looking 
for,  and  he  thinks  the  signs  of  the  times  indicate  the  advent  of  a  new  party  with  broad  and  catho- 
lic views,  to  manage  the  government.  His  religion  is  of  the  broad  guage  type.  He  belongs  to 
no  sect  or  party,  and  thinks  that  the  height,  depth  and  amplitude  of  the  Christian  system  is  too 
great  for  any  sect  or  party  to  mark  its  boundaries  by  church  dogmas,  and  that  religious  life  has 
more  potency  than  religious  cant.  His  creed  is  to  accept  Christ,  the  great  teacher  from  Grod, 
and  do  his  work.  Mr.  Jones's  wife  still  occupies  ths  old  homestead  in  Middleport,  0.,  where 
all  their  children  were  born.  She  is  now  sixty-two  years  old  and  was  a  daughter  of  two  of 
the  first  settlers  in  Ohio  and  W.  Va.  They  have  five  children  living:  W.  W.  Jones  and  E.  J. 
Jones,  now  engaged  in  the  nail  keg  business  in  Hammond,  Ind. ;  Philena,  the  wife  of  R.  W. 
Beach,  Who  is  engaged  in  the  same  business  in  Chicago,  111. ;  Virginia,  now  Mrs.  John  Weaver ; 
Mr.  Weaver  is  a  farmer  near  Letart,  0.,  and  Mary  G-race  (Pidge),  wife  of  William  Davis,  who  is 
now  engaged  in  the  sash  and  door  and  lumber  business  in  Pomeroy,  0.  All  are  cheerfully 
bearing  the  responsibilties  of  life  and  laboring  for  the  joys  of  an  after  life.  Mr.  Jones  thinks 
that  he  is  on  his  last  decade  —  the  last  spool  m  the  shuttle  is  fast  winding  off,  and  the  web  of 
life  is  about  completed,  but  he  can  say  as  one  did  before  him  :  "  My  career  is  chosen,  but  I  have 
warmed  .both  hands  in  the  fire  of  life  "  During  his  business  career  the  population  of  the  gov- 
ernment has  increased  from  20,000,000  to  60,nOO,000,  and  through  energy,  industry,  and  econo- 
my, has  increased  from  $400  to  $2,000  per  capita,  and  sufficient  railroads  have  been  built,  if  in 
one  continuous  line,  would  reach  five  times  around  this  planet,  lined  with  cities,  towns,  villages, 
and  factories.  Stupendous  and  unprecedented  results  for  one  generation.  And  as  he  is  about 
to  step  down  and  out,  he  flaunts  the  facts  in  the  face  of  the  incoming  generation  to  stimulate 
them  to  emulation  to  do  even  better  than  their  fathers.